Friday, March 4, 2011

Ngai Champor Plants (Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC.)


Ngai champor or Blumea champor including familia Asteraceae. These plants grow in the open until somewhat shielded by the river and farmland. Can be grown in sandy soil or a slightly damp until at an altitude of 2200 meters above sea level. In Indonesia, this plant is called "Sembung", while in China called "Ai na xiang".

Ngai champor a similar plant shrubs, erect, single trunked, much branched, very aromatic smell to reach 1-4 feet tall. Leaves ngai champor haired, long-or short-stemmed, inverted egg-shaped to lanceolate, with pointed base, serrated, grooved, there are also a wide brimmed flat with 2.5 to 20 cm. Flowers ngai champor trimmed a lot, androgynous female, form a common thread with the end-haired, short grooved, and branched stalk pistil. This plant has a hard fruit, 8-10 ribbed, hairy, and the length is about 1 mm. Reproduce through seed or root bud separation.

Ngai champor Leaves contain essential oils, resinous substances and borneol. It also contains cineol, limonene, myristin and palmitin acid, alcohol sesquiterpen, dimetileter khlorasetofenon, tannins, pirokatechin, glycosides, saponins, and flavonoids.

Part of the plant Ngai champor commonly used as medicine are the leaves (blumeae folium) which are pungent, slightly bitter, warm, and smells like a spice. Empirically, the plant is efficacious to overcome rheumatoid arthritis, menstrual pain, influenza, fever, shortness of breath (asthma), cough, bronchitis, flatulence, diarrhea, stomach pains, thrush, chest pain due to narrowing of the coronary arteries (angina pectoris) and diabetes mellitus.

Savor Ngai champor leaves for diabetes drugs have been studied. Some chemical constituents of leaves Ngai champor deemed potentially lower blood sugar include saponins, flavonoids, and alkaloids. The results of these studies indicate that infusa leaves of this plant has the potential to reduce blood glucose levels so it can be used as traditional medicine of diabetes mellitus.