Common name: Smooth
Justicia
Botanical name: Justicia
gendarussa, Justicia glabra
Family: Acanthaceae
(Acanthus family)
Synonyms: Rhaphidospora
glabra, Gendarussa abyssinica, Dianthera subserrata Blanco
Plant Form : Herb
Introduction: Smooth Justicia is a
herb with a woody rootstock but annual stems. Leaves are 7-10 x 4-6.5 cm,
broadly ovate, tip pointed, base rounded or wedge-shaped, upper stalkless;
leaf-stalk 3 cm. Flowers are borne in panicles in leaf-axils and at
branch-ends, up to 15 cm long, glandular velvet-hairy; bracts and bracteoles
1.5 mm, linear; sepals 4 mm, lanceshaped, puberulus; flower tube to 4 mm,
velvet-hairy, two-lipped, upper 5 mm, lower 8 mm, white with reddish blotches;
filaments 4 mm; ovary 1.5 mm, style 6 mm, hairy. Smooth Justicia is found in
South India and Tropical Africa.
Flowering: December-February.
Chemical Constituents:
Leaves contain a bitter and slightly toxic alkaloid, some aromatic amines
and α-& β sitosterol. Roots contain β-sitosterol
(Ghani, 2003).
Medicinal uses: Plants are used as febrifuge and emetic; employed for
rheumatic affections. Bark is a good emetic. Leaves are insecticidal; used in
chest pain, rheumatism and eczema in Khagrachari. An infusion of the leaves is
given internally in cephalalgia, hemiplegia and facial paralysis. The leaves
and tender shoots are diaphoretic; decoction is given in chronic rheumatism.
The bruished leaves with little lime and tobacco leaf is tied over cuts to
heal. The leaves with the fruits of Piper nigrum is used in leucorrhoea in Jointiapur of Sylhet. A
decoction of the root boiled in milk is given in rheumatism, dysentery and
jaundice (Yusuf et al. 2009).
Distribution:
Planted as a garden hedge.
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