Plectranthus amboinicus

Plectranthus amboinicus, once identified as Coleus amboinicus, is a tender fleshy perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae with an oregano-like flavor and odor, native to Southern and Eastern Africa, from South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) and Swaziland to Angola and Mozambique and north to Kenya and Tanzania.^[1] It is widely cultivated and naturalised elsewhere in the Old and New World Tropics.

Common names

English

country borage (India,^[2] South Africa,^[1] US^[3])

French Thyme (South Africa,^[1] US^[3])

Indian borage (India^[2])

Indian mint (South Africa,^[1] US^[3])

Mexican mint (US,^[3] favored common name^[4]

soup mint (South Africa,^[1] US^[3])

Spanish thyme (US^[3])

big thyme (St.Vincent, Grenada & other English speaking Caribbean Islands)

also broadleaf thyme;^[4] Cuban oregano;^[4] Mexican thyme; Queen of herbs; three-in-one herb; allherb; mother of herbs

French

orielle^[1]

German

Jamaika-Thymian^[1]

Hindi

पथरचुर pathorchur^[4]/patharcur^[2]

patta ajavayin^[2]

Javanese

daun kutjing^[4] (note, this is spelled in an old orthography of the Indonesian language, currently used name will be different)

Kannada

ದೊಡ್ಡಪತ್ರೆ ಸೊಪ್ಪು doddapatre soppu also called as Saviara sambara

Malayalam

പനിക്കൂര്‍ക്ക panikkoorkka

Khmer^[5]

ជីរស្លឹកក្រាស់ chi(r) slök krahs

ជីរក្រអូប chi(r) krâ-ôb

ជីរត្រចៀកជ្រូក chi(r) trâchi:ëk chru:k

Malay

bangun bangun^[4]

dacon ajenton^[1]

Portuguese

Hortelã-da-folha-grande Brasil^[6]

Spanish

orégano de Cartagena (Cuba)^[1]

toronjil de limón (Philippines)^[1]

orégano brujo (Puerto Rico)

orégano poleo (Dominican Republic)

orégano^[1]

orégano macho (Northwestern Mexico)

Swedish

kryddkarlbergare^[1]

Tagalog

suganda^[4]

Tamil

கற்பூரவள்ளி karpooravalli / karpuravalli^[2][7]

omavalli^[2]

Tongan^[8]

pāsiole

kaloni

Vietnamese

tần dầy lá^[4]

húng chanh

In the Indian state of Odisha it is called ରୁକୁଣା ହାତପୋଛା (Rukuna Haatapochhaa),in Andhrapradesh(in Telugu) it is called కప్పరిల్లాకు kapparillaakuAND vaamaaku, in Karnataka it is called ದೊಡ್ಡಪತ್ರೆ ಸೊಪ್ಪು doddapatre soppu, in Tamil Nadu it is called கற்பூரவள்ளி karpooravalli and in Kerala it is called as പനിക്കൂർക്ക panikoorka and has various uses in treating cold / cough / fever. See reference section.

Description

Plectranthus amboinicus is a large succulent herb, fleshy and highly aromatic, much branched, possessing short soft erect hairs, with distinctive smelling leaves.^[2] The stem is fleshy, about 30–90 cm, either with long rigid hairs (hispidly villous) or tomentose (densely covered with soft, short and erect hairs, pubescent). Leaves are undivided (simple), broad, egg/oval-shaped with a tapering tip (ovate) and very thick, they are pubescent (thickly studded with hairs), with the lower surface possessing the most numerous glandular hairs, giving a frosted appearance. The taste of this leaf is pleasantly aromatic with agreeable and refreshing odour. Flowers are on a short stem (shortly pedicelled), pale purplish in dense whorls at distant intervals in a long slender raceme.

Uses

The leaves are strongly flavoured and make an excellent addition to stuffings for meat and poultry. Finely chopped, they can also be used to flavour meat dishes, especially beef, lamb and game. Such use as a flavouring and its geographic spread is indicated by some of the common names, and documented for Cambodia^[5] and South Africa^[1] It is also used as a vegetable, for example in South East Asia.^[1] The herb is used as a substitute for oregano in the food trade and food labelled "oregano-flavoured" may well contain this herb.

The leaves have also had many traditional medicinal uses, especially for the treatment of coughs, sore throats and nasal congestion, but also for a range of other problems such as infections, rheumatism and flatulence. The plant is cultivated in home-gardens throughout India for use in traditional medicine, being used to treat malarial fever, hepatopathy, renal and vesical calculi, cough, chronic asthma, hiccough, bronchitis, helminthiasis, colic, convulsions, and epilepsy,^[2] Shenoy and others^[9] refer to further Indian traditional medicinal uses such as for skin ulcerations, scorpion bite, skin allergy, wounds, diarrhoea, with emphasis on the leaves being used as a hepatoprotective, to promote liver health. In Indonesia Plectranthus amboinicus is a traditional food used in soup to stimulate lactation for the month or so following childbirth. In Cambodia^[5] 2 uses are recorded: juice from the leaves is sweetened and then given to children as protection from colds; and leaves are applied to the lips. In Bahia, Brasil, people use the plant to treat skin lesions caused by Leishmania braziliensis.^[10] Just to the north, in Paraiba of the same country, the plant was extremely commonly known for use in home medication.^[6] As noted above, medicinal use also occurs in Southern India, it also documented^[1] in other parts of South East Asia and South Africa.

Other uses^[1] include as an ornamental, and for its essential oils.

Cultivation

Indian Borage is very commonly grown as a potted plant. Indian Borage is a fast growing plant. Propagation is via stem cuttings. To encourage a bushy plant, cut the tip of the top, insert into the soil and instantly, you have another plant as the cutting will grow within days. Indian Borage ideally should be grown in a semi-shaded and moist location as the leaves will remain a beautiful jade-green colour. If it is getting too much sun, the leaves turn yellow, start curling and look unsightly; if not enough sun, the leaves turn a dark shade of green and space out.

The herb grows easily in a well-drained, semi-shaded position. It is frost tender (Hardiness USDA Zones 10-11) ^[11] and grows well in sub-tropical and tropical locations, but will do well in cooler climates if grown in a pot and brought indoors, or moved to a warm sheltered position in winter. Water only sparingly.

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Literature

Some published literature on the plant includes:^[1][4]

African Flowering Plants Database - Base de Donnees des Plantes a Fleurs D'Afrique (AFPD), 2008

Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson, 2009, Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning, Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin)

Balick, M. J., M. Nee & D. E. Atha, 2000, 'Checklist of the vascular plants of Belize, Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 85: i–ix, 1–246

Brako, L., A.Y. Rossman & D.F. Farr, 1995, Scientific and Common Names of 7,000 Vascular Plants in the United States

CONABIO, 2009, Catálogo taxonómico de especies de México, 1. in Ca. nat. México. CONABIO, Mexico City

Davidse, G., M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera, ed, 2012, 'Rubiaceae a Verbenaceae', Fl. Mesoamer. 4(2): in publication

Dyer, R. A., et al., eds, 1963–', Flora of southern Africa

Erhardt, W., et al., 2008, Der große Zander: Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen

Gibbs Russell, G. E., W. G. Welman, E. Reitief, K. L. Immelman, G. Germishuizen, B. J. Pienaar, M. v. Wyk & A. Nicholas, 1987, 'List of species of southern African plants', Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa, 2(1–2): 1–152(pt. 1), 1–270(pt. 2)

Hanelt, P., ed, 2001, Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops, Volumes 1-6

Hedge, I. C., R. A. Clement, A. J. Paton & P. B. Phillipson, 1998, 'Labiatae', Fl. Madagasc, 175: 1–293

Hokche, O., P. E. Berry & O. Huber, 2008, Nuev. Cat. Fl. Vas. Venezuela 1–860. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

Huxley, A., ed, 1992, The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening

Markle, G. M., et al., eds, 1998, Food and feed crops of the United States, 2nd Ed.

McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker, 2000, Herbs of commerce, 2nd Ed.

Molina Rosito, A., 1975, Enumeración de las plantas de Honduras, Ceiba 19(1): 1–118

Orrell, T., Custodian, 2012, ITIS Regional: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (version Apr 2011), in: F. Bisby et al., ed,Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 25 June 2012, digital resource at www.catalogueoflife.org/col/. species 2000, Reading, England

Padua, L. S. de, et al., eds, 1999, 'Medicinal and poisonous plants 1', in I. Faridah Hanum & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA), 12(1):407

The PLANTS Database, 2000

Porcher, M. H., et al., Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND)

Rehm, S., 1994, Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants

Suddee, S., et al., 2004, 'A taxonomic revision of tribe Ocimeae Dumort. (Lamiaceae) in continental South East Asia II. Plectranthinae', Kew Bull. 59:391–393.

Turrill, W. B., et al., eds, 1952–, Flora of Tropical East Africa

References

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plectranthus amboinicus.

Wikispecies has information related to: Plectranthus amboinicus

• A Taxonomic Revision of tribe Ocimeae Dumort. (Labiatae) in continental South East Asia

Coleus aromaticus