Asclepias curassavica

Asclepias curassavica Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 215. 1753.

(Asclepias curassavica L.; Photo Renjusplace (commons.wikimedia.org) and Tom Halliwell)

Latin Name: Asclepias curassavica L.

Family & Genus: Asclepiadaceae, Asclepias

Synonym Name: Asclepias aurantiaca Salisb.; Asclepias bicolor Moench; Asclepias cubensis Wender.; Asclepias curassavica var. concolor Krug & Urb.; Asclepias curassavica f. flaviflora Tawada; Asclepias curassavica f. pallidiflora Griseb.; Asclepias margaritacea Hoffmanns. ex Schult.; Asclepias nivea var. curassavica (L.) Kuntze

English Name: Blood-flower, Bloodflower Milkweed, Butterfly weed, Red milkweed

Chinese Name: 马利筋 ma li jin

Vietnamese Name: Ngô thị, Mã lợi cân, Vạn niên hoa, tThảo mộc miên, Mác kha сау (Тàу).

Description: Plants to 1 m tall. Stems pale gray, puberulent to glabrous. Leaves opposite; petiole to 1 cm; leaf blade lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 6-15 × 1-4 cm, glabrous or abaxially puberulent along veins, base decurrent into petiole, apex acuminate or acute. Cymes up to as long as leaves, 10-20-flowered; peduncle 3.5-6 cm, pubescent. Pedicel 1.2-2.5 cm, pubescent. Sepals lanceolate, ca. 3 × 1 mm, pubescent. Corolla purple or red, 7-9 mm; lobes oblong, 5-8 × ca. 3 mm, reflexed. Corona lobes yellow or orange, 3.5-4 mm; gynostegium 2.5-3 mm. Follicles fusiform, 5-10 × 1-1.5 cm. Seeds ovate, 6-7 × ca. 3 mm; coma 2-4 cm. Flowering: nearly whole year, fruiting: August to December.

Part Used: Medical part: entire plant. Chinese name: Lianshengguizihua.

Harvest & Processing: Collected all over the year, sun-dried or used fresh.

Chemistry:

- Leaves contain calotropin, calotropagenin, uzarigenin, corotoxigenin, coroglaucigenin and clepogenin.

- Containe: flavonols,  flavonol  glycosides,  amino  acids,  carbohydrates,  triterpenes, cardenolides. The cardenolides: calactin,  calotropin, calotropagenin,  coroglaucigenin,  asclepin, asclepain  CI,  asclepain  CII,  asclepine  (asclepiadin),  uscharidin,  uzarin,  uzarigenin, corotoxigenin,  asclepogenin,  curassavogenin,  calotroposide,  clepogenin,    desglucouzarin,  kidjolanin,   uscharidin, 19-nor-16α-acetoxy-10β-hydroxyasclepin, 20β,21-dihydroxypregna-4,6-dien-3-one, and 3,4-seco-urs-20(30)-en-3-oic acid

Pharmacology: Cardiotonic, anti-cancer, emetic, cytotoxicity against four cancer cell lines (IC50 0.01 to 2.0 μg/mL).

Properties & Actions: Bitter, cold. Toxic. Clearing heat, detoxifying, activating blood circulation, arresting bleeding, dispersing swelling and relieving pain.

Indications & Usage: Swelling and pain in throat, cough with lung heat, pyretic stranguria, irregular menstrual periods, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, leukorrhea, anthracia and swelling caused by toxicity, eczema, refractory tinea, hemorrhage caused by trauma. Internal: decocting, 6-9g. External: fresh herb appropriate amount, triturated for application, or dried herb stir-heated and powdered for application. Not use for physically-weak person.

Examples:     

1. Algomenorrhea: fresh blood-flower 30g. Decoct in water and swallow, with black pepper as the guiding drug.

2. Ulcerative carbuncle and pyogenic infections: triflorous ainsliaea leaf 6-9g, decoct in water and swallow, take an appropriate amount of fresh drug, pestle and apply onto the lesions.

References

- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk

- efloras.org

- theplantlist.org

- Ali Esmail Al-Snafi; Chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of Asclepias curassavica-A review; Asian J. Pharm. Res. Vol. 5, Issue 2, 83-87, 2015.

- Michael C. Roy,Fang-Rong ChangHsiao-Chu HuangMichael Y.-N. ChiangYang-Chang WuJ.; Cytotoxic Principles from the Formosan Milkweed, Asclepias curassavica; Nat. Prod. 2005, 68, 10, 1494-1499.