Stachytarpheta jamaicensis is a species of plant in the family Verbenaceae, native throughout the Caribbean,[3] including Florida.[4] It has many common names including blue porterweed, blue snake weed, bastard vervain, Brazilian tea, Jamaica vervain,[5]light-blue snakeweed,[6] and, in St. Croix, worryvine.source? It usually is found along country roadsides, and it also grows well as a ruderal plant on disturbed terrain.
It is unclear whether S. indica is a separate species.[9]
Description
S. jamaicensis is a sprawling shrub. Stems are green to purple in color. Flowers are pink are blue. S. jamaicensis' leaves are oppositely arranged, serrated, and ovate in shape.[10]
Habitat
This species grows on sand dunes, within pine rocklands, and at disturbed sites.[11] It has been observed growing in sandy, loamy, and clay soils.[12]
Medicinal Uses
The fresh leaves are consumed in bush tea as a “cooling” tonic and blood cleanser, to treat “asthma” and “ulcerated stomachs”.[13]
Tea brewed from this species has been shown to cause a dose-dependent "fall in [the] blood pressure" of normal rabbits. However, the tea has also been observed to cause a "mild non-dose dependent systematic toxicity" in various tissues throughout the body, "such as congestion, fatty changes, and necrosis in liver, blood vessels, kidney, lung and testis, but the brain, eyes, intestines and heart were essentially normal."[14]
↑ Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: November 2015. Collectors: Robert K. Godfrey. States and Counties: Florida: Monroe.
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