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Latin (Botanical) name: Tribulus terrestris L.

Family: Zygophyllaceae.

Common name: Tribulus, Hasak, Dars el ‘agouz, Timgelest, Tadjnouft, Tamezlagelt, Amagelost, Tagruft, Caltrops, Land caltrops, Puncturevine, Punturevine, Tribule terrestre, Croix de Malte, Echter brzel, Tribolo, Basapie, cacciarello, ceciarello, Demir dikeni.

Berber name: Timgelest, Tadjnouft, Tamezlagelt, Amagelost, Tagruft.

English name: Caltrops, Land caltrops.

French name (Français): Tribule terrestre, Croix de Malte.

German (Deutsch): Echter brzel.

Italian name: Tribolo, Basapie, cacciarello, ceciarello.

Turkish name: Demir dikeni.

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

Origin: Egypt

Plant description:

ZYGOPHYLLACEAE R. Br. : Stipules not spiny. Fruit spiny or tubercled, leaves pinnate. TRIBULUS L. : Prostrate hairy herbs. Leaves opposite, compound pinnate. Flowers solitary in the axil of smaller leaves with 5-fid perianth, 5 or more stamens and a 4-5 loculed ovary. Fruit dry, splitting into 4-5 indehiscent bony fruitlets bearing spines, wings, tubercles, etc.

TRIBULUS TERRESTRIS L. : Of this species the following 3 varieties are recorded from Egypt :.

v. orientalis Beck (= Tribulus orientalis Kern.) : Green or grey, sparingly hairy. Leaves 3-5 cm. long. Flowers white or yellow with 8-10 stamens. Fruitlets 3-5 mm. high, sparingly hairy, with 4 well developed spines equal to or shorter than the length of the carpels.

v. robustus Boiss. (= Tribulus robustus Boiss. et Noë) : More grey-woolly and robust, leaves larger, 4-7 cm. long, the yellow flowers larger, 10-15 mm. across, stamens the same. Fruitlets 5-7 mm. high, densely hairy, with 4 well developed spines as long as or twise as long as the carpels.

v. bicornutus (Fisch. et Mey.) (= Tribulus bicornutus Fisch. et Mey.) : Grey or green with short soft hairs. Leaves 3-5 cm. long. Flowers white or yellow, 10 mm. across, stamens 5-10. Fruit 10 mm. across, green and sparingly hairy to grey-woolly, the 2 lower spines reduced to minute tubercles or absent.

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:

Annual or biennial herb up to 20cm. Stem, prostrate hairy. Leaves opposite, compound paripinnate, grey green, flower white or yellow. Fruit, 6-8 mm in diameter, subglobose. The following 3 varieties of Tribulus terrestris are recorded from Egypt: var. orientalis, var. robustus, and var. bicornutus.

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

Propagation: Fruits (seeds).

Constituents :

The plant contains several sapogenins and flavonoides. Sapogenins : diosgenin, tigogenin, ruscogenin hecogenin, gitogenin, chlorogenin and 25-D-spirosta-3,5-diene. Flavonoids : quercetin, kaempferol, and several glucosides of kaempferol, quercetin and isorhamnetin.

The plant also contains alkaloids (Harman, harmol, and harmine); oligosaccharide (tribulosin) and sterols.

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

Folk Medicinal Uses:

Flower: for leprosy; stem: for scabious skin diseases and psoriasis. Fruit: for congestion, headache, hepatitis, impotence, liver, ophthalmia, stomatitis, vertigo, recommended for kidneys, liver and vision. Seed: as abortifacient, aphrodisiac, astringent, diuretic, tonic, for abscesses, anaemia, coughs, fluxes, haemorrhoids spermatorrhea and stomatitis. Plant is recommended as anticancer. The leaf is eaten as a pot herb in West Africa.

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

Pharmacological Actions, Indications and Toxicity:

The plant is poisonous to sheep and goats. It produces hepatogenic photosensitivity in livestock. Ether extract of the plant possesses juvenile hormone effect on penultimate instar of Dysdercus cingulatus and increased doses result in the increased mortality and development of adults with crumpled wings. The plant possesses anticancer activity. The extract of the plant is antispasmodic. The aqueous extract of the plant lowers experimentally induced hyperoxaluria.

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

Caltrops (Puncturevine, Punturevine, tribulus terrestris) fluid and tincture (liquid) extract.

References:

1.       Duke, J.A. and Ayensu, E.S. 1985. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications Inc.; Algonac Michigan.

2.       Rizk, A.M. 1986. The phytochemistry of the Flora of Qatar. Scientific and Applied Research Centre. University of Qatar.

3.       Sangeeta, D; et al. 1993. Phytotherapy Research. 7, 116-119.

4.       Zafar, R. and Nasa, A.K. 1987. Quercetin and kaempferol from the fruits and stem of Tribulus terrestris L. Indian J. Nat. Product 3 (2): 17-18.

5.       Johnson, E. 1932. The puncturevine in California. Univ. of Calif. Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. 528: 42 pp.

6.       Parsons, W.T. 1973. The Noxious Weeds of Victoria. Inkata Press, Melbourne.

7.       Squires, V.R. 1979. The biology of Australian weeds. 1. Tribulus terrestris L. J. of the Australian Inst. of Agric. Sci. 179: 75-82.

8.       U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1970. Selected Weeds of the United States. Agric. Hndbk. No. 366. USDA-ARS, Washington, D.C.

Last Update December 2^nd, 2002.

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