Hormuzakia aggregata explained

Hormuzakia aggregata is a flowering annual plant in the borage family, known by the common names massed alkanet,, and .[1] [2] [3]

Description

It is a short-lived herbaceous plant with 10cmto50cmcm (00inchesto20inchescm) ascending hispid stems. The entire leaves are alternate, linear-lanceolate. It flowers from January to April, the small flowers are dark blue to violet producing 3mm4mm hemispherical nutlets.

Taxonomy

The species name Hormuzakia derives from Constantin N. Hurmuzachi, a prominent Romanian naturalist. Anchusa derives from the, a plant used as a rouge. The epithet aggregata, derives from Latin and means to bring together or cluster.

Distribution and habitat

It grows in Mediterranean woodlands, shrublands, shrub-steppes and deserts of Sicily, North East Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, Libya, Algeria, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Rhodes, Saudi Arabia and the East Aegean Islands.[4]

Uses

The roots of Hormuzakia aggregata contain anchusin or alkannin (alkanet red), a red-brown resinoid pigment.[5] Alkannin is an antioxidant and has an antimicrobial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. It is also known to have wound healing, antitumor, and antithrombotic properties.[6]

Alkannin is also found in the Chinese herbal medicine plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon, the red-root gromwell. The dried root is a Chinese herbal medicine with various antiviral and biological activities, including inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).[7] [8] [9]

References

  1. Web site: Catalogue of Life : Hormuzakia aggregata (Lehm.) Gusuleac. www.catalogueoflife.org. en. 2017-05-10.
  2. Web site: Anchusa aggregata. www.flowersinisrael.com. 2017-05-10.
  3. SELVI. F.. BIGAZZI. M.. 1998-01-01. Anchusa L. and allied genera (Boraginaceae) in Italy. Plant Biosystems. 132. 2. 113–142. 10.1080/11263504.1998.10654198. 1126-3504.
  4. Web site: Hormuzakia aggregata (Lehm.) Gusuleac Flora of Israel Online. Flora of Israel Online. en-US. 2017-05-10.
  5. Web site: Alkannin 517-88-4. www.chemicalbook.com. en. 2017-05-11.
  6. 1999. The Chemistry and Biology of Alkannin, Shikonin, and Related Naphthazarin Natural Products. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. 38. 3. 270–300. 10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19990201)38:3<270::AID-ANIE270>3.0.CO;2-0. Vassilios P. Papageorgiou. Andreana N. Assimopoulou. Elias A. Couladouros. David Hepworth. K. C. Nicolaou. K. C. Nicolaou.
  7. Sep 2003. Shikonin, a component of chinese herbal medicine, inhibits chemokine receptor function and suppresses human immunodeficiency virus type 1.. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 47. 9. 2810–6. 10.1128/aac.47.9.2810-2816.2003. 182643. 12936978. Chen. X.
  8. 2011. Anti-adenovirus activities of shikonin, a component of Chinese herbal medicine in vitro. Biol Pharm Bull. 34. 2. 197–202. 10.1248/bpb.34.197. 21415527. Gao. H.. etal. free.
  9. Xie. J. Jiang. Z. Wang. B. Wang. Y. Hu. X. 2011. Shikonin and its analogs inhibit cancer cell glycolysis by targeting tumor pyruvate kinase-M2.. Oncogene. 30. 42. 4297–4306. 10.1038/onc.2011.137. 21516121. Chen. J.

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