English: Coronitas
Tagalog: Lantana, Kantutay
A gregarious, erect or half-climbing, somewhat hairy aromatic shrub; when erect, usually 1.2 m high and when scandent, twice as high. Branches four-sided with recurved prickles.
- Leaves: ovate, 5 to 9 cm long, pointed at the tip and rounded at the base and toothed in the margins.
- Flowers: pink, orange, yellow, white, lilac and other shades, according to the variety and borne in stalked heads which are 2 to 3.5 cm in diameter. Calyx small. Corolla tube slender, the limb spreading, 6 to 7 mm wide, and divided into unequal lobes. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs, included. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled.
- Fruits: Sweet tasting drupaceous fruit; purple or black, fleshy ovoid, and about 5 mm long.
Distribution
A gregarious weed in the Philippines. Certain varieties are cultivated as a trimmed hedge either alone or with other shrubs.
Constituents
Leaves: volatile oil, 0.2%.
Dried flowers: volatile oil, 0.07% – caryophyllene-like bicyclic terpene, 80%, l,a-phellandrene, 10-12%.
Bark: Lantanine, 0.08%.
Parts utilized and preparation
- Leaves, bark, roots, flowering tops.
- May be collected throughout the year.
- Sun-dry.
Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects
- Root: sweet and bitter tasting, refrigerant, antifebrile.
- Leaves: minty tasting, cooling natured, antiphlogistic, anti-dermatoses.
- Flowers: sweet tasting, mildly cooling, hemostatic.
Medicinal uses
- Influenza, cough, mumps, incessant high fever, malaria, cervical lymph node tuberculosis: use 30 to 60 gms dried roots or 60 to 120 gms fresh roots in decoction.
- Fever: Take decoction of bark or infusion of leaves and flowering tops as tea.
- Hemoptysis, pulmonary tuberculosis: use 6 to 9 gms dried flowers in decoction.
- Dermatitis, eczema, pruritus: use fresh stems and leaves.
- Rheumatism – Spread oil on leaves, warm over low flame and apply on affected part.
- Sprains, wounds, contusions: Use pounded fresh leaves applied as poultice.
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