Common Name:

General Information

Spermacoce verticillata is a usually erect, perennial plant with sender stems that can become more or less woody and persist. Sometimes adopting a more sprawling habit, the plant can grow 30 - 120cm tall, forming a clump 2 metres or more wide[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local medicinal use. It has been cultivated for its emetic and stomachic properties[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Wide spread through tropical and subtropical America from Argentina north through C. America to Mexico and through the Caribbean to Florida.

Habitat

Thickets, fields and waste places, often as a weed[]. Found on roadsides, construction sites, old fields, and pastures. It is one of the major invaders of abandoned pastures and slash-and-burn fields[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Habit	Shrub
Height	0.75 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Spermacoce verticillata is found in both subtropical and tropical areas, growing in regions with a mean annual rainfall of 750 - 3.000mm at elevations from near sea level to 600 metres or more[].
The plant grows on moist soils, both acid and alkaline, of all textures derived from nearly all types of rocks[]. The species requires ground disturbance to establish itself and must have full or good partial sunlight to survive. It competes well with disbursed grass and weeds, but is overcome by dense, tall grass, brush, and trees. Because of grazing, mowing, and cultivation, most plants do not progress beyond the herbaceous stage. If allowed to grow, they will form dense clumps and mats[].
The plant competes with cultivated crops and plantations in Brazil and Africa[]. It is controlled in crops and pasture by cultivation, mowing, and spraying with broadleaf herbicides. The importance value of this plant in a Colombian pasture was reduced by 39% by simply fertilizing with potassium and sulphur to increase the vigour of the pasture grasses[]
Seedlings grow slowly at first but begin rapid growth after about 6 months. Twenty-three 9- month-old nursery plants averaged 64cm in height with a maximum of 109cm[].
Plants appear to live for at least 4 years and probably much longer in Puerto Rico[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

Spermacoce verticillata has a number of uses in herbal medicine, most frequently for skin conditions[]. The plant is considered to be emetic and stomachic[].

The leaves are diuretic and purgative. Although used as a purgative, they are also used in the treatment of diarrhoea as well as conditions such as schistosomiasis, kidney problems, fever and blennorrhagia[, ].
The leaves are said to be applied topically in the treatment of skin problems such as leprosy, furuncles, ulcers, itches and gonorrheal sores[, ].
The stem and leaves are crushed and heated, with the addition of some salt, and used as a plaster to expel sand fleas[].

The aerial parts contain the indole alkaloids barrerine and borreverine, and an essential oil which contains the sesquiterpenes guiaene, caryophyllene and cadiene[]. The essential oil extracted from the leaves has been shown to inhibit Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus[].
The root contains emetine[].
The root-bark contains the iridoids daphylloside, asperuloside, feretoside, methyl desacetylasperulosidate, desacetylasperuloside, asperulosidic acid and desacetylasperulosidic acid[].

Other Uses

An essential oil in the plant is used medicinally[].

Propagation

Seed - sown on peat without pretreatment, 49% of the seeds germinated, starting after 13 days and ending at 74 days[].
Established plants root readily at the nodes when covered by soil or rotting plant material[]

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