PDR for Herbal Medicines

HERBAL MONOGRAPHS WORMWOOD GRASS /831

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Stuttgart 1997.

Wormwood Grass

Spigelia anthelmia

DESCRIPTION

Medicinal Parts: The whole fresh plant, the juice prepared

from the fresh plant and the dried leaves are used

medicinally.

Flower and Fruit: The inflorescences are terminal or

axillary, 5 to 12 cm long spikes turned to one side. They are

often involute. The flowers in the axils of the bracts are

sessile. The flowers are radial and their structures are in

fives. The sepals are free, linear-lanceolate and 2 to 5 mm

long. The 5 petals are fused with a 6.5 to 15 mm long, lilac,

pink or white, funnel-shaped corolla. There are 5 stamens

and a 2-chambered ovary. The fruit is a capsule approxi-

mately 5 mm long and 5 mm wide. The seeds are 2 to 3 mm

long, elliptical or ovoid, dark brown and warty.

Leaves, Stem and Root: The herb grows upright to a height

of up to 60 cm. The leaves are opposite and, because of short

internodes, appear to be in whorls. They are 4 to 18 cm long,

2 to 6 cm wide, very short petiolate, simple, entire, ovate-

lanceolate to elongate-ovate and long acuminate. The

stipules are fused, membranous, broad and triangular. The

stem and lateral branches are almost leafless, usually

terminating in a 4-leafed whorl.

Habitat: Spigelia anthelmia is indigenous to North, Central

and South America.

Production: Wormwood Grass herb is the dried aerial part of

Spigelia anthelmia, wh'ch is collected in the wild and

cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions of America.

Other Names: Annual Wormwood Grass, American Worm-

wood Grass, Pink Root, Demerara Pinkroot

ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY

COMPOUNDS

Flavonoids: including hyperoside, quercetin-di-O-glucoside,

quercetin-O-rhamnoglucoside

Phenol carboxylic acids: vanillic acid, dihydroxy benzoic

acid, caffeic acid

Caffeic acid derivatives: chlorogenic acid

Amines: isoquinoline

Monoterpene alkaloids: actinidine