Hormuzakia aggregata
Species of plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hormuzakia aggregata is a flowering annual plant in the borage family,[1] known by the common names massed alkanet, Arabic: لسان الثور, and Hebrew: לשון-שור מגובבת.[2][3][4]
| Massed alkanet | |
|---|---|
| |
| Flowering in Israel | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Genus: | Hormuzakia |
| Species: | H. aggregata |
| Binomial name | |
| Hormuzakia aggregata | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Description
It is a short-lived herbaceous plant with 10 to 50 cm (3.9 to 19.7 in) 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 3 by 4 mm (0.12 by 0.16 in) hemispherical nutlets.[3]
Taxonomy
The species name Hormuzakia derives from Constantin N. Hurmuzachi, a prominent Romanian naturalist. Anchusa derives from the Greek: αγχουσα, a plant used as a rouge. The epithet aggregata, derives from Latin and means to bring together or cluster.
- The standard author abbreviation Lehm. is used to indicate Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (1792 – 1860), a German botanist.
- The standard author abbreviation Gusul. is used to indicate Mihail Gușuleac (1887-1960), a Romanian botanist.[3]
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.[2][5]
Uses
The roots of Hormuzakia aggregata contain anchusin or alkannin (alkanet red), a red-brown resinoid pigment.[3][6] 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.[7]
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).[8][9][10]