Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

© 2004 by CRC Press
The Ethnobotany 503
1734 /1735. Linnaeus had adopted Phyllanthus beginning
with Hortus Cliffortianus of 1738.
In Species Plantarum, Linnaeus recorded the six
species that he then knew: P. grandifolia, P. emblica, P.
epiphyllanthus, P. maderaspatensis, P. niruri, and P.
urinaria. Three species were based on specimens from
India (P. emblica, P. maderaspatensis, P. urinaria), and
the others from the Caribbean (P. epiphyllanthus, P.
grandifolia, P. niruri).
It was not until Thomas Walter published his
Flora Caroliniana in 1788 that P. caroliniensis became
known. These small herbs have now been found from
Pennsylvania to Missouri and Kansas south to Brazil,
Bolivia, and Argentina (Fernald 1950, Hocking 1997).
These herbs are like P. niruri and P. urinaria in aspect.
Vásquez and Jácome (1997) found people using P.
caroliniensis to treat bronchitis, bruises, the heart, and
skin problems. It is used as a diuretic in the French
West Indies (Hocking 1997) and as a medicinal in
Belize (Balick et al. 2000). The information available
indicates that these herbs were used in the same ways
as P. niruri and P. urinaria.
However, the story becomes more complicated
once those other two species are considered. Phyllanthus
niruri was described by Linnaeus in 1753. He
thought it was from India and cited both Rheede’s list
of 1678 /1703 containing plants used on the Malabar
Coast of India and John Martyn’s (1699 /1768) list of
plants in cultivation in London in 1728. Although
Linnaeus’s name continues in use, P. niruri has never
been found in India (Webster 1955, 1956, 1970, 2002,
personal communication 2003).
The native range of P. niruri is from southern
Texas, through Mexico to Argentina (Stevens et al.
2001). The plants that are so famous for medicine in
India are actually P. fraternus, not named until studied
by Grady L. Webster (1955). Given the difficulty of
identification of these small herbs, plus the prevalence
of some widespread and weedy species, I suspect that
the small native, and often rare, P. caroliniensis, has
been relegated to a plant that is now neglected.
However, P. caroliniensis contains several bioactive
compounds that would have made it useful. Phytosterols,
quercetin, gallic acid ethyl ester, and geraniin
have been identified in it by Cechinel Filho et al.
(1996a,b). These authors wrote, ‘‘Pharmacological
analysis also revealed that quercetin, gallic acid ethyl
ester and a semi-purified fraction of flavonoids (1 /100
mg kg-1, i.p.) exhibited graded and significant antinociception
against acetic acid-induced abdominal
constriction. The mean ID50 values (mg kg-1) for
these effects were: 18.8, 34.7 and 5.3, respectively. It is
concluded that quercetin, gallic acid ethyl ester and
some as yet unidentified flavonoids might account for
the antinociceptive action reported for the HE [hydro-
alcoholic extract] of P. caroliniensis.’’ Moreover, Santos
et al. (1999) and Narayana et al. (2001) found that
the bioflavonoids in P. caroliniensis were not only
antinociceptive, but also anti-inflammatory.
The plant of choice in most, if not all, of the
Americas is now P. niruri. However, Caribs in Dominica
made a tea of the Old World exotic P. tenellus to
induce abortions, and it kills rabbits and guinea pigs if
they eat it (Hodge and Taylor 1957, Honychurch
1987).
In Cuba, P. niruri is known as yerba de la niña
(little girl’s herb). Elsewhere it is called niruri (Florida),
gale of wind (Florida, English Antilles), peronilla
del pasto (grass pear, Puerto Rico), viernes santo
(Holy Wednesday, Puerto Rico, Colombia), erva
[herva] pombinha (literally little dove herb, but slang
for female genitals, Brazil).
There are two main themes in the common
names*/use to break up kidney stones and use as a
quinine substitute. For the kidney stone theme, it is
called arranca pedras [arrebenta pedras] (stone
breaker, Brazil), malva pedra (probably a lapse for
bad stones, Brazil), and quebra pedra (stone breaker,
Brazil). Names that allude to reducing fever are
feuilles la fièvre (leaves for fever, Haiti), quinina
(quinine, Haiti), quinina créole (Creole quinine, Haiti),
quinina criolla (Creole quinine, Dominican Republic),
quininina [quinine du] pays (country quinine, Haiti),
quininito (little quinine, Haiti), quinino de pobre (poor
person’s quinine, Puerto Rico), and sulfate pays
(country sulfur, Haiti). In Paraguay, the herbs are
paraparai mí (from parapa’rá, Guaraní).
Phyllanthus nirun has names noting seeds below
the leaves. Those include des dos [de dou] (from the
back[s], Haiti), derrière dos (behind the back, Haiti),
and graines sur dos (seeds on [the] back, Haiti).
In Cuba P. niruri is used to treat malarial fever,
diabetes, liver problems, biliousness, and dysentery,
and it is used as a diuretic. In Hispaniola, these bitter
plants are used to treat malaria (Liogier 1978). In
Brazil, the herbs are used against urinary disorders,
diabetes, jaundice, and malaria (Mors et al. 2000). The
fruit juice is considered antidiabetic.
Phyllanthus contain flavonoids, lignans, and glycosides
(Mors et al. 2000). Given the confusion about the
taxonomy, the identity of the species reported as P.
niruri is dubious, but the genus is nonetheless chemically
bioactive. Experiments show significant increase
in diuresis and sodium and creatine excretion (Mors et
al. 2000, Barros et al. 2003). In humans, persistent
ingestion of tea from the roots expels kidney stones.
Phyllanthus extracts show lipid-lowering activity
(Khanna et al. 2002). There are also indications of
antimalarial activity (Tona et al. 2001) and inhibition
of HIV (Qian-Cutrone et al. 1996).