Otostegia integrifolia

Last updated

Otostegia integrifolia
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Otostegia
Species:
O. integrifolia
Binomial name
Otostegia integrifolia
Benth.
Synonyms [1]

Rydingia integrifolia(Benth.) Scheen & V.A. Albert

Contents

Otostegia integrifolia, more commonly known as Abyssinian rose, [2] a plant belonging to the family Lamiaceae, is endemic to Ethiopia, in the dry evergreen woodlands of the Bale Mountains, Tigray, Gondar, Wollo and Gojjam regions, North Shewa, Kaffa and Hararghe regions, as well as in the dry and moist agroclimatic zones of the district known as Dega, at altitudes of 1,300—2,800 m. above sea-level. [3] It also grows in Yemen, northwest of Mukalla. [4] In Ethiopia, O. integrifolia is commonly known by its Amharic vernacular of tinjute = ጥንጁት (alt. sp. Tindjut).

Description

A much-branched shrub, growing to a height of 4 m; the stem angled and older stems ash grey and flaking, often bearing paired spines at the nodes. Leaves are simple, nearly sessile, ob-lanceolate to lanceolate, 2–9 cm long, cuneate at the base, clothed on both sides with white tomentum; aromatic, the edge double toothed or round toothed. Flowers are two-lipped with yellow or yellow-orange lower petal and white or cream-colored upper petal, the orange anthers held inside the upper petal. Whorls few or many, 5–6-flowered; bracts rigid, tricuspidate. Calyx sessile; tube 1/4 in. long, densely pubescent, with 10 raised ribs; upper lip small, oblong, pointed, entire; lower orbicular-cuneate, 3/4 in. broad, faintly crenate.

Chemistry and pharmacology

By using analytical and preparative gas chromatography (GC), terpenes have been extracted from air-dried Abyssinian rose (Otostegia integrifolia) leaves. [5] A total of 40 constituents including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and their derivatives were identified.

Scientific and medicinal uses

The species of Otostegia have traditionally been used in folklore medicines, for treatment of ophthalmia, as an anti-microbial, antihyperglyceamic, and for its anti-oxidant properties used in preventing different kinds of sickness and disorders, of which five species have been reported in the flora of Ethiopia. [6] Several studies suggest that O. integrifolia is a good natural anti-oxidant that can be used as health-promoting agent for various disorders including diabetes mellitus. [7] The species O. integrifolia is well known for its pleasant odour, omnipotent medicinal values, and when its wood is fumigated has proven insecticidal properties (mosquito repellent). [8]

Other traditional uses

The wood of the Abyssinian rose (O. integrifolia) has insecticidal properties and is often gathered and burnt to fumigate homes, the aroma from the smoke being similar to perfume. [9] Some upturn earthenware brewing jars directly over the smoke emitted from the burning wood, in order to absorb its flavor and to impart the same to an alcoholic beverage to be stored in the jars. The beverage, known locally as tella , is made from a bath of malted barley to which a batch of hops is later added, derived from the ground leaves of gesho for fermenting, being a species of buckthorn ( Rhamnus prinoides ). A smouldering coal from either olive wood or the Abyssinian rose wood is also put within ceramic jars used to contain milk, so as to impart its flavor to the milk. Some say that the smoke is used in this case as a disinfectant and to extend the shelf-life of the product. [10] The wood is often collected as firewood, and used for scenting cloth material.

In Ethiopia, mothers after childbirth are smoked with tinjute on the tenth day after giving birth (postpartum). This was believed to “cleanse” the birthing mother so that she could leave her confinement and again resume a normal daily life. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linalool</span> Chemical compound with a floral aroma

Linalool refers to two enantiomers of a naturally occurring terpene alcohol found in many flowers and spice plants. Linalool has multiple commercial applications, the majority of which are based on its pleasant scent. A colorless oil, linalool is classified as an acyclic monoterpenoid. In plants, it is a metabolite, a volatile oil component, an antimicrobial agent, and an aroma compound. Linalool has uses in manufacturing of soaps, fragrances, food additives as flavors, household products, and insecticides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurage people</span> Semitic-speaking ethnic group in Ethiopia

The Gurage are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. They inhabit the Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mountainous region in central Ethiopia, about 125 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, bordering the Awash River in the north, the Gibe River, a tributary of the Omo River, to the southwest, and Hora-Dambal in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian Highlands</span> Mountain range in northern Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 m (4,900 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4,550 m (14,930 ft). It is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrea.

<i>Lobelia inflata</i> Species of plant

Lobelia inflata, also known as Indian tobacco or puke weed, is a species of Lobelia native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada south through the eastern United States to Alabama and west to Kansas.

Hintalo, also called Antalo, was Administrative Center of Enderta’s historical wereda of Gabat Melash, is a small town located in the Debub Misraqawi (Southeastern) Zone of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It lies on a plateau with an elevation variously reported as 2050 to 2102 meters above sea level. It lies some 20 miles south of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. The urge to control this fortified mountainous place has provoked frequent engagements among various Tigrayan chiefs since the 17th century. Hintalo flourished as a town in the last quarter of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Ethiopia</span> Overview of health in Ethiopia

Health in Ethiopia has improved markedly since the early 2000s, with government leadership playing a key role in mobilizing resources and ensuring that they are used effectively. A central feature of the sector is the priority given to the Health Extension Programme, which delivers cost-effective basic services that enhance equity and provide care to millions of women, men and children. The development and delivery of the Health Extension Program, and its lasting success, is an example of how a low-income country can still improve access to health services with creativity and dedication.

Phaenanthoecium is a genus of plants in the grass family. The only known species is Phaenanthoecium koestlinii, native to Northeast Tropical Africa and Yemen.

Halopyrum is a genus of Asian and African plants in the grass family. The only known species is Halopyrum mucronatum, native to the Indian Subcontinent, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra, Madagascar, and eastern + northeastern Africa.

Lasiurus is a genus of Asian and African plants in the grass family, Poaceae, found primarily in arid regions. The only known species is Lasiurus scindicus, native to drier regions of northern Africa and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Mali to India.

Ochthochloa is a genus of desert plants in the grass family native to the Sahara and Arabian Deserts. The only known species is Ochthochloa compressa, whose native range extends from Algeria to Uttarakhand.

<i>Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium</i>

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium is a member of the family Asteraceae, found on open dry sandy habitat throughout Eastern North America. Common names include old field balsam, rabbit tobacco and sweet everlasting. When crushed, the plant exudes a characteristic maple-syrup scent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italians of Ethiopia</span> Italian immigrant in Ethiopia, historically starting from 19th century

Italians of Ethiopia are immigrants who moved from Italy to Ethiopia starting in the 19th century, as well as their descendants. Emperor Menelik II did not allow the sale of lands belonging to Ethiopia to Italians (Eritrea) and probably allowed France (Djibouti) to solidify his centralized power and have external trading partners. Most of the Italians moved to Ethiopia after the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1936. Italian Ethiopia was made of Harrar, Galla-Sidamo, Amhara and Scioa Governorates in summer 1936 and became a part of the Italian colony Italian East Africa, with capital Addis Ababa. and with Victor Emmanuel III proclaiming himself Emperor of Ethiopia.

Naval Medical Research Unit Five (NAMRU-5) was a research laboratory of the US Navy which was founded as a field facility of Naval Medical Research Unit 3 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia with a collecting station in Gambella on December 30, 1965 under an agreement between the US and Ethiopian governments. In 1974 NAMRU-5 was established as its own command and was housed in the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute(former Imperial Central Laboratory Research Institute). The mission of NAMRU-5 was to conduct research and development on infectious diseases of military importance in sub-Sahara Africa. Gambella became the focus of a major malaria control effort and studies on malaria immunology. Applied research focused on the general areas of insect repellents, insecticide resistance, insect attractants and louse control. Members of the NAMRU-5 staff were also among the last Americans to ever see smallpox before its eradication. NAMRU-5 built collaborative research efforts with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; with local medical facilities, including the Haile Selassie University Medical School and various hospitals in Addis Ababa; and with the London School of Tropical Medicine, the University of Washington, Case Western Reserve University Department of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. NAMRU-5 was disestablished in April 1977 following the communist takeover of the government of Ethiopia which ordered all members out of the country in 4 days. Fields of study included:

<i>Angelica acutiloba</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica acutiloba is a perennial herb from the family Apiaceae or Umbelliferous. It is predominately in Japan and perhaps endemic (unique). It is now distributed widely and cultivated in Jilin, China, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.

<i>Searsia chirindensis</i>

Searsia chirindensis is a medium-sized, semi-deciduous, trifoliate Southern African dioecious tree of up to 10 m tall, rarely 20 m, often multi-stemmed, occurring along the coastal belt from the Cape, through KwaZulu/Natal, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique as far north as Tanzania, and growing in a wide variety of habitats such as open woodlands, in forests, along forest margins, in the open, among rocks and on mountain slopes. It was named by Swynnerton from a specimen collected by him near the Chirinda Forest in the Chipinge District of Southern Rhodesia. This is one of more than a hundred southern African species in the genus. It is commonly known as red currant because of a fancied resemblance of the fruit to that of the European redcurrant.

Branches dull brown or blackish, cylindric, pubescent or glabrous. Petiole 1·5–6·5 cm. long, almost cylindric, narrowly canaliculate and marginate above, pubescent or glabrous. Leaflets ± dull red-brown, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire and ± undulate at the margin, membranous to ± rigid or subcoriaceous, glabrous or ± pubescent on the margin, midrib and nerves; median leaflet (3)6–13(16) × (1·2)2·5–4(7) cm., cuneate and frequently petiolulate at the base, the lateral ones (2)2·5–7(12) × (0·8)1·3–3·5(5·5) cm., asymmetric and slightly cuneate or somewhat rounded at the base, very shortly petiolulate to sessile; midrib slightly raised in the upper surface, very prominent below; lateral nerves arcuate, slender, raised on both sides, reticulation lax, almost invisible or sometimes conspicuous. Panicles terminal and axillary, ample, pyramidal, much branched, multiflorous, the terminal ones longer than the leaves, the axillary ones as long as the latter or somewhat longer; pedicels 1–2·5 mm. long. Male flowers: calyx-segments 0·5 mm. long, ovate, obtuse, glabrous; petals c. 1·5 mm. long, elliptic, obtuse; filaments c. 1 mm. long. Female flowers: ovary ovoid; styles reflexed; disk cupuliform, 5-lobulate; staminodes present. Drupe pinkish-yellow to reddish-brown, shining, (4)5(6) mm. in diam., globose, glabrous.

<i>Allophylus decipiens</i> Species of flowering plant

Allophylus decipiens (E.Mey.) Radlk., commonly known as the bastard taaibos, is a multi- or single-stemmed, small, evergreen tree about 3–4 m in height occurring in coastal forest, fringe forest and thickets, and wooded ravines and streams. Found up to 800 m in the southern coastal regions of the Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Eswatini, along the escarpment forest of Mpumalanga, including Soutpansberg and in Mozambique. There are some 219 species in the genus of Allophylus.

<i>Rosa abyssinica</i> Species of flowering plant

Rosa abyssinica is the only rose native to Africa. Europeans first learned of the rose in the writings of 19th-century Scottish botanist Robert Brown. Rosa abyssinica is included in the genus Rosa, and the family Rosaceae. No subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life.

Hypericum harperi, the sharplobe St. Johnswort or Harper's St. John's wort, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae. It is an aquatic herb native to southeast North America. H. harperi has a diploid chromosome number of 24.

<i>Hypericum vacciniifolium</i> Species of flowering plant in the St Johns wort family Hypericaceae

Hypericum vacciniifolium is a species of flowering plant in the flowering plant family Hypericaceae. It was first described by August von Hayek and Walter Siehe in the Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmus. journal in 1914 from a specimen collected by Siehe in 1912.

Ethiopian Jewish cuisine is the cuisine of the Beta Israel. The cuisine of the Ethiopian Jews is similar to the cuisine of other Ethiopians, with some variations.

References

  1. Scheen & V.A. Albert, Systematics and Geography of Plants (Journal), vol. 77 (2007), p. 235
  2. Sue Edwards, Some Flowering Plants of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Univ. Press 1976.
  3. Azene Bekele-Tesemma, Useful trees and shrubs for Ethiopia (ed. Bo Tengnäs, Ensermu Kelbesa, Sebsibe Demissew and Patrick Maundu), Nairobi Kenya 2007, s.v. Otostegia integrifolia
  4. Abdul Wali Ahmed Al Khulaidi, Flora of Yemen (checklist of flora), Sanaa, Yemen 2013, p. 157.
  5. Hailemichael Tesso & Wilfried A. König, "Terpenes from Otostegia integrifolia", Phytochemistry (2004 Jul) 65:2057–2062
  6. Khan F. & Syed F., "Bioactive Constituents from Genus Otostegia", SARJ of Physical Science (1) 2013, pp. 15 – 25
  7. Tadesse S., Messele B., Seyoum A., Mazumder A., Bucar F. and Asres K., Essential oil of Otostegia integrifolia benth: composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, Ethiopian Pharmeceutical Journal 2011; 29:1. Open URL.
  8. Karunamoorthi K., Ramanujam S. & Rathinasamy R., "Evaluation of leaf extracts of Vitex negundo L. (Family: Verbenaceae) against larvae of Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Insecta; Diptera; Culicidae) and repellent activity on adult vector mosquitoes", Parasitol Research (103) 2008, pp. 545 – 550
  9. Sue Edwards, Some Wild Flowering Plants of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University Press, 1976, s.v. Tindjut
  10. Alemayehu Y.A. , Wurzinger M., Tegegne A. and Zollitsch W., Handling, processing and marketing of milk in the north western Ethiopian highlands, Livestock Research for Rural Development 2009, (21) p. 97
  11. Getahun, A., Some common medicinal and poisonous plants used in Ethiopian folk medicine, Addis Ababa University 1976
  12. Wilson, R.T. & Mariam, W.G ., Medicine and Magic in Central Tigre: A Contribution to the Ethnobotany of the Ethiopian Plateau, Economic Botany (33) 1979, pp. 29–34.