''Hedyotis'' (starviolet) is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules a ...

. Many species of this genus such as ''Hedyotis biflora, H. corymbosa'' and ''H. diffusa'' are well known medicinal plants. ''Hedyotis'' is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and subtropical

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and to islands of the northwest Pacific.David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. It comprises about 115

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

.Inge Groeninckx, Steven Dessein, Helga Ochoterena, Claes Persson, Timothy J. Motley, Jesper Kårehed, Birgitta Bremer, Suzy Huysmans, and Erik Smets. 2009. "Phylogeny of the herbaceous tribe Spermacoceae (Rubiaceae) based on plastid DNA data". ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 96(1):109-132. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

for the genus is '' Hedyotis fruticosa''.''Hedyotis'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In:

Regnum Vegetabile The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitate international communication of research between botanists, and oversee matters of uniformity and ...

(see ''External links'' below). ''Hedyotis'' was named by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1753 in '' Species Plantarum''.Carolus Linnaeus. 1753. ''Species Plantarum'' 1:101. Laurentii Salvii. (see ''External Links'' below). This generic name is derived from two

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words, ''hedys'', "sweet", and ''otos'', "ear", in reference to the sweet-scented, ear-shaped leaves of some species.Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. ''CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names'' volume II. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington,DC;, USA. London, UK. . ''Hedyotis'' was formerly defined very broadly by some authors, and included species now placed in '' Oldenlandia'', '' Oldenlandiopsis'', '' Houstonia'', '' Kadua'', and other genera. It is now

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

more narrowly, as a monophyletic

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

that is closely related to '' Agathisanthemum''.Jesper Kårehed, Inge Groeninckx, Steven Dessein, Timothy J. Motley, and Birgitta Bremer. 2008. "The phylogenetic utility of chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers and the phylogeny of the Rubiaceae tribe Spermacoceae". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 49(3):843-866. Species include: *'' Hedyotis lawsoniae'' *'' Hedyotis lessertiana'' *'' Hedyotis purpurea'' *'' Hedyotis verticillaris''

Research

In traditional medicine, over 20 ''Hedyotis'' species have been used for treatment of diseases and in healing practices. The most popular among these are ''Hedyotis diffusa'' and ''Hedyotis corymbosa'' which are active principles in several Chinese remedies such as , and feibao syrup. They are taken for treatment of cancers, infections and other diseases. Phytochemical investigation of Hedyotis species was first published in 1933 upon examining the active components of the medicinal plant ''H. auricularia''.Ahmad NHLaR: Phytochemical studies and pharmacological activities of plants in genus Hedyotis/Oldenlandia Studies in Natural Products Chemistry 2006, 33(13):1057-1090. Since then, over 50 novel compounds have been isolated from various member of the genus ''Hedyotis''. These compounds have highly divergent structures including alkaloids, anthraquinones, flavonoids, iridoids, triterpenoids, sterols, lignans and a number of other compounds. Recently, two novel biological active peptides, hedyotide B1 and B2 (hedyotide = hedyotis + peptide), have been isolated from the ariel parts of the medicinal plant ''Hedyotis biflora''. ''H. biflora'' is a small annual herb traditionally used to treat body pain in fever and malaria. Both hedyotide B1 and B2 belong to the cyclotide superfamily which was known to be an important part of plant innate defense. Hedyotide B1 has a cyclic-cystine-knot motif and displayed potent broad-spectrum activities against many bacteria including ''E. coli, S. salivarius, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, B. cereus and B. megaterium''. Hedyotide B1 and cyclotides are likely to exerted their antimicrobial actions by disrupting the bacteria membranes which eventually leads to cell death. As they target directly bacterial membranes. it is unlikely for bacteria to develop resistance. Therefore, hedyotide B1 with a novel mode of action has potential as a novel antimicrobial agent against drug-resistance bacteria. The genus ''Pleiocraterium'' was erected with ''Hedyotis verticillaris'' moved to it as ''P. verticillare'' along with the species, ''P. plantaginifolium'' (Arn.) Bremek. from Sri Lanka, P.sumatranum Bremek. and P. gentianifolium Bremek. both of Sumatra by Bremekamp. Molecular phylogenetic studies however have found this genus to nest within other representatives of the genus ''Hedyotis'' with little support for a separate genus.

Research

References

External links