Leucas cephalotes is a flowering annual herb which is a common weed that also has uses as an edible vegetable and herbal remedy. It has many common names, including Dharampusp, guma, dronpushpi or drona puspi, and tou xu bai rong cao. It is a common plant across Asia from China to the Indian subcontinent.
Leucas cephalotes springs up in cultivated fields as a weed, especially after a period of rain. It is collected for use as a leafy vegetable in rural areas. It is cultivated itself for its medicinal uses and is readily available in markets. One of the plant's most common historical uses has been as a treatment for snakebite.[citation needed] It is also steeped in water which is then used for bathing and for washing livestock.
Two chemical compounds found in the plant are labellenic acid and beta-Sitosterol. As well, the plant contains oleanolic acid, 7-oxositosterol, 7-oxostigmasterol, 7alpha-hydroxy stigmasterol, stigmasterol, 5-hydroxy-7,4'-dimethoxy flavone, pillion, gonzalitosin I, tricin, cosmosin, apigenin-7-O-beta-D-(6-O-p-coumaryl)glucopyranoside, anisofolin A and luteolin.
Miyaichi et al. Studies on Nepalese Crude Drugs XXIV. Chemical constituents of Dronapushpi, the Whole Herb of Leucas cephalotes SPRENG. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 2006, 54 (10) 1370–1379.
Parsley, or garden parsley is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalized in Europe and elsewhere in the world with suitable climates, and is widely cultivated as a herb, and a vegetable.
Sorrel, also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock.
Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems about one meter tall, bearing narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate shoots.
Carotenoids are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, archaea, and fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, corn, tomatoes, canaries, flamingos, salmon, lobster, shrimp, and daffodils. Over 1,100 identified carotenoids can be further categorized into two classes – xanthophylls and carotenes.
The parsnip is a root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley, all belonging to the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is a biennial plant usually grown as an annual. Its long taproot has cream-colored skin and flesh, and, left in the ground to mature, becomes sweeter in flavor after winter frosts. In its first growing season, the plant has a rosette of pinnate, mid-green leaves. If unharvested, it produces a flowering stem topped by an umbel of small yellow flowers in its second growing season, later producing pale brown, flat, winged seeds. By this time, the stem has become woody, and the tap root inedible. Precautions should be taken when handling the stems and foliage, as parsnip sap can cause a skin rash or even blindness if exposed to sunlight after handling.
Angelica archangelica, commonly known as angelica, garden angelica, wild celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the family Apiaceae, a subspecies of which is cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like several other species in Apiaceae, its appearance is similar to several poisonous species, and should not be consumed unless it has been identified with absolute certainty. Synonyms include Archangelica officinalisHoffm. and Angelica officinalisMoench.
Portulaca oleracea is an annual succulent in the family Portulacaceae.
Sida cordifolia is a perennial subshrub of the mallow family Malvaceae native to India. It has naturalized throughout the world, and is considered an invasive weed in Africa, Australia, the southern United States, Hawaiian Islands, New Guinea, and French Polynesia. The specific name, cordifolia, refers to the heart-shaped leaf.
Ocimum tenuiflorum, commonly known as holy basil or tulsi, is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Australia, Malesia, Asia, and the western Pacific. It is widely cultivated throughout the Southeast Asian tropics. This plant has escaped from cultivation and has naturalized in many tropical regions of the Americas. It is an agricultural and environmental weed.
Arctium lappa, commonly called greater burdock, gobō (牛蒡/ゴボウ), edible burdock, lappa, beggar's buttons, thorny burr, or happy major is a Eurasian species of plants in the family Asteraceae, cultivated in gardens for its root used as a vegetable. It has become an invasive weed of high-nitrogen soils in North America, Australia, and other regions.
Amaranthus viridis is a cosmopolitan species in the botanical family Amaranthaceae and is commonly known as slender amaranth or green amaranth.
Stigmasterol – a plant sterol (phytosterol) – is among the most abundant of plant sterols, having a major function to maintain the structure and physiology of cell membranes. In the European Union, it is a food additive listed with E number E499, and may be used in food manufacturing to increase the phytosterol content, potentially lowering the levels of LDL cholesterol.
β-sitosterol (beta-sitosterol) is one of several phytosterols with chemical structures similar to that of cholesterol. It is a white, waxy powder with a characteristic odor, and is one of the components of the food additive E499. Phytosterols are hydrophobic and soluble in alcohols.
Perilla frutescens, also called deulkkae or Korean perilla, is a species of Perilla in the mint family Lamiaceae. It is an annual plant native to Southeast Asia and Indian highlands, and is traditionally grown in the Korean peninsula, southern China, Japan and India as a crop.
Barringtonia acutangula is a species of Barringtonia native to coastal wetlands in southern Asia and northern Australasia, from Afghanistan east to the Philippines, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Common names include freshwater mangrove, itchytree and mango-pine.
Centaurium erythraea is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common names common centaury and European centaury.
Cleome gynandra is a species of Cleome that is used as a green vegetable. It is known by many common names including Shona cabbage, African cabbage, spiderwisp, cat's whiskers, and stinkweed. It is an annual wildflower native to Africa but has become widespread in many tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world.
Eryngium foetidum is a tropical perennial herb in the family Apiaceae. Common names include culantro, recao, chadon beni, Mexican coriander, bandhaniya, long coriander, Burmese coriander, sawtooth coriander, and ngò gai. It is native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, but is cultivated worldwide, mostly in the tropics as a perennial, but sometimes in temperate climates as an annual.
Smilax aristolochiifolia, also known as gray sarsaparilla, Mexican sarsaparilla, sarsaparilla, is a species in the genus Smilax and the family Smilacaceae, native to Mexico and Central America. It is widely used as traditional medicine to treat many symptoms.
Ambadi seed oil is extracted from seeds of the ambadi plant. It is an annual or perennial plant in the family Malvaceae and related to the roselle. It is believed to be native to Africa or Tropical Asia.
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