Acanthus ebracteatus

Dublin Core

Title

Acanthus ebracteatus

Subject

Taxonomy
Phylum   :Tracheophyta
Class      :Magnoliopsida
Order     :Lamiales
Family    :Acanthaceae
Genus    :Acanthus
Species  :Acanthus ebracteatus

Synonyms
Acanthus ilicifolius Lour. [Illegitimate], Acanthus ilicifolius var. ebracteatus (Vahl) Benoist, Dilivaria ebracteata (Vahl) Pers.

Common name
Beruju, Jeruju, Jeruju hitam, Gerige, Holly-leaved mangrove, Sea holly

Description

Characteristics
An erect herbaceous plant which can grow up to 1 m tall with woody material only seen in older branches.

Morphology

Stem
Green to dark brown to black colour and is armed with numerous spines. It can grow up to 1.5-2m tall.

Leaves
Oblong and with a size of measuring 12-20 cm x 3-5 cm. The leaf blade being dark green, stiff and deeply lobed. The apex of the lobes each has a sharp spine.

Flowers
In terminal or axillary spikes of about 10 cm long with several flowers. The bracts are ovate and 0.6cm long while the bracteoles are absent. Corolla usually white in colour but there are varieties with pale blue colour. The lip is 2.5cm long and 1.5cm wide, white entirely or with cobalt blue tip and yellowish central keel, elliptic-oblong. The stamens are pink. 

Spike
up to 10 cm long, many-flowered, ovate bracts which are measures 6-8 mm long. The sepal lobes are ovate in shape. The petal lobe is elliptical-oblong, measuring 2.5 cm x 2 cm, white and rarely bluish in colour.

Fruit
A square-shaped capsule, which explodes when ripe and projecting the seeds measure up to 2 m from the plant.

Seeds
Off-white and flat.


Chemical compound
benzoxazinoid glucosides (such as 7-chloro-(2R)-2-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one, (2R)-2-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-5-hydroxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one), galactose, 3-O-methylgalactose, arabinose, galacturonic acid and rhamnose.

Plant part used
Leaves, fruits, seeds, stems and roots


Traditional uses
  • The leaves of A. ebracteatus are being used to treat inflammatory conditions like rheumatism.
  • The seeds on the other hand are highly regarded as a remedy for persistent boils. Pounded and mixed with water, it would render the person free of boils for a year for each seed taken.
  • In addition, the seeds are used to treat intestinal worms.
  • For snakebites, the Malays often advocate the use of the roots as an immediate remedy. The same is used to treat effects of other animal toxins.
  • It is generally known amongst the inhabitants of mangroves that the juices of the leaves are good for preventing hair loss.
  • The roots are used to treat herpes zoster.
  • A cough mixture is made from the seeds together with flowers of Averrhoa and black sugar cane, cinnamon and rock sugar.


Medicinal uses
  • Various extracts of A. ebracteatus were found to be able to inhibit chemical mutagenesis by inhibiting enzyme activities necessary for the activation of indirect mutagens/carcinogens.
  • The aqueous extract could reduce the production of eicosanoid.
  • A. ebracteatus has good antimicrobial activity against nosocomial pathogen and skin infection bacteria at low concentrations.


List of country
Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia

Creator

Acanthus ebracteatus (Vahl,1791)

Publisher

Nur Athirah Roshaizi

Contributor

Nur Athirah Roshaizi

Language

English

Collection

Kingdom Plantae

Citation

Acanthus ebracteatus (Vahl,1791), “Acanthus ebracteatus,” BIDARA, accessed February 4, 2026, https://bidara.uthm.edu.my/items/show/373.

Output Formats

Geolocation