952

12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2

Borreria G. Mey.

Prim. fl. esseq.: 79 (1818).

RUBIACEAE

x = 14, 28; Borreria hispida: 2n = 56, Borreria laevis: 2n = 24—28, Borreria ocymoides: 2n = (28), 40, 52—56, Borreria verticillata: 2n = 28

Major species Borreria laevis (Lamk) Griseb., Borreria ocymoides (Burm.f.) DC., Borreria verticillata (L.) G. Mey.

Button weed (En).

Borreria (including Spermacoce) comprises about 100B-150 species, mainly from tropical and subtropical America, but many species have been introduced into the Old World as weeds. About 10 species occur in South-East Asia.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the leaves of Borreria hispida or Borreria ocymoides are applied in poultices to treat headache, by cooling down the head, or mixed with other herbs applied to children with stomach-ache. The sap from the leaves of Borreria hispida, as well as those from Borreria laevis in South America, is applied to wounds and sores, to disinfect them. In Java, the stem and leaves of Borreria hispida, crushed with Alyxia R.Br., are used for diarrhoea. An infusion is taken for gallstones and kidney stones. In Papua New Guinea, the leaves of Borreria laevis, together with the scraped roots of Desmodium sequax Wallich and rhizomes of wild ginger, and mixed with ash, are made into a small bundle, which is squeezed empty into a tooth to relieve toothache. Borreria verticillata was formerly cultivated experimentally in Java, because of its stimulating action on the stomach, which in low doses resembles the action of Psychotria ipecacuanha (Brot.) Stokes (synonym Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Brot.) A. Rich.) and related species. In India it is used for intestinal parasites. Several Borreria species are stocked by Chinese herbalists in South-East Asia.
In India, the seeds of Borreria hispida are used as a substitute for coffee and the leaves are eaten as a vegetable in times of scarcity.

Borreria is only used om a local scale.

The aerial parts of Borreria verticillata contain an essential oil, which was shown to have antibacterial action on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio cholerae and gram-negative bacteria such as Enterobacteria and Pseudomonas. It also showed antifungal action by inhibiting conidial germination of Drechslera oryzae.
The aerial parts also contain a mixture of borrerine, borreverine and isoborreverine together with spermacoceine, which are all indole alkaloids derived from the amino acid tryptophan. A series of iridoids was isolated from the root bark of Borreria verticillata, consisting of daphylloside, asperuloside, feretoside, methyl desacetylasperulosidate, desacetylasperuloside, asperulosidic acid and desacetylasperulosidic acid.
Pharmacological effects of Borreria verticillata extracts furthermore include schistosomicidal activity.
An infusion of the leaves of Borreria hispida showed a significant influence on solubility of kidney stones in vitro and artificial urethra stones in white rats.
The methanol extract of Borreria laevis exhibited herbicidal activity against Lepidium sativum L., but also against seedlings of crops such as Sesamum. The extract also showed molluscicidal activity against Biomphalaria glabrata and Pomacea canaliculata.
Phytochemical screening of Borreria ocimoides revealed the presence of alkaloids and cardiac glycosides. Aqueous and alcoholic extracts inhibited the growth of Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and 'BETA'-haemolytic streptococci.

'Ipecacuanha' (mainly from Psychotria ipecacuanha is sometimes used in small doses as a substitute for Borreria hispida or Borreria verticillata, because of its stimulating action on the stomach.

Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves decussate, simple, entire; petiole short or almost absent; stipules interpetiolar, normally fringed. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal, sessile, few- to many-flowered fascicle. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, calyx 2- or 4-lobed, corolla campanulate, urceolate or funnel-shaped, 4-lobed, valvate in bud, stamens 4, inserted at base of tube, exserted, ovary inferior, 2-celled, 1-ovuled, style 2-lobed or 2-branched. Fruit a capsule, tipped with floral remnants, dehiscing with 2 valves, valves at base remaining attached to each other, septa detaching from the valves or not. Seed plano-convex, ventrally with a longitudinal groove. Seedling with epigeal germination.

Borreria can be found flowering throughout the year when sufficient water is available. Borreria is pollinated by insects, mainly thrips, but also by (stingless) bees, searching for honey.

Borreria is the largest genus in the tribe Spermacoceae, and is very problematic with regard to both generic and infrageneric classification. Many authors include Borreria (often also Dioida) in Spermacoce s. l., but as the status of some species treated here is not clear, they are kept in Borreria. Other authors keep at least the American Borreria species separate, but include Dioida at the subgeneric level only. Borreria articularis (L.f.) F.N. Williams is considered here as a synonym of Borreria hispida. According to some authors they belong to different species, representing the extremes of a complex species. Borreria hispida is in this case an erect herb, with terete stem, long spreading hairs, flexuous leaves, campanulate flowers, large fruits and seeds, while Borreria articularis is prostrate, with sharply 4-angled stem, scabrid hairs, normally flat leaves, funnel-like flowers and small fruits and seeds.

Borreria grows mainly in regions with a short or long dry period, on many soil types, often in regularly disturbed localities, but also in grasslands and in secondary forest.

Borreria is propagated by seed. The seeds show little dormancy. A single plant of Borreria laevis may produce about 22 000 seeds under favourable growing conditions, and a life cycle can be completed in 3 months. Seed weight is about 18 mg/100 seeds.

Borreria is a host for several nematode species. Larvae of some hawkmoths use Borreria verticillata as primary feed plant. In India, Borreria hispida is an off-season host for the larvae of the groundnut leaf miner (Aproaerema modicella). Many Borreria species are weeds in annual and perennial crops throughout the world.

Borreria is harvested throughout the season, when needed. Normally, whole plants are pulled up.

Borreria is used fresh, or dried in the shade for later use.

All Borreria species treated here have a large area of distribution, because of their weedy nature, and do not seem to be at risk of genetic erosion. There are no known breeding programmes of Borreria.

In general ipecacuanha alkaloids (emetine, chephaëline) and resembling alkaloids display some schistosomicidal activity. In this respect the alkaloids found in Borreria deserve more research, in order to evaluate their possibilities.

Bacigalupo, N.M. & Cabral, E.L., 1996. Infrageneric classification of Borreria (Rubiaceae-Spermacoceae) on the basis of American species. Opera Botanica Belgica 7: 297—308.
Ebana, R.U., Madunagu, B.E., Ekpe, E.D. & Otung, I.N., 1991. Microbiological exploitation of cardiac glycosides and alkaloids from Garcinia kola, Borreria ocymoides, Kola nitida and Citrus aurantifolia. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 71(5): 398—401.
Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. Vol. 2. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. pp. 1412—1413.
Lebrun, J.-P., & Stork, A.L., 1997. Enumération des plantes à fleurs d=Afrique tropicale. Vol. 4. Gamopétales: Clethraceae à Lamiaceae [Enumeration of flowering plants of tropical Africa. Vol. 4. Gamopetales: Clethraceae to Lamiaceae]. Editions des Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Genève, Switzerland. pp. 225B-228.
Maynart, G., Pousset, J.L., Mboup, S. & Denis, F., 1980. Antibacterial effect of borreverine, an alkaloid isolated from Borreria verticillata (Rubiaceae). Comptes Rendus des Séances de la Societé de Biologie et de ses Filiales 174(5): 925B-928. (in French)
Sivarajan, V.V. & Nair, R.V., 1986. Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on the Spermacoce hispida-articularis complex and the S. stricta-pusilla complex (Rubiaceae). Taxon 35: 363—369.

L.M. Noriel

Borreria hispida
Borreria laevis
Borreria ocymoides
Borreria verticillata

Noriel, L.M., 2001. Borreria G. Mey.. In: van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea

The following species in this genus are important in this commodity group and are treated separatedly in this database:
Borreria hispida
Borreria laevis
Borreria ocymoides
Borreria verticillata