Leucas aspera
INTRODUCTION
CLASSIFICATION
MORPHOLOGY
Contents ANATOMY
BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
CONCLUSION
Introduction
Leucas aspera (Willd.) Linn. commonly known
as 'Thumbai’, is distributed throughout the
Asian subcontinent in Malaysia, Philippines,
India from the Himalayas down to Ceylon.
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Classification
Taxonomy
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Tracheophytes
Class : Angiospermae
Order : Lamiales
Family : Lamiaceae
Genus : Leucas
Species : Aspera
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Binomial name
Leucas aspera
(Willd.) Linn.
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Common names
• Sanskrit: Dronapushpi, Chitrapathrika
• Punjabi: Guldor
• Bengali: Darunaphula, Hulkasha
• Gujarati: Kulnnphul
• Hindi: Goma madhupati
• Maharashtra: Bahuphul
• Bombay: Tumba
• Telugu: Thummichittu
• Malayalam: Thumba
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Morphology
Leucas aspera is an annual, branched,
herb erecting to a height of 15-60 cm with stout
and hispid acutely quadrangular stem and
branches.
LEAVES: Leaves are sub-sessile or shortly
petiolate, linearly lanceolate, obtuse, up to 8.0 cm long and 1.25
cm broad, with entire or crenate margin; petiole
2.5-6 mm long.
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FLOWERS: Flowers are white, sessile small, in
dense terminal or axillary whorls; bracts 6 mm
long, linear, acute, bristle-tipped, ciliate with
long slender hairs.
CALYX: Calyx variable, tubular, 8-13 mm long; the
lower half usually glabrous and membranous,
the upper half ribbed and hispid; mouth small,
very oblique, the upper part
produced forward; triangular,
bristle-tipped, ciliate, the upper tooth being the
largest.
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COROLLA: Corolla 1 cm long; tube 5 mm long
and pubescent above, annulate in the middle;
upper lip 3 mm long, densely white-woolly;
lower lip about twice as long, the middle lobe
obviate, rounded, the lateral lobes small,
subacute.
FRUIT: Fruit nutlets, 2.5 mm long, oblong,
brown, smooth, inner face angular and outer
face rounded.
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Materials and methods
o Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was employed in this study of L. aspera
o The plants were collected and washed thoroughly with water.
o Hand sections of stem, root and epidermal peels of leaf were stained with safranin-O.
o And was observed in Olympus BX-51 trinocular research microscope fitted with
CCD camera.
o For SEM study, hand cut sections, small pieces of stem, root, leaf and flower were
fixed in 4% glutaraldehyde in phosphate buffer (0.02 M, 6.9 pH), washed with
distilled water and passed through alcohol series, air dried, coated with gold in
Hitachi, HUS- 5 GB vacuum evaporator and observed at suitable magnification in
Hitachi S- 3000N Scanning Electron Microscope at an acceleration voltage of 10kV.
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Anatomy
Stem
Transverse Section of young stem is
quadrangular in outline with four distinct
collenchymatous ridges, covered with hairs. It
shows a narrow cortex and a ring of vascular
tissue encircling the wide stele.
In old stem, trichomes are few, phloem
tissue is wide and found on either side of the
wide xylem band; pith is parenchymatous, wide
and embedded with needle shaped crystals of calcium
oxalate.
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Detailed TS shows an epidermis covered with
thick cuticle, traversed occasionally with
stomata and bears simple, multicellular (three
to four-celled) uniseriate lignified trichomes and
sessile, glandular trichomes with multicellular
head; narrow parenchymatous cortex, except
under the ridges where it is collenchymatous,
distinct endodermis and parenchymatous
pericycle, especially; stellar region consisting
of a ring of vascular bundles connected with
interfascicular sclerenchymatous band; very
narrow parenchymatous phloem, and radially
arranged xylem tissue.
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Leaf
T.S of leaf passing through the midrib is
broadly convex on the lower side and slightly
grooved or flat on the upper side, a centrally
located conjoint and collateral meristele
associated with a parenchymatous pericycle
layer on lower side, collenchymatous tissue
underneath both the epidermis; dorsiventral
lamina epidermis covered with thick cuticle,
traversed with stomata, bears simple and
glandular trichomes of the same type as found
on stem, 1 to 2 layered palisade tissue
occupying the major area of the section and
spongy parenchyma.
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Root
TS of root shows narrow, elongated and closely
packed epidermal cells with thin walls, flattened
walls are straight. Glandular trichomes with
unicellular head and short unicellular stalk are
observed.
Cortex consists of thick walled
polygonal parenchyma with inter cellular spaces.
Parenchyma cells of cortex contain abundant
starch grains. Endodermis is uniseriate and
longitudinally elongated. Narrow medullary rays
with thick walled, pitted, lignified sclerides are
also observed in the cortex as well as in the
pericycle region. Vascular system consist of
phloem in the form of strands which is separated
from the xylem by the cambium. Xylem cells are
globose to sub globose.
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Microscopic
views
TS of Leaf
Trichome
TS of Root
A – Glandular Hair On Stem
B – Exudates And Lenticels On Stem
C – Whip Like Hairs On Stem
D – Blebs On Stem Hair
E – Fibrillar Wax Coating On Stem
F – Blebs On Stem
A – Glands On Stem
B – Rhombohedral Crystals On Stem
C – Stem T S
D – Root T S
E- Leaf T S
F - Leaf Surface
A- Portion Of Stem T S
B – Portion Of Root T S
C – Crystals In Pith Cells Of Stem (needle Shaped And
Cuboid)
D – Crystals In Pith Cells Of Stem (rhombohedral)
E – Stomata On Leaf
F – Leaf T S
A – Calyx
B – Brush Like Appendages Of The Calyx
C – Corolla Surface
D – Gynoecium
E – Seed
F – Seed Surface
Biological
importance
Uses
ANTI INFLAMMATORY AND ANTI FUNGAL
The juice of the leaves is used locally in
application for psoriasis, chronic skin eruptions
and chronic rheumatism.
MOSQUITO REPELLENT
The smoke of leaves of L. aspera are more toxic to the
filarial
vector mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus
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Uses
o The flowers are taken with honey to cure cough and
cold.
o The leaves juices are effective against snakebites,
poisonous insects or scorpion sting.
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Conclusion
Thumbai or Leucas aspera is an annual, herb belonging to the
family Lamiaceae. It bears white flowers.
The species is found growing in moist places such as stream
banks, riversides, swamps, wetlands, ditches, ponds, marshes,
etc., in temperate regions. In India, it is distributed throughout
the plains, hills, and mountains up to an elevation of about
3000m.
The leaves of the plant contain saponins, which are believed
to have anti-inflammatory properties. These compounds also
act as antioxidants.
This plant is used as food in some countries. In addition, it is
used as a medicinal herb.
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Leucas aspera
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Reference
Research article
ISSN: 0974-6943
Anatomical exploration of Leucas aspera (Willd) link a medicinal herb
and its pharmacognostic relevance
