Devil’s cotton

Overview

Devil’s cotton is one of the herbal medicinal plants, widely used for treatment of various maladies. It's native distribution was India to South-East Asia, Northern Australia and the Solomon Islands. The leaves and stems are covered with soft bristly hairs that are very irritating to the touch. A high quality fibre is obtained from the bark, which might be used as a substitute for silk.

Vernacular Names

Shuo ma (Chinese), Abrome (French), Ulat kambal (Indian), Rami sengat (Malay), Thian dam (Thai), and Chi tai m[ef]o (Vietnamese).

Agroecology

Commonly found in tufts or tickets, prefer the edges of forests and clearings or the banks of watercourses. A plant of the tropics, found at elevations up to 1,200 m. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are in the range of 26-31 °C, prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range of 1,500 -3,000 mm, requires a sunny position. Prefers a pH in the range of 5-6. The best soils for Abroma augustum are fertile alluvials with a good structure and good drainage, as it does not tolerate waterlogging for a long period. However, it will also survive and grow when soil conditions are less favourable. 

Morphology

• Stems - There are two types of branches, orthotropic branches with lobed leaves and remain vegetative; plagiotropic branches with unlobed leaves where flower usually grows.
• Branches - often multi-stemmed from the base; stem and branches with tenacious bark, all parts often with prickly-pointed, irritating, stellate hairs and sometimes also with glandular hairs; orthotropic branches usually remaining vegetative, flowering branches usually plagiotropic.
• Leaves - alternate, ovate, 10 to 15 cm in length, 10 to 12 cm wide, with a pointed tip, heart-shaped base, and toothed margins.
• Flowers - bisexual, maroon-coloured, measuring about 3 - 5 cm wide, 5-petaled.
• Fruits - a capsule, obpyramidal, about 3.5 cm in diameter, covered with irritating hairs, ultimately smooth, with five prominent angles or wings, which are 4 to 7 cm across.
• Seeds - subellipsoid, numerous and finely punctate, without wings or aril, black.
• Roots - fibrous and dull.

Cultivation

• It can be propagated by seeds, stem cuttings or suckers emerging from lateral roots. Soaking in water for 24–48 hours improves germination, and germination of soaked seeds normally starts within 9 days. At a temperature of 33°C germination is more rapid and the final germination percentage higher than at 20–25°C.

Chemical Constituents

Alkaloids, abromin, sterols, protocalechuic, friedelin, abromasterol, kolin, betaine, glikosidik, taraxerol, lupeol, octacosanol, β- sitosterols, α-amyrin, masilinic acid.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• A study indicated that the extract of the bark has anticancer activity.
• Studies have suggested antidiabetic, antihyperlipidenic, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, thrombolytic, repellent, anti-gout, antiarthritic properties. 
• In Bangladesh, leaves and stems used for menstrual disorders and diseases of the uterus; bark and roots are used for leucorrhoea and menstrual problems, for stomach aches, dermatitis, and gonorrhoea, to treat insomnia, irritation of the foot, leg and eye, and to increase appetite.
• In India, used for dysmenorrhea. Fresh and dried root bark are used as uterine tonic and emmenagogue, for wound healing and sterility.
• In Indonesia, it is used for scabies. Fresh viscid sap is useful in congestive and neuralgic varieties of dysmenorrhea.
• In the Himalayas, decoction of stem bark and leaves are taken on alternate days on an empty stomach to treat diabetes.
• In Ayurvedic medicine, plant is used for treatment of male sexual dysfunction, and uterine bleeding.