Amaranthus caudatus L.

Amaranthus caudatus L.

(Amaranthus caudatus L.; Photo spicegarden.eu)

Latin Name: Amaranthus caudatus L.

Family & Genus: Amaranthaceae, Amaranthus

Synonym Name: Amaranthus abyssinicus L.H.Bailey; Amaranthus alopecurus Hochst. ex A.Br. & C.D.Bouché; Amaranthus cararu Moq.; Amaranthus caudatus var. albiflorus Moq.; Amaranthus caudatus var. alopecurus Moq.; Amaranthus caudatus subsp. mantegazzianus (Pass.) Hanelt; Amaranthus caudatus var. maximus (Mill.) Moq.; Amaranthus caudatus subsp. saueri V.Jehlík    ; Amaranthus dussii Sprenger ; Amaranthus edulis Speg.; Amaranthus edulis var. spadiceus Hunz.; Amaranthus hybridus var. leucocarpus (S.Watson) Hunz.; Amaranthus leucocarpus S.Watson; Amaranthus leucospermus S.Watson; Amaranthus mantegazzianus Pass.; Amaranthus maximus Mill.; Amaranthus pendulinus Moq.; Amaranthus pendulus Moq.; Euxolus arvensis Rojas Acosta

English Name: Love-lies-bleeding, Tasseleflower Thrumwort, Tassel Flower.

Chinese Name: 老枪谷 lao qiang gu

Vietnamese Name: Dền đuôi chồn; Dền đuôi ngắn, Dền đuôi chồn cong, Dền đuôi chồn cong.

Description: Stem erect, green, ca. 1.5 m tall, strong, angular, slightly branched or not, glabrous when mature. Petiole green, 1-15 cm, pilose; leaf blade green or red, rhombic-ovate or rhombic-lanceolate, 4-15 × 2-8 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate, margin entire or undulate, apex acuminate or obtuse. Complex thyrsoid structures terminal, pendulous, much branched, composed of many spikes. Bracts red, lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, transparent, with a midvein abaxially, apex apiculate. Tepals red, shorter than fruit, 2-2.5 mm, transparent, overlapping at margins, with a midvein; male segments oblong; female segments oblong-lanceolate. Stamens 5; stigmas 3, shorter than 1 mm. Utricles red above, subglobose, ca. 3 mm in diam., longer than perianth, circumscissile. Seeds light yellowish brown, subglobose. Flowering: July –August, fruiting: September to October.

Part Used: Medical part: roots, leaves and seeds. Chinese name: roots: Laoqianggugen. Leaves: Laoqiangguye. Seeds: Laoqiangguzi.

Harvest & Processing: Roots: excavated in summer, autumn, removed cauline leaf, well washed, used fresh, or sundried. Leaves: collected in summer and autumn, well washed and used fresh. Seeds: in autumn, cut down the cluster when fruits mature, sundried, rubbed off the seeds and dried.

Chemistry: Leaves contain betaine. Seeds mainly contain Ac-AMP1 and Ac-AMP2. Flowers: 3,5,7 - tr ihydroxy, 6-methyl, 4'-methoxy dihydroflavonol; 5,7 - dihydroxy, 8 - methyl, 4'-methoxy flavanone; 5,7-dihydroxy, 8-methyl, 4*-methoxy isoflavone and Kaempferide.

Pharmacology: Pressure-lowering, anti-tumor, anti-ulcer, antidepressant and bacterial-inhibiting.

Properties & Actions  Root: sweet, neutral. Seeds: pungent, cool. Roots: invigorating spleen, dissipating cyanosis. Leaves: removing toxin for detumescence. Seeds: clearing heat for outthrust the exterior.

Indications & Usage  Root: lassitude, hypodynamia, poor appetite due to weakness of the spleen and stomach, retarded growth in infants due to malnutrition. Leaves: furunculosis and swelling, bastard measles and pruritus. Seeds: infantile chicken pox, measles. Roots: oral administration: decocting, 10-30g. Leaves: external application: appropriate amount, fresh products smashed for application. Seeds: oral administration: decocting, 3-6g.

Examples      

1. Consumptive disease (dizziness and general fatigue): tasselflower thrumwort root 30g, javanica blume 15g, sizhao flower and fruit 30g, Philippine flemingia root 30g. Decoct in water and swallow.

2. Infantile malnutritional stagnation: tasselflower thrumwort root 12g, desmodium 9g, creeping rostellularia 6g. Decoct in water and swallow.

References

- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk

- efloras.org

- theplantlist

- B. K. Srivastava and M. V. R. K. Reddy; New flavonoids from the flowers of Amaranthus caudatus; Orient J Chem 1994;10(3).

- B.S. Ashok Kumar, K. Lakshman, Saleemullakhan, C. Velmurugan, E.R. Vishwanath, S. Gopisetty; Evaluation of antidepressant like activity in Amaranthus caudatus, Mahidol University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2015; 42 (1), 23-28