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Minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa)

Dlium Minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa)

Minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa) is a species of plant in the Acanthaceae, an upright herb, up to 2 meters high and has many branches. The leaves are oval, with a pointed base, blunt tip, thin, flat surface, green, flat edges and pinnate veins.

R. tuberosa has leaves up to 13 cm long, 7 cm wide and stalks up to 4 cm long. Trumpet-shaped flowers, 4-5 cm in diameter and up to 6 cm long. The thin crown is purple or blue, five strands and fused downwards to form a tube.





The fruit is tubular with a pointed tip and 2-3 cm long. Young fruit is green, old fruit is brown. If the ripe fruit is exposed to water it will burst, detach and be thrown from the stalk. The seeds are round, flat and brown. Minnieroot uses taproots and tubers.

This plant contains active chemical compounds including alkaloids, triterpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, saponins, coumarin and quinone dyes. Roots contains apigenin and luteolin. Seed oil contains myristic, capril and lauric acid.

Traditional treatment uses R. tuberosa as an antidiabetic, antipyretic, analgesic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. The leaves are ground into paste and used to treat wounds, itching, insect bites, venereal disease, wounds, tumors and rheumatic complaints.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Acanthaceae
Subfamily: Acanthoideae
Tribe: Ruellieae
Subtribe: Ruelliinae
Genus: Ruellia Plum. ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 634 (1753)
Section: Ruellia
Species: Ruellia tuberosa L. in Sp. Pl.: 635 (1753)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Cryphiacanthus barbadensis Nees in Index Seminum (WROCL, Wratislaviensi) 1841: [3] (1841)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Dipteracanthus clandestinus (L.) C.Presl in Abh. Königl. Böhm. Ges. Wiss., ser. 5, 3: 528 (1845)
Ruellia clandestina L. in Sp. Pl.: 634 (1753)
Ruellia lysimachia Nees in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 11: 198 (1847)
Ruellia paniculata Scop. ex Nees (1847)
Ruellia picta G.Lodd. in Bot. Cab. 15: t. 1448 (1829)
Ruellia tuberosa var. humilis M.Gómez in Anales Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 23: 281 (1894)

PUBLICATIONS

Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.

Balkrishna, A. (2018). Flora of Morni Hills (Research & Possibilities): 1-581. Divya Yoga Mandir Trust.

Barooah, C. & Ahmed, I. (2014). Plant diversity of Assam. A checklist of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms: 1-599. Assam science technology and environment council, India.

Boggan, J. Funck, V. & Kelloff, C. (1997). Checklist of the Plants of the Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, Franch Guiana) ed. 2: 1-238. University of Guyana, Georgetown.

Brako, L. & Zarucchi, J.L. (1993). Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 45: i-xl, 1-1286. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Castle, G.E. (1994). Flore des Seychelles Dicotylédones: 1-663. Orstom Editions.

Correa A., Mireya D. Galdames, Carmen Correa A., M. D., C. Galdames & M. S. de Stapf (2004). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de Panamá: 1-599. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Dassanayake (ed.) (1998). A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon 12: 1-390. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. PVT. LTD., New Delhi, Calcutta.

Deng, Y.F., Li, Z.Y., Wang, Q. & Peng, H. (2020). Flora of Pan-Himalaya 46: 1-570. Science Press, Beijing. Cambridge University Press.

Dy Phon, P. (2000). Dictionnaire des plantes utilisées au Cambodge: 1-915. Chez l'auteur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.

Gonzalez, F., Nelson Diaz, J. & Lowry, P. (1995). Flora Illustrada de San Andrés y Providencia: 1-281. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Colombia.

Hara, H., Stearn, W.T. & Williams, H.J. (1982). An Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 3: 1-226. Trustees of British Museum, London.

Heine, H. (1976). Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dépendances 7: 1-212. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.

Idárraga-Piedrahita, A., Ortiz, R.D.C., Callejas Posada, R. & Merello, M. (eds.) (2011). Flora de Antioquia: Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares 2: 1-939. Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín.

Karthigeyan, K., Pandey, R.P. & Mao, A.A. (eds.) (2023). Flora of Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2: 1-689. Botanical Survey of India. Ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.

Kress, W.J., DeFilipps, R.A., Farr, E. & Kyi, D.Y.Y. (2003). A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Climbers of Myanmar. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45: 1-590. Smithsonian Institution.

Kuo, M.L. (ed.) (2012). Flora of Taiwan, ed. 2, Suppl.: 1-414. Editorial Committee of the Flora of Taiwan, Second Edition, National Taiwan University.

Lê, T.C. (2005). Danh lục các loài thực vật Việt Nam 3: 1-1248. Hà Nội : Nhà xuất bản Nông nghiệp.

MacKee, H.S. (1994). Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie, ed. 2: 1-164. Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris.

Malik, K.A. & Ghafoor, A. (1988). Flora of Pakistan 188: 1-79. Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi.

Meena, S.L. (2012). A checklist of the vascular plants of Banaskantha district, Gujarat, India. Nelumbo 54: 39-91.

Murugan, C., Singh, L.J., Prabhu, S. & Sathiyaseelan, R. (2014). The genus Ruellia L. (Acanthaceae) in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Indian Journal of Forestry 37: 425-428.

Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Pasha, M.K. & Uddin, S.B. (2013). Dictionary of plant names of Bangladesh, Vasc. Pl.: 1-434. Janokalyan Prokashani, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Prakash, L. & Balasubramanian, P. (2018). Invasive alien flora of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Southern Eastern Ghats, India. Indian Forester 144: 857-862.

Rajbhandari, K.R., Rai, S.K. & Chhetri, R. (2022). A Handbook of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 4: 1-522. Department of Plant Resources, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Singh, A. (2012). Exotic flora of the Chandauli district Uttar Pradesh, India: an overview. Indian Journal of Forestry 35: 79-84.

Turner, I.M. (1995). A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(1): 1-346.

Vikraman, R/R/, Pandurangan, A.G. & Thulasidas, G. (2008). A study on the garden escaped exotics of Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. Journal of East African Natural History 32: 765-781.

Villaseñor, J.L. (2016). Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.

Vollesen, K. (2008). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Acanthaceae(1): 1-285.

Whistler, W.A. (2022). Flora of Samoa Flowering Plants: 1-930. National Tropical Botanicl Garden. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2011). Flora of China 19: 1-884. Science Press (Beijing) & Missouri Botanical Garden Press (St. Louis).

VERNACULAR NAME

Bengali: পাটাপাটি Patapati
Chinese (Simplified): 芦莉草
Chinese (Traditional): 塊根蘆利草
English: Minnieroot, Kencana ungu, Fever root, Snapdragon root, Sheep potato, Popping pod, Duppy gun, Cracker plant, Bluebell
French: Ruellie tubéreuse
Indonesia: Kencana ungu liar, Bunga kencana, Kencana ungu
Japan: ムラサキルエリア
Java: Kencono wungu, Pletekan, Pletikan, Ceplikan
Malayalam: Shivakarantha
Marathi: Ruwel
Nepali: बहुमूल Bahumool
Russian: Руэллия клубневая
Slovak: Vencovník hľuznatý
Spanish: Hierba del toro
Tamil: கிரந்திநாயகம் - பட்டசுக்காய் - ஜுர்புலா கடா - சேதபடகாயல Kirantinayakam, Pattacukkay, Jurbula gadda, Chetapatakaayala
Thai: ต้อยติ่ง

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
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