Strobilanthes cusia

Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) Kuntze; Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 499 1891.

(Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) Kuntze.; Photo gardendrum.com and chen kuntsan)

Latin Name: Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) Kuntze.

Family & Genus: Acanthaceae, Strobilanthes

Synonym Name: Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek.; Dipteracanthus calycinus Champ.; Goldfussia cusia Nees; Ruellia indigofera Griff.; Ruellia indigotica Fortune; Strobilanthes balansae Lindau; Strobilanthes championii T.Anderson ex Benth.; Strobilanthes flaccidifolia Nees

English Name: Flaccid Conehead, Common Baphicacanthus, Conehead, Common Conehead.

Chinese Name: 板蓝 ban lan

Vietnamese Name: Thanh đại, Bột chàm.

Description: Herbs 0.5-1.5 m tall, erect, branched, drying blackish, isophyllous to weakly anisophyllous. Stems glabrous or minutely brown puberulent. Petiole 0.5-7 cm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 4-20 × 2-9 cm, both surfaces glabrous or abaxially minutely puberulent along veins, abaxially paler green, adaxially dark green, secondary veins 7-9 on each side of midvein, base attenuate, margin serrate, apex acute. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, bracteate spikes, 1-6 cm, often aggregated to form a leafy branched panicle; peduncle 1-12 cm; bracts leaflike, petiolate, oblanceolate, obovate, or spatulate, 1.2-2.5 cm, basally usually sterile; bracteoles linear-oblanceolate, 2-3 mm, deciduous before bracts. Calyx 0.8-1.5 mm in flower, accrescent to ca. 2.5 cm in fruit, minutely puberulent, 5-lobed almost to base; 4 lobes linear-lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse; 1 lobe oblanceolate and much longer. Corolla blue, 3.5-5 cm, straight to slightly bent, outside glabrous; tube basally cylindric and ca. 3 mm wide for 1-1.5 cm then slightly curved and gradually widened to ca. 1.5 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 9 × 9 mm, subequal. Stamens 4, included; filaments glabrous, shorter pair ca. 3 mm, longer pair ca. 7 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 3 mm; pollen type 4. Ovary oblong, apex puberulent with few gland-tipped trichomes; style ca. 3.2 cm, glabrous. Capsule 1.5-2.2 cm, glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 3.5 mm, covered with appressed trichomes; areola small. Flowering: June to October, fruiting: July to November.

Ecological: Usually in moist wooded places, sometimes cultivated; 100-2000 m

Distribution: Distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and etc. The medicinal materials are mainly produced in Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan.

Part Used: Medical part: rhizomes and roots, powder or clumps processed form leaves or stem. Chinese name: rhizomes and roots: Nanbanlangen; processed powder or clumps: Qingdai.

Harvest & Processing: Nanbanlangan: excavated in summer and autumn, removed aboveground stem, washed and sun-dried. Qingdai: cut off leaves when plants flourish in summer and autumn, put into vat or barrel, soaked in water for 2-3 days and nights, removed stem and leaf residue, add 4-5kg lime per 50kg leaves, stirred well, until extract turn from black-green to purple-red, got foam-like liquid and sun-dried.

Chemistry:

- Contains chrysophanol, β-Sitosterol, indigotin and isatin.

- Triterpenes:  lupeol, betulin, lupenone, indole alkaloids indigo, indirubin, quinazolinone alkaloids 4(3H)-quinazolinone, 2,4(1H,3H)-quinazolinedione.

Pharmacology: Anti-tumor, anticancer, anti-bacterial, hypotensive action and phagocytosis-enhancing.

Properties & Actions: Nanbanlangan: bitter, sold. Qingdai: salty, sold. Nanbanlangan: root: bitter, cold. Qingdai: salty, cold. Nanbanlangan: clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and soothing the throat. Qingda: clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and settling fright.

Indications & Usage: Nan banlangen: Used for epidemic heat syndrome with eruptions, dark purple tongue, mumps, pharyngitis, scarlet fever, epidemic disease characterized by swelling and redness of face, anthracia, erysipelas. Natural indigo: Used for epidemic heat syndrome with eruptions, vomiting and apostaxis due to heat in blood, Thoracodynia and coughing up blood, sore mouth, mumps, pharyngitis, infantile frightened epilepsy. Nanbanlangen: oral administration: decocting, 10-30g (megadose 90g); or made as pills or powders. External: appropriate amount, decocted for fumigating. Use with care in case of spleen and stomach deficiency-cold. Qingdai: oral administration: decocting, 3-6, wrapped with cloth; powdered, 1.5-3g per time, made as pills or powders. External: appropriate amount, powdered for dusting or after mixed with fluids. Not use in cases of deficient-cold of spleen and stomach.

Examples:     

1. Nanisatis root: influenza: isatis root 30g, notopterygium 15g. Decoct, drink in two times a day, for 2-3 days continuously.

2. Natural indigo: red speckles due to typhoid fever: natural indigo 6g. Grind in water and drink.

References

- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk

- efloras.org

- theplantlist.org

- Li L, Liang HQ, Liao SX, Qiao CZ, Yang GJ, Dong TY. Chemical studies of Strobilanthes cusia. Yao Xue Xue Bao. 1993;28(3):238-40.

- Ming-zhen Qin, Yu Liu, Wuwei Wu, Thomas Oberhänsli, Qiyan Wang-Müller; The Chemical Components and Pharmacological Functions of Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) Kuntze; Herbal Medicine, 2020 Vol.6 No.1:3