Lantana Camara Benefits And Medicinal Uses In Asia

Lantana camara benefits in traditional medicine is to treat some diseases using herbal tea and pasta. Lantana Camara considered a lot of drugs, so it has widely known in various countries. Other languages like Malaysian call it Big-Sage, Wild-Sage, Red_sage. In the Caribbean it called White-Sage, and Africans call it Tickberry. In Indonesia, they named Wu se mei, Kembang Tembelekan, Bunga Pagar, Kayu Singapur.

Lantana Camara is a flowering plant species in the Verbena family, Verbenaceae. This plant thought to widespread in the tropical regions of Central and South America. In Indonesia, Lantana Camara benefits often planted to beautify the garden, as herbs and ornamental plant in front of their house. The development of this plant then spread from America to the whole world, brought to Europe by Dutch explorers and cultivated widely. It then spread to Asia and was consider a weed.

Morphology And Lantana Camara Benefits

Lantana Camara can found in the lowlands to an altitude of 1700 m above sea level. Lantana Camara generally grows wild in a barren place, many people use it as a hedge plant or an ornamental plant. The morphology of Lantana Camara as follows:

1. Plant upright or half propagate, has many branches, and twigs are rectangular.
2. Plant height reaches 2 m, spiny plants and some are not.
3. Characteristic of the leaves is egg-shaped, pointed tip, leaf edge looks serrated, pinnate leaf bone. The upper surface of the leaves is hairy, feels rough when touched, and the lower part of the leaves is rare. Lantana Camara leaves smell nice.
4. Characteristic flowers are white, pink, orange, yellow, and other colors according to varieties. Flower shaped circuit, clustered and looks round.
5. Characteristic of Lantana Camara fruit like berry, looks green if young and shiny black when it is ripe.

Some of the properties and chemical compounds found in Lantana Camara have medical effects to cure diseases. Each part of the plant has the following functions:

1. Lantana Camara root is sweet and cool. Lantana Camara root benefits for antipyretic, antitoxic, pain relievers or analgesics, stop bleeding or hemostatics. Lantana Camara medicinal uses for treating influenza, tuberculosis, epidemic parotitis, rheumatism, sprains, haematoma. Also used to treat skin diseases related to emotional disorders or neurodermatitis, to treat leucorrhea, gonorrhea, and frequent urination.
2. The leaves are bitter, cool, smelly, and somewhat toxic. Lantana Camara leaf benefits for antipruritus, antitoxic, antiswelling, vomiting stimulant (emetikum). Tuberculosis accompanied by coughing up blood, treating children's cough and curing asthma.
3. The flower tasted sweet and cool. Lantana Camara flowers benefits to stop bleeding (hemorrhoid), cures skin, furunculus, skin inflammation (dermatitis), pruritus, bruising (haematoma), wounds and sprains, rheumatism. Also used to stimulate vomiting for food poisoning, treat tussis, and frequent urination.

Several studies in India have explained that the Lantana Camara benefits are antimicrobial, fungicidal and insecticides. Ever since, Lantana Camara has used in traditional herbal medicines to treat various diseases, medicinal uses to treat cancer, skin itching, leprosy, rabies, chickenpox, measles, asthma and ulcers. Lantana Camara extract can reduce the development of purulent swelling, also used to treat respiratory infections.

Reference

• Antiulcerogenic activity of Lantana camara leaves on gastric and duodenal ulcers in experimental rats. Journal Ethnopharmacology. DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2010.11.049
• A review of the noxious plant Lantana camara. Toxicon. DOI:10.1016/0041-0101(88)90196-1
• Lantana Camara, image courtesy of wikimedia commons.