Heliotropium zeylanicum

(Burm. f.) Lam.

Boraginaceae Edible: Vegetable Potential hazards — see below 54 iNaturalist observations

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Description

A erect herb. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows 80 cm tall. It has a long thick rootstock and can be a spreading plant. The stems are branched and woody at the base. They have hairs. The leaves are long and thin. They are 9 cm long and 1 cm wide. They have a sharp tip and narrow at the base. The flowers are small and greenish-yellow. They form along a spike like stalk. The fruit is rounded and 2 mm long. It breaks into 4 nutlets.

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked. The tender leaves are chopped and cooked alone or with other vegetables such as Amaranthus, Bidens or Galinsoga. Coconut milk or pounded groundnuts are then added, and the dish is served with a staple such as rice.

Traditional Uses

The young leaves are chopped and cooked either alone or with other vegetables.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

The plant is eaten as a bitter tonic and stimulant in the belief that it has some of the properties of the kola nut, making the lips or the saliva red. The plant is applied to scorpion-stings on the basis of the shape of the tail-tipped petals resembling a scorpion’s sting. Combined with Indigofera pulchra it is put on sore breasts. The leaves are prepared into poultices alone or with butter and without heating for treating boils, yaws etc. The stems are crushed and soaked, then dried and applied to parts affected by yaws. A cold root-infusion which has stood overnight is taken as a stomachic and laxative. The leaves and roots are pounded and boiled, the decoction being drunk as a treatment for postpartum diseases in women. The aerial parts of the plant contain the pyrrolizidine alkaloids subulacine-N-oxide, 7-angeloyl heliotrine, retronecine and heliotrine. The crude ethanol and hexane extracts have significant in-vitro activity against coxsackie, poliomyelitis and measles viruses. Seven-angeloyl heliotrine and heliotrine have shown in-vitro activity against poliomyelitis and vesicular stomatitis viruses. Antitumour activity of several extracts and isolated alkaloids has been confirmed in in-vitro tests on several cancer cell lines including Sarcoma 180, human carcinoma of the nasopharynx and lymphocytic leukaemia. Extracts, as well as isolated alkaloids, have shown antimicrobial activity in tests with the bacteria Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus anthracis and Staphylococcus aureus, and the fungi Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Rhizoctonia phaseoli and Pennicilium chrysogenum.

Known Hazards

No specific mention of toxicity has been seen for this species, but many members of this plant family (Boraginaceae) are known to contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. These alkaloids have a cumulative effect upon the body and, unless concentrations in a plant are high, occasional use is generally completely safe. They are derived from amino acids including ornithine. Many pyrrolizidine alkaloids have pronounced hepatic toxicity, but the lungs and other organs may be affected as well. Mutagenic and carcinogenic activities of pyrrolizidine alkaloids have also been reported.

Distribution

It is a tropical plant. In grows in dry bushland and grassland from sea level to 1,700 m above sea level in Tanzania.

Where It Grows

Africa, Asia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central Africa, Comoros, East Africa, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Socotra, Somalia, Southern Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa,

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed.

Production

Leaves are collected during the rainy season.

Synonyms

Heliotropium curassavicum var. zeylanicum Burmf.Heliotropium subulatum (Hochst. ex DC.) VatkeHeliotropium subulatum (Hochst. ex DC.) Hochst. ex MartelliTournefortia subulata Hochst. ex A. DC.Tournefortia zeylanica (Burm. f.) Wight

References (4)

Grubben, G. J. H. and Denton, O. A. (eds), 2004, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. p 562
Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145
Ruffo, C. K., Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B., 2002, Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania. RELMA p 366
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew