Rhinacanthus nasutus

Rhinacanthus nasutus
R. nasutus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Acanthaceae
Subfamily:	Acanthoideae
Genus:	Rhinacanthus
Species:	R. nasutus
Binomial name
Rhinacanthus nasutus (L.) Kurz
Synonyms
Justicia nasuta L. Pseuderanthemum connatum Lindau Rhinacanthus communis Nees

Rhinacanthus nasutus, commonly known as: snake jasmine, (Hindi: कबुतर का फुल kabutar ka phul, पालक जूही; Marathi: गजकर्णी gajkarni; Sanskrit: यूथिकापर्णी yuthikaparni; Tamil: நாகமல்லீ,Nagamalli; Telugu: నాగమల్లె Nagamalle; Tagalog: tagak-tagak)^[1][2]

Botanical information

Native to India, this useful plant is a slender, erect, branched, somewhat hairy shrub 1–2 m in height. The leaves are oblong, 4–10 cm in length, and narrowed and pointed at both ends. The inflorescence is a spreading, leafy, hairy panicle with the flowers usually in clusters. The calyx is green, hairy, and about 5 mm long. The corolla-tube is greenish, slender, cylindric, and about 2 cm long. The flowers is 2-lipped; the upper lip is white, erect, oblong or lancelike, 2-toothed at the apex, and about 3 mm in both length and width; and the lower lip is broadly obovate, 1.1-1.3 cm in both measurements, 3-lobed, and white, with a few, minute, brownish dots near the base. The fruit (capsule) is club-shaped and contains 4 seeds.^[3]

Uses

R. nasutus has been used to treat numerous diseases such as eczema, herpes, pulmonary tuberculosis, hepatitis, diabetes, hypertension, and different types of skin diseases.^[4]
It is useful in treating snake bites.^[5]

Rhinacanthus nasutus is known for its antioxidant property, Research has shown that it has high potential to treat a number of neurodegenerative diseases - dementia, stroke, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Alzeheimer's disease.^[6][7][8][9]
Rhinacanthus nasutus serves as a potential agent for controlling Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. ^[10]
Extracts of R.nasutus showed antifungal , antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer,antiinflammatory, antidiabetic and antiproliferative activities.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

References

1. D K Ved, Suma Tagadur Sureshchandra, Vijay Barve, Vijay Srinivas, Sathya Sangeetha, K. Ravikumar, Kartikeyan R., Vaibhav Kulkarni, Ajith S. Kumar , S.N. Venugopal, B. S. Somashekhar, M.V. Sumanth, Sugandhi Rani, Surekha K.V. and Nikhil Desale. 2002-2014. (envis.frlht.org / frlhtenvis.nic.in). FRLHT's ENVIS Centre on Medicinal Plants, Bangalore.
2. Image on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinesh_valke/2395181283/
3. "Rhinacanthus nasutus - Snake Jasmine". flowersofindia.net.
4. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/102901/#B17
5. medicinal uses pharmacographica indica
6. James M. Brimson. "Molecules - Free Full-Text - Rhinacanthus nasutus Protects Cultured Neuronal Cells against Hypoxia Induced Cell Death". MDPI.
7. Brimson, James; T. Tencomnao (26 July 2011). "Rhinacanthus nasutus Protects Cultured Neuronal Cells against Hypoxia Induced Cell Death". Molecules. 16 (8): 6322–38. doi:10.3390/molecules16086322. PMID 21792150.
8. Brimson, James; Brimson. S; Brimson. C; Rakkhitawatthana. V; Tencomnao. T (23 April 2012). "Rhinacanthus nasutus Extracts Prevent Glutamate and Amyloid-β Neurotoxicity in HT-22 Mouse Hippocampal Cells: Possible Active Compounds Include Lupeol, Stigmasterol and β-Sitosterol". International Journal of molecular sciences. 13 (4): 5074–5097. doi:10.3390/ijms13045074.
9. Brimson, James; Tewin Tencomnao (2013). "Medicinal herbs and antioxidants: potential of Rhinacanthus nasutus for disease treatment?". Phytochemistry Reviews. 13: 643–651. doi:10.1007/s11101-013-9324-2.
10. http://www.entomoljournal.com/vol3Issue1/pdf/53.1.pdf
11. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/np50092a018
12. "Antimicrobial activity and stability of rhinacanthins-rich Rhinacanthus nasutus extract". Phytomedicine. 17: 323–327. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2009.08.014.
13. Tewtrakul S, et al. (2009). "Effects of rhinacanthins from Rhinacanthus nasutus on nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha releases using RAW264.7 macrophage cells". nih.gov. 16: 581–5. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2008.12.022. PMID 19303271.
14. "Induction of Apoptosis by Rhinacanthone Isolated from Rhinacanthus nasutus Roots in Human Cervical Carcinoma Cells". jst.go.jp.
15. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/102901/
16. "Antiproliferative Activity of Rhinacanthus nasutus (L.) KURZ Extracts and the Active Moiety, Rhinacanthin C". jst.go.jp.
17. "Two New Lignans with Activity against Influenza Virus from the Medicinal Plant Rhinacanthus nasutus". Journal of Natural Products. 60: 635–637. doi:10.1021/np960613i.