Clinacanthus nutans

Taxonomy
Phylum  : Tracheophyta
Class     : Magnoliopsida
Order    : Lamiales
Family   : Acanthaceae
Genusc  : Clinacanthus
Species  : Clinacanthus nutans

Common Name
Belai Merat, Belalai Gajah, Kateh Murai, Pokok Kencer, Sabah Snake Grass, Ki tajam, Phaya plongtong, e zuihua

Characteristics
a perennial herb which can grow up to 1 m tall with pubescent branches and cylindrical, striate, and glabrescent stems.

Morphology

Leaves
simple, opposite, narrowly elliptic-oblong or lanceolate (2.5–13.0 cm long × 0.5–1.5 cm wide).

Inflorescences
The flowers are sordidly yellow or greenish yellow and dense cymes at the top of branches and branchlets; always covered with 5-alpha cymules.The calyx of flower about 1 cm long with grandular-pubescent. Corolla is dull red with green base, about 3.0–4.2 cm.

Fruit
Its fruits are in the form of a capsule, 2 cm long, shortly hairy.Capsule is oblong basally wrapped into 4-seeded short stalk.

Plant Part Used
Leaves and Whole Plant

Traditional Used

• The fresh leaves are boiled with water and consumed as herbal tea in Malaysia.
• In Thailand, an alcoholic extract of fresh leaves is used externally for treatment of skin rashes, snake and insect bite
• the leaves are consumed as raw material or mixed with apple juice, sugarcane or green tea and provide as fresh drink.
• In China the whole plant is used in various manners to treat inflammatory conditions like hematoma, contusion, strains and sprains of injuries and rheumatism.

Medicinal Used

• Anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of insect bites and allergic responses and as remedies for herpes simplex and VZV lesions.
• The effect of ethanolic extracts of leaves on modulating in vitro cell-mediated immune response was studied by observing human competent cells obtained from healthy human with no previous history of immune related complications and none were taking immunosuppressive drugs.

List of Country
Borneo, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam.

Red List Category
No Data

Nicolaas Laurens Burman (1768)

Muhammad Haqim bin Mohamad Zakariah

Muhammad Haqim bin Mohamad Zakariah

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