Monograph for Stellaria media (chickweed)

Stellaria media (chickweed)

( Illustration of complete plant and seed; Image credit :- Mentz, August, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

A.S.IFRA

CONTENTS Section-1- General 1. Introduction 2. Distribution 3. Habitat 4. Nature 5. Identification 6. Morphology 7. Usage 8. Cultivation 9. Toxicity

Section-2- Scientific 1. Taxonomic position 2. Floral formula and floral diagram 3. Anatomy 4. Chemical composition 5. Pharmacological activities and clinical trials

Section-3-Appendix 1. Names in different languages 2. References

SECTION-1

INTRODUCTION Stellaria media is a star of herb world belonging to pink family (caryophyllaceae), therefore also known as ‘starweed’ bear white flowers and oval leaves. It is famous for its star-like flowers but basically considered as a futile weed, therefore people generally try to get rid of it. But it is not so, since from ancient times in herbalism it is used for skin problems like dry skin, rashes, skin irritation, eczema and irritated varicose veins.

It is also a terrific blood cleanser used in the form of poultice with ginger root, capsicum, kelp and honey to remove poisoning due to chemical dye and dirt from bloodstream.

In addition to this the whole plant tincture is used as a homeopathic medicine (commercially available) for treating diseases like chronic rheumatism, liver cirrhosis, psoriasis and cervical spondylitis.

Additionally it is also used as a food item (especially leaves and seeds). The leaves are used in salads and pesto. The famous herb forager Euell Gibbons devised several recipes by using fresh chickweed. Seeds powder is used as a soup thickener.

Also animals like goat, sheep and birds (especially chickens, hence the name chickweed) use the plant as their feed.

Stellaria media Family: Caryophyllaceae

(Close view of plant; Image credit: Kaldari, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons)

Distribution: Cosmopolitan; native to Eurasia.

Habitat: Common in meadows, lawns, wastelands and open areas.

Nature: Mesophytic Identification: It has fine hairs on only one side of its stem in a single band and on the sepals.

Morphology:Vegetative characters: HABIT: A wild, annual herb, grow up to 0.5m.

ROOT: Tap root, branched.

STEM: Herbaceous, aerial, erect or decumbent, cylindrical, branched, solid, swollen nodes, hairy when young, 6� to 2’ long, green.

LEAF: Ramal and cauline, simple, opposite decussate, exstipulate, upper sessile but lower petiolate; ovate, oblong or lanceolate; entire, acute, unicostate reticulate venation.

Floral characters: INFLORESENCE: Dichasial cyme.

FLOWER: Bracteate, pedicellate, pedicel glabrous; complete, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, pentamerous, hypogynous, cyclic, small, white.

CALYX: Sepals 5, polysepalous, oblong or lanceolate, acute, hairy, quincuncial aestivation, green.

COROLLA: Petals 5, polypetalous, deeply bilobed appearing like 10, white, imbricate aestivation.

ANDROCEIUM: Stamens 10 but get reduced to 5 or 8 due to abortion into staminodes; present in two whorls, polyandrous, obdiplostamonous, filaments are cylindrical and are of equal length, dithecous, basifixed, introrse.

GYNOECIUM: Tricarpellary, syncarpous, superior, unilocular with many ovules, free central placentation; style reduced and stigma 3.

FRUIT: A capsule.

SEED: Brown, flat and endospermic seed.

(Close view of anthers and stigma; Image credit: MrClementi, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via creative common)

(Seeds, Image credit: Steve Hurst, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via wikimedia commons)

Usage:FOOD

WEED

HOMEOPATHY

FODDER

HERBALISM

1. Edible as food: Consumed by humans since from 17th century either cooked or raw. Used in several recipes like Nanakusa-no-sekku (symbolic dish of Japan), chik chik pate, in pesto and chickweed salad with Angelica seed dressing. [22] Famous herb forager Euell Gibbons devised several recipes by using fresh chickweed.[23] But sometime

it excess intake is poisonous due to presence of saponins.

(Cardamine hirsuta and S.media pesto; Image credit: FritzFlohrReynolds, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via creative common)

2. Edible as fodder: Mostly consumed by birds (especially chickens hence the name chickweed) and grazing animals like goat and sheep.[2] 3. Homeopathy: Mother tincture is used for:a. Chronic rheumatism b. Gout disorder with enlarged and inflamed finger joints. c. Psoriasis d. Cervical spondylitis

e. Invaluable remedy for liver problems like swelling, enlargement, cirrhosis and first and second stage of cancer.[3,4]

( Mother tincture of S.media; Image credit: A commercial product by Dr. Reckeweg)

4. Folk medicine: In folk medicine it is used for itchy and irritated skin and for pulmonary diseases. Poultice is used for burns, itching and wounds.[5,6] The whole plant poultice with ginger root, kelp, capsicum and honey is used to exit the threat of poisoning due to chemical dye or dirt.[23, 26] 5. Herbalism: Herbalists prescribe it for skin diseases (poultice used generally), bronchitis, rheumatic pains, arthritis, irritated varicose veins and period pain. [24, 25] Ainu used this plant for treating bruises and aching bones. Stems were steeped in hot water before being applied externally to affected areas. [6,7]It also act as terrific blood cleanser beside herb such as burdock root. [23]

Cultivation: A very common garden weed can grow in any kind of soil type with any pH but growth become vigorous in fertile soil throughout the year but bloom specifically in winter and spring season. It also grow in potato field as weed. Can propagate via seeds and plantlets. Flowers bloom 9’o clock in the morning and remain open for about 12 hours but does not bloom in dull weather.

Toxicity: In very rare cases its repeated and excess intake can cause nitrate poisoning (due to saponins) in both animals and humans (paralysis). Therefore it is registered as poisonous plant in FDA poisonous plant database. [21]

SECTION-2

Taxonomic Position:Kingdom: Plantae Division: Angiosperm Class: Dicotyledon Sub-class: Polypetalae Series: Thalamiflorae Order: Caryophyllinae Family: Caryophyllaceae Genus: Stellaria Species: media Floral formula: Br

0 K5 C5 A5+5G(3)

Floral Diagram:-

( Illustration of floral diagram; Image credit: Author’s original)

Anatomy:-[1] STEM T.S.: EPIDERMIS: Arranged in single row, flat in shape, fitted closely along with radial walls with extended cuticle, having uniserrate, glandular, multi- cellular hair and few stomata.

CORTEX: 4-5 layers of large rounded parenchymatous cells without intercellular spaces.

ENDODERMIS: Fitted barrel shaped cells without intercellular space.

VASCULAR BUNDLES: Phloem is external and composed of thin walled cells; xylem is internal and composed of thick walled xylem vessels.

PITH: Central and is composed of round or polygonal thin walled parenchymatous cells without intercellular spaces.

LEAF T.S.: EPIDERMIS: Single layered both upper and lower portion with cuticle and stomata.

MESOPHYLL: Lies between two epidermal layers divided into palisade (single layered elongated cylindrical cell) and spongy parenchyma (3-4 layers of rounded irregularly loosely arranged cells) VASCULAR BUNDLES: Surrounded by thin walled parenchymatous cells; consist of xylem lying toward the upper epidermis and phloem toward lower epidermis.

Chemical Composition: 1. Emodin[8] 2. Parietin[8] 3. Questin[8] 4. Kaemferol-3,7-O-alpha-L-dirhamnoside[8] 5. Beta-sitosterol[8] 6. Daucosterol[8] 7. 1-hexacosenol[8] 8. Apigenin 6-C-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-8-C-alpha-Larbinopyranoside[9] 9. Apigenin 6-C-alpha-L-arbinopyranosyl-8-C-beta-Dgalactopyranoside[9] 10.

Apigenin 6-C-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-8-C-beta-Larabinopyranoside[9] 11.

Apigenin 6-C-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-8-C-beta-Dgalactopyranoside[9] 12.

Apigenin 6,8-di-C-alpha-L-arbinopyranoside[9] 13.

Triterpenoid saponins (toxic)[10,11] 14.

Proanthocyanidins[12] 15.

2,4,5,7-trimethyloctane[13] 16.

6-methyl heptyl-3’-hydroxy-2’-methylpropanoate[13] 17.

2,2,4-trimethylocta-3-one[13] 18.

Stellarmedin A[18]

Pharmacological Activities and Clinical Trials:1. Anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect- The methanol extract of S.media (L) Vill leaf was studied using albumeninduced paw edema and formalin induced paw lick in rats.

Three groups of 5 rats were administrated orally with the leaf extract of S.media at 100mg/kg, 300mg/kg or 500mg/kg body weight respectively. A 4th group was administrated with Indomethacin (5mg/kg bw) and distilled water (10mls/kg bw) for the control group. The extract of S.media dose dependently, significantly (p<0.05) inhibited egg albumen-induced paw oedema as effectively as Indomethacin. Hence, the methalonic extract of S.media showed potent peripherallyn and centrally mediated antiinflammatory and analgesic properties. The analgesic effect appears mediated through inhibition of release of histamine, serotonin and kinins, prostaglandin, cyclooxygenase and slow reacting substance.[14] 2. Hepatoprotective activity: Therapy of rats with CCl4 hepatitis with Stellaria media L. water-soluble polysaccharide fraction in a dose of 100 mg/kg reduces serum activities of transaminases (ALT and AST), alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, and the thymol test values. In the liver, the density of inflammatory infiltration of the organ parenchyma, total count of necrotic hepatocytes, fatty and protein degeneration are reducing. Hence, water-soluble polysaccharide fraction, isolated from the terrestrial part of Stellaria media L., is characterized by hepatoprotective activity.[15]

3. Anti-obesity activity: In vitro studies were performed to evaluate the inhibitory activity of lyophilized juice (LJ) of S.media on pancreatic amylase and lipase. The in-vivo pancreatic lipase activity was evaluated by measurement of plasma triacylglycerol levels after oral administration of lipid emulsion to Swiss albino mice. Furthermore, the antiobesity effect of LJ was assessed at two doses, 400mg/kg and 900mg/kg body weight in mice fed a high-fat-diet with or without LJ for 6 weeks[16]; Methanolic extract of S.media (MESM) have prevented the increase in body weight, adipose tissue weight and size, and upturned obesity and associated complications in female albino mice.[17] 4. Anti-viral activity: Stellarmedin A protein inhibited herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) replication in vitro with an IC50 of 13.18 Âľg/ml and a therapeutic index exceeding 75.9.

[18] The anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activity of S.media was evaluated in-vitro using the human HBV-transfected liver cell line HepG2.2.15.[19] 5. Anti-bacterial activity: The aqueous extract of whole plant show strong anti-bacterial activity against E.coli and S.typhii.[14] 6. Anxiolytic activity: The methanol extract (100 mg/kg) of S.media exhibited significant anxiolytic activity as evidenced by an increase in both the time spent in the open arms and the number of open arm entries. This effect was comparable to that produced by diazepam. Significant increase in the locomotory behavior of mice by the methanol extract, further confirmed its anxiolytic activity.

Phytochemical screening of the methanol extract showed

the presence of flavonoids, triterpenoids, proteins, tannins, carbohydrates, fixed oils and fats.[20]

APPENDIX

Names in different languages: ENGLISH: Chickweed, satinflower, passerina, adderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mouth, starwort, star chickweed, starweed, chick wittels, stichwort, winterweed, maruns, craches.

INDIA: Chickweed, safed fulki, kokoon, buch-buchaa SPAIN: Berillo, bocado de gallina FRANCE: Morgeline, mouron des oiseaux PORTUGUESE: Morugem, morugem-vulgar BRAZIL: Meragem- branca IRAQ: Kazazah ARGENTINA: Caapiqui CHILE: Quilloi quilloi DENMARK: Fugelgras FINLAND: Pihatahtimb GERMANY: Huhnerdarm, Mausedarm ITALY: Centocchio, Paperin comune JAPAN: Hakobe NETHERLANDS: Muur, Vogelmuur NORWAY: Vassarv SOUTH AFRICA: Gewone sterremur SWEDEN: Vatarv TURKEY: Serce dili

YUGOSLAVIA: Misjakinja

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Niering, William A.; Olmstead, Nancy C. (1985) [1979]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region. Knopf. p. 462.

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6. Crellin JK, Philpott J. (1999) A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants: Herbal Medicine Past and Present. Durham, North Caroline: Duke University Press Books; pp 156-157.

7. Batchelor, J. and Miyabe, K. (n.d.). Ainu economic plants. 1st ed. 1893.

8. Huang Yuan, Dong Qi, Qiao Shan-Yi. 2007. Studies on the Chemical Constituents from Stellaria media (II). Pharmaceutical Journal of Chinese People's Liberation Army.

9. Dong, Q; Huang, Y; Qiao, SY (2007). Studies on chemical constituents from stellaria media. I. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi = Zhongguo Zhongyao Zazhi = China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica (in Chinese). 32 (11): 1048–51.

10. Hu, Y.M.; Wang, H.; Ye, W.C.; Qian, L. (2009). New triterpenoid fromStellaria media (L.) Cyr". Natural Product Research. 23 (14): 1274–8.

11. Böttger, Stefan; Melzig, Matthias F. (2011). Triterpenoid saponins of the Caryophyllaceae and Illecebraceae family. Phytochemistry Letters. 4 (2): 59.

12. 0. Bittrich, V.; Amaral, Maria Do Carmo E. (1991). Proanthocyanidins in the testa of centrospermous seeds. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 19 (4): 319.

13. Arora D and Sharma A: Isolation and characterization of the chemical constituents of Stellaria media Linn. Int J Pharm Sci & Res 2014; 5(9): 3669-73.

14. Singh, B. and S. Yadav. In Vitro studies on antibacterial activity and phytochemical analysis of whole plant extracts of Stelleria media. International Journal of Phytomedicine 2 (2010): 260-266. anti bacterial

15.

Gorina, Y.V. Saprykina, E.A., Gereng, E.A. et al. Evaluation of Hepatoprotective Activity of water-soluble polysaccharide fraction of Stellaria media L. Bull Exp Biol Med, 154. 645-648 (2013).

16.

Rani, N., Vasudeva, N. & Sharma, S.K. Quality assessment and anti-obesity activity of Stellaria media (Linn.) Vill. BMC Complement Altern Med 12, 145 (2012).

17. Chidrawar VR, Patel KN, Sheth NR, et al. Antiobesity effect of Stellaria media against drug-induced obesity in Swiss albino mice. Ayu. 2011 Oct-Dec; 32(4).

18.

Yu Shan, Yuhong Zheng, Fuqin Guan, Jianjian Zhou, Haiguang Zhao, Bing Xia, Xu Feng, Purification and characterization of a novel anti-HSV-2 protein with antiproliferative and peroxidase activities from Stellaria media, Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica, Volume 45, Issue 8, August 2013, p649–655.

19. Ma, L.; Song, J.; Shi, Y.; Wang, C.; Chen, B.; Xie, D.; Jia, X. Anti-Hepatitis B Virus Activity of Chickweed [Stellaria media (L.) Vill.] Extracts in HepG2.2.15 Cells. Molecules 2012, 17,

20.

Arora D.; Sharma A.; Evaluation of Anxiolytic Activity of Stellaria media Linn. Extracts in Mice. Vol: 2 Pharmacognostic communications 2012.

21.

Ball, M. J. (May 1987). Hemlock Water Dropwort Poisoning. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 63 (739): 363–365.

22.

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