Millettia pachycarpa
Millettia pachycarpa (synonym M. taiwaniana Hayata ) is a perennial climbing shrub belonging to the genus Millettia. It is one of the most well known among ~150 species of Millettia, as it is widely used in traditional practices, such as for poisoning fish, agricultural pesticide, blood tonic, and treatments of cancer and infertility. The bark fiber is used for making strong ropes.[1][2]
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Species: | M. pachycarpa |
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Millettia pachycarpa | |
It is endemic to south-east Asian region including Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. In India it is found only in the eastern region such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal.[3][4]
Description
M. pachycarpa is a climbing shrub. It has dark brown inflated legumes that are densely covered with rough pale yellow warts. The leguminous pods contain one to five dark brown reniform seeds. The leaves have 13 to 17 papery leaflets and the flowers are lilac-colored. Rachis are 30–50 cm (12–20 in), including petiole 7–9 cm (3–4 in). Leaflet blades are elliptic-oblong to lanceolate-oblong, base cuneate to rounded, apex acute. Legume dark brown, oblong or when 1-seeded ovoid, inflated, densely covered with pale yellow warts. Pseudora cemes with two to six branches beneath new stems, 15–30 cm (6–12 in), brown tomentose; rachis nodes with two to five flowers clustered on a 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) spur.[4]
Traditional uses
Fish poison
Among the tribal natives of north-east India and Tsou people of Taiwan, the juice extract of the crushed root and seed are widely used as fish poison in traditional fishing; and hence the common name 'fish poison climber'.[5][6][7][8] The natives smash the plant parts against rocks, and let the juice extract run into the water. Fishes are easily stupefied and subsequently paralyzed. Then they are collected by hands or nets or baskets.
Traditional medicine
It is used in traditional Chinese medicine as a blood tonic and to induce the growth of red blood cells[2] and as cancer therapy in a preparation called 'Jixueteng'.[9][10] The crushed concoction of M. pachycarpa leaves are used by some native tribals of north-east India, and the root bark is also directly eaten for treating intestinal infection.
Insecticide
The finely ground seeds are prepared in suspension which is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine as insecticide against insect pests.[11] A 5% water suspension of the seeds is as effective as 0.1 % benzene hexachloride spray when used against the ten-spotted grape leaf-beetle, Oides decempunctata; and also more potent than phenothiazine against the fifth-instar small white butterfly, Pieris rapae.[12] The dried powder of the root is also effective against bean aphids, silkworm and Mexican bean beetle.[13] Isolation of rotenone and other rotenoids from the root leaves no doubt for its insecticidal property as these compounds are well established insecticides.[14][15]
Chemical constituents
A number of chemical compounds have been isolated from M. pachycarpa including several prenylflavonoids, dihydroflanonols, and chalconoids from the seed,[16] rotenoids such as rotenone, cis-12a-hydroxyretenone, rot-2′-enonic acid and cis-12a-hydroxyrot-2′-enonic acid from the root,[14][15] and barbigerone.[17] Several chemical analyses have yielded a number of novel prenylated isoflavones including erysenegalensein E, euchrenone b10, isoerysenegalensein E, 6,8-diprenylorobol, furowanin A and B, millewanins F, G and H, warangalone, and auriculasin from the leaves.[18][19] The major flavonoid component of the stem was found to be auriculasin (6).[20] In addition, terpenoids such as epifriedinol and friedelin, and steroids (phytosterols) such as campesterol, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol are also identified from the stem and leaf.[21]
References
- Agarwal VS (2003). Directory of Indian Economic Plants. Dehradun (India): Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh. p. 335. ISBN 9788121102896.
- Perry LM (1980). Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia: Attributed Properties and Uses. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-16076-6.
- ILDS (24 January 2013). "Millettia pachycarpa Benth". ILDIS World Database of Legumes. International Legume Database Information Service (ILDIS). Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- efloras.org. "Millettia pachycarpa Bentham". Flora of China. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- Tattersfield F, Martin JT, Howes FN (1940). "Some fish-poison plants and their insecticidal properties". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens, Kew). 1940 (5): 169–180. doi:10.2307/4111566. JSTOR 4111566.
- Srivastava RC (2010). "Traditional knowledge of Nyishi (Dafla) tribe of Arunachal Pradesh" (PDF). Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. 9 (1): 26–37.
- Hiroshi Y (2000). Segawa's Illustrated Ethnography of Indigenous Formosan People: The Tsou. SMC Publishing Inc., Taipei, Taiwan. ISBN 957-638-554-7
- Lalchhandama K (2010). Pharmacology of Some Traditional Anthelmintic Plants: Biochemical and Microscopic Studies. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany. ISBN 978-3-8383-5026-4
- Haifan, Zhang (1996). "Observation on curative effect of Huteng Tang (Huzhang and Millettia Combination) in treating side effects caused by cancer chemotherapy". The Practical Journal of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine. 9 (3): 137.
- Dorsher P, Peng Z (2010). "Chinese medicinal herbs use in Managing cancer". In Cho WCS (ed.). Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine. Netherlands: Springer. pp. 55–75. ISBN 978-90-481-3554-7.
- Eisenberg A, Amato J, Dengtao (2009). "Kam local indigenous knowledge and sustainable resource management in Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces". Ethnobotany Research & Applications. 7: 067–113. doi:10.17348/era.7.0.67-113. Archived from the original on 2009-09-03.
- Chiu SH (1950). "Effectiveness of chinese insecticidal plants with reference to the comparative toxicity of botanical and synthetic insecticides". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 1 (9): 276–286. doi:10.1002/jsfa.2740010906. Archived from the original on 2013-01-05.
- Prakash A, Rao J (1997). Botanical Pesticides in Agriculture. CRC-Press, pp. 229–230. ISBN 0-87371-825-9
- Singhal AK, Sharma RP, Baruah JN, Govindan SV, Herz W (1982). "Rotenoids from roots of Millettia pachycarpa". Phytochemistry. 21 (4): 949–951. doi:10.1016/0031-9422(82)80103-9.
- Ye H, Chen L, Li Y, Peng A, Fu A, Song H, Tang M, Luo H, Luo Y, Xu Y, Shi J, Wei Y (2008). "Preparative isolation and purification of three rotenoids and one isoflavone from the seeds of Millettia pachycarpa Benth by high-speed counter-current chromatography". Journal of Chromatography A. 1178 (1–2): 101–107. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2007.11.060. PMID 18082754.
- Singhal AK, Sharma RP, Thyagarajan G, Herz W, Govindan SV (1980). "New prenylated isoflavones and a prenylated dihydroflavonol from Millettia pachycarpa". Phytochemistry. 19 (5): 929–934. doi:10.1016/0031-9422(80)85140-5.
- Ye H, Zhong S, Li Y, Tang M, Peng A, Hu J, Shi J, He S, Wu W, Chen L (2010). "Enrichment and isolation of barbigerone from Millettia pachycarpa Benth. using high-speed counter-current chromatography and preparative HPLC". Journal of Separation Science. 33 (8): 1010–1017. doi:10.1002/jssc.200900641. PMID 20187026. Archived from the original on 2013-01-05.
- Okamoto Y, Suzuki A, Ueda K, Ito C, Itoigawa M, Furukawa H, Nishihara T, Kojima N (2006). "Anti-estrogenic activity of prenylated isoflavonoids from Millettia pachycarpa: implications for pharmacophores and unique mechanisms" (PDF). Journal of Health Science. 52 (2): 186–191. doi:10.1248/jhs.52.186.
- Ito C, Itoigawa M, Kumagaya M, Okamoto Y, Ueda K, Nishihara T, Kojima N, Furukawa H (2006). "Isoflavonoids with antiestrogenic activity from Millettia pachycarpa". Journal of Natural Products. 69 (1): 138–141. doi:10.1021/np050341w. PMID 16441086.
- Ito C, Itoigawa M, Kojima N, Tokuda H, Hirata T, Nishino H, Furukawa H (2004). "Chemical constituents of Millettia taiwaniana: structure elucidation of five new isoflavonoids and their cancer chemopreventive activity". Journal of Natural Products. 67 (7): 1125–1301. doi:10.1021/np030554q. PMID 15270565.
- Southon IW, Bisby FA (1994). Phytochemical Dictionary of the Leguminosae. Taylor & Francis Ltd, p. 485. ISBN 0-412-39770-6