PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Hojas frescas, sumidades floridas.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Astringente, antidiarreica, antidisentérica, antiséptica, vulneraria.

EFECTOS ADVERSOS Y/O TOXICOLOGÍA= Adverse effects and toxicology: Quienes padezcan trastornos gástricos, no deben tomar la planta por vía oral.

POSOLOGÍA= Posology: Tratamiento de heridas, llagas y úlceras varicosas. Coger un buen puñado de hojas frescas, lavarlas bien y machacarlas hasta hacer una masa compacta. Ponerla en una gasa o tela y aplicar directamente sobre el mal, después de lavar la herida.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Taninos, ácidos gálicos, flavonoides, antacianinas, mucílagos, sales de hierro, salicarina.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Caminos de Santiago.

DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs:

Evolution during biological invasion may occur over contemporary timescales, but the rate of evolutionary change may be inhibited by a lack of standing genetic variation for ecologically relevant traits and by fitness trade-offs among them.  The extent to which these genetic constraints limit the evolution of local adaptation during biological invasion has rarely been examined.  To investigate genetic constraints on life-history traits, we measured standing genetic variance and covariance in 20 populations of the invasive plant purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) sampled along a latitudinal climatic gradient in eastern North America and grown under uniform conditions in a glasshouse.  Genetic variances within and among populations were significant for all traits; however, strong intercorrelations among measurements of seedling growth rate, time to reproductive maturity and adult size suggested that fitness trade-offs have constrained population divergence.  Evidence to support this hypothesis was obtained from the genetic variance-covariance matrix (G) and the matrix of (co)variance among population means (D), which were 79.8% (95% C.I. 77.7-82.9%) similar.  These results suggest that population divergence during invasive spread of L. salicaria in eastern North America has been constrained by strong genetic correlations among life-history traits, despite large amounts of standing genetic variation for individual traits.  Ó 2011 The Author(s).

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs

1) An ion-exchange chromatog. of Lythrum salicaria glycoconjugate afforded twelve fractions (LsF1-F12) by stepwise elution with water, sodium chloride and sodium hydroxide solns.  Carbohydrate, phenolic and protein moieties have been detd. in all fractions.  Individual glycoconjugates LsF1-F12 varied in carbohydrate, phenolic and protein contents, mol. mass and monosaccharide compn.  Rhamnogalacturonans and/or homogalacturonans assocd. with arabinogalactans, arabinan and hexosan types of polysaccharides were identified in ion-exchange fractions.  In vitro anticoagulant activity tests showed complete inhibition of plasma clot formation by LsF2, LsF7 and LsF12 fractions and a slight procoagulant effect of LsF3 and LsF4 ones while other ion-exchange fractions were not active.

2) Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) known as "Tibbi hevhulma" in Turkish is used for its several beneficial health effects against as diarrhea, chronic intestinal catarrh, hemorrhoid and eczema in the form of a decoction or a fluid ext. and to treat varicose veins, bleeding of the gums, hemorrhoid and eczema, externally.  Dried herbal parts of Lythrum salicaria L. (Lythraceae) were sequentially extd. with different solvents such as petroleum ether, Et acetate, methanol and 50% aq. methanol.  Water ext. of Lythrum salicaria was also prepd. under reflux.  Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of all the exts. were investigated using in vitro and in vivo methods, resp.  Free radical scavenging activity (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, DPPH× assay), iron(III) reductive activity, capacity of the inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidn. and MDA formation, anti-nociceptive activity (p-benzoquinone-induced abdominal constriction test) and anti-inflammatory activity (carrageenan-induced hind paw edema model) were used for all the exts.  In addn., the content of total phenolics, flavonoids and flavonols in all the exts. were detd. with spectrophotometric methods.  Results were compared with ref. antioxidants via ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxytoluene, and gallic acid.  Qual. and quant. compns. of all the exts. were analyzed using a HPLC-PDA system.  Polar fractions were found to be rich in flavonoids such as isovitexin and isoorientin.

3) Lythrum salicaria exts. showed activity against the phytopathogenic fungus Cladosporium cucumerinum and activity against the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and Microccocus luteus.  Bioautog. on thin-layer chromatograms was used to isolate the two antifungal triterpenoids oleanolic and ursolic acid.  The hexahydroxydiphenoyl ester vescalagin was isolated as active principle of the antibacterial activity.  Furthermore, the flavon-C-glucosides vitexin, isovitexin, orientin and isoorientin were isolated.

1) ALFARO, Txumari, Plantas y remedios naturales de los caminos de santiago. Barcelona: B.S.A. 2008, p. 206.

2) COLAUTTI, Robert I.; BARRETT, Spencer C. H. Population divergence along lines of genetic variance and covariance in the invasive plant lythrum salicaria in eastern north america. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution. 2011, vol.65, nº9, p.2514-2529.
 
3) PAWLACZYK, Izabela, et al. An anticoagulant effect and chemical characterization of Lythrum salicaria L. glycoconjugates. Carbohydrate Polymers. 2011, vol.86, n1º, p.277-284.
 
4) TUNALIER, Zeynep, et al.   Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive activities and composition of Lythrum salicaria L. extracts. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2007, vol.110, nº3, p.539-547.
 
5) BECKER, Hans, et al. Bioactivity guided isolation of antimicrobial compounds from Lythrum salicaria. Fitoterapia. 2005, vol.76, nº6, p.580-584.