Ammi majus - Arasi Lawrence Company

Ammi majus L.

Latin (Botanical) name: Ammi majus L. = Apium ammi Crantz.

Family: Apiaceae (Carrot family), Umbelliferae.

Common name: Ammi, Bishop’s weed, large bullwort, Killah shaytani, Khilla sheitaani, Athrilal, Atrillal, Thalilen, Lattilel, Akhella, Ammi commun, Ammei, Grosser Ammei.

Berber name: Athrilal, Thalilen, Lattilel, Akhella.

English name: Bishop’s weed.

French name (Français): Ammi commun.

German (Deutsch): Ammei, Grosser Ammei.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Origin: Egypt

Plant description:

UMBELLIFERAE A. Juss. : Not spiny. Not so (Leaves undivided with entire margin). Umbel-rays not woolly. Leafy herbs, root not globose. Bracteoles present (= the narrow leaves supporting the small secondary umbels). Fruit beakless. Fruit spineless. Fruit cylindrical, ovoid or globose. Leaves thin. Bracts present (= the narrow leaves supporting the large primary umbel). Leaves irregularly dissected.

AMMI L. : Annual weeds. Bracts and bracteoles present, filiform. Flowers white. Fruit small ovoid.

Leaf-segments flat, serrate.

AMMI MAJUS L. : Slender herb, leaf-lobes narrow or broad serrate. Rays less numerous, not frutescent. (Ann.).

Source: STUDENTS’ FLORA OF EGYPT second edition, by VIVI TÄCKHOLM, D. Sc. (Stockholm) Professor of Systematic Botany, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. Published by Cairo University. Printed by COOPERATIVE PRINTING COMPANY Beirut, 1974.

Morphological Description:

An annual slender herb with pinnately-divided leaves into oblong acutely serrulate leaflets. Umbels, with smallwhite flowers. The number of rays in much less than in Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam. = Daucus visnaga L., also not frutescent. Fruit, small, oblong, prominently ribbed.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Propagation: Fruits (seeds).

Description:

Odo(u)r, slightly aromatic, terbenthinate, taste, strongly pungent and slightly bitter.

Macroscopical: Fruit, cremocarp, nearly cylindrical, usually separated into its 2 mericarps, rarely entire, with a part of the pedicel attached. Mericarp. Small, slightly concave on the commissural side. It is slightly tapering towards the apex; about 2 to 2.5 mm long and about 0.75 mm board; crowned with a nectary disc-like stylopod; reddish-brown to greenish-brown; externally, glabrous, rough, marked with 5 broad, distinct, yellowish-brown primary ridges, alternating with 4 equally prominent dark brown secondary ridges; internally the mericarp shows a pericarp with 6 vittae, 4 in the dorsal and 2 in commissural side, a large orthospermous endosperm in which is embedded a small apical embryo. Carpophore, forked, each branch of which enters at the apex of the mericarp and unites with the raphe.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Macroscopical: Epidermis of pericarp consists of polygonal cells, with straight anticlinal walls and short papillae, containing clusters or prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate, and covered with thick strongly striated cuticle; stomata, occasional, of cruciferous type, but no hairs. Mesocarp, formed of somewhat brownish parenchyma; traversed longitudinally by 6 large schizogenous vittae, 4 in the dorsal and 2 in the commissural side, appearing elliptical in transverse section, and each surrounded by large, radiating cells; and traversed in the primary ridges by vascular bundles, appearing oval, ovoid or rounded in transverse section, not accompanied by vittae (Distinction from Khella, Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam. = Daucus visnaga L.), each bundle, with a xylem strand and 2 lateral phloem strands and accompanied by strongly lignified fibres and reticulate, lignified cells; innermost layer of mesocarp, with large, polygonal, brown-walled equally thickened nonporous cells (Distinction from Khella, Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam. = Daucus visnaga L.) Endocarp, of narrow, tangentially elongated cells, many of which being regularly arranged in groups, variously oriented, and adhering to the brown testa which is formed of similar, but wider, and somewhat shorter cells. Endosperm, of polygonal, somewhat thick-walled, cellulosic parenchyma with much fixed oil and several aleurone grains, about 4 to 12 microns in diameter, each with one or 2 rounded globoids and 1 or rarely 2 micro-rosette crystals of calcium oxalate, 2 to 4 microns in diameter. Carpophore, each branch traversed by a vascular strand of fibres and spiral vessels.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Constituents:

Coumarins and coumarin glycosides. The fruit yields not less than 0.5% of ammoidin (xanthotoxin), 0.3% of ammidin (imperatorin), and 0.01% of majudin (bergapten). Furanocoumarins have also been produced by cell suspension cultures of Ammi majus.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Tests for Identity:

A. Boil about 0.05g of Ammi majus fruit with 5ml of water for 1 minute and strain; add 1 or 2 drops of this decoction to 1ml of a solution (1 in 1) of sodium hydroxide R; no rose-red colour is produced (Distinction from Khella, Ammi visnaga (L.) Lam. = Daucus visnaga L.).

B. The alcoholic extract of Ammi majus fruit (1 in 10) gives blue fluorescence when examined in the filtered ultraviolet light.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Tests for Purity:

Cereals and Starchy Material: Powdered Ammi majus fruit contains no starch granules.

Alcohol (90%) Extractive: Not less than 33.86%.

Moisture: Not more than 12.0% determined by the toluene method.

Ash: Not more than 7.0%.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Folk Medicinal Uses:

Fruits, diuretic, carminative, for angina pectoris and asthma. The fruits were used by the ancient Egyptians for treating leucoderma. The drug should be used cautiously, since phototoxic dermatitis following its use for vitiligo has been reported.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Phytopharmaceuticals in the Egyptian Market:

Meladinine and Neo-Meladinine in different dosage forms viz, tablets, creams, lotions and paints.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

Economic Potential:

The plant is and will continue to be for high economic potential for the widespread use of its galenicals as well as its furanocumarins in the treatment of leucoderma. Cultivation of the plant is not favoured by the farmers. This is reffered to two reasons:

a. The lack of good knowledge of the cultivation of this plant among the farmers.

b. The improper harvest methods usually lead to the shedding of the fruits leading to their dispersal and infesting the field in the next season.

Source: Wild Medical Plant in Egypt. An Inventory to support Conservation and Sustainable Use. BATANOUNY K. H.

References:

1. El Gamal, M.H.A.; Shalaby, N.M.M.; Duddeck, H. and Hiegemann, M. 1993. Coumarins and coumarin glucosides from the fruits of Ammi majus L. Phytochemistry 34(3): 819 – 823.

2. Fahmy, I.R. and Abu-Shady, H. 1947. Isolation of ammoidin from Ammi majus. Quart. J. Pharm. Pharmacol; 20: 281.

3. Fahmy, I.R. and Abu-Shady, H. 1948. Isilation and properties of ammoidin, ammidin and majudin. Ibid; 21: 499.

4. Hamerski, D. and Matern, U. 1988. Elicitor-induced biosynthesis of psoralens in Ammi majus L. suspension cultures. Micosomal conversion of demethyl-suberosin into (+)Marmesin and Psoralen. Eur. J. Biochem. 171(1-2): 369 – 375.

5. Ossenkoppele, P.M.; van der Sluis, W.G. and van Vloten, W.A. 1991. Phototoxic dermatitis following the use of Ammi majus fruit for vitiligo. Ned. Tijdschur.Geneeskd 135(11): 478 – 480.

6. Schoenberg, M. and Sina, A. 1947. Xanthotoxin from the fruit of Ammi majus. Nature, 160: 468.

Last Update October 20^th, 2002.

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