Leonurus japonicus

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Lamiales

Familia: Lamiaceae
Subfamilia: Lamioideae
Tribus: Leonureae
Genus: Leonurus
Species: Leonurus japonicus
Name

Leonurus japonicus Houtt.
Synonyms

Leonurus artemisia (Lour.) S.Y.Hu
Leonurus heterophyllus Sweet
Leonurus sibiricus auct. pl.
Stachys artemisia Lour.

References

Natural History; the Magazine of the American Museum of Natural History. New York 2(9):366, t. 57, fig. 1. 1778
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Leonurus japonicus in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.

Vernacular names

čeština: Srdečník japonský
English: Chinese motherwort
suomi: Japaninnukula
日本語: メハジキ
한국어: 익모초
ไทย: เอียะบ้อเช่า
Tiếng Việt: Ích mẫu
中文: 益母草

Leonurus japonicus, commonly called oriental motherwort[3] or Chinese motherwort, is a herbaceous flowering plant native to Asia, including Korea and Japan, and China to Cambodia.

Description

Plants are annual or biennial, growing from taproots. The stems are upright growing to a height of 30 to 120 cm. The flowers are sessile and produced in verticillasters. The calyx is tubular-campanulate shaped and 6–8 mm long with broad triangle shaped teeth. The corolla is white or reddish to purplish red in color. Plants bloom from June to September.[4]

It has escaped cultivation and become naturalized in other parts of the world including South and North America, Europe and Africa.
Uses

It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called yìmǔcǎo (Chinese: 益母草), literally "beneficial herb for mothers". It is used in cases of menstrual and delivery disorders caused by blood stasis, like dysmenorrhea, and amenorrhea.[5]

Leonurus japonicus, contains several compounds with biology activity, such as guanosine (CAS: 118-00-3), rutin (CAS: 153-18-4), syringic acid (CAS: 530-57-4) and stigmasterol (CAS: 83-48-7). Scientists use the purified compound as a standard in drug screening.[6]

References

Flora de Filipinas, Gran edicion, [Atlas II].[1], by Francisco Manuel Blanco circa 1880
"Leonurus japonicus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2008-02-11.
English Names for Korean Native Plants (PDF). Pocheon: Korea National Arboretum. 2015. p. 513. ISBN 978-89-97450-98-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2017 – via Korea Forest Service.
Flora of China
Miao, Lu-Lin; Zhou, Qin-Mei; Peng, Cheng; Liu, Zhao-Hua; Xiong, Liang (2019-09-01). "Leonurus japonicus (Chinese motherwort), an excellent traditional medicine for obstetrical and gynecological diseases: A comprehensive overview". Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 117: 109060. doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2019.109060. ISSN 0753-3322.
"Natural Products isolated from Leonurus japonicus - BioCrick".