Phyla [genus] (601)
P. canescens (566)
Synonyms: Phyla nodiflora var. canescens (HBK) Moldenke, Lippia canescens HBK
P. dulcis (5,054)
Synonyms: Lippia dulcis Trevir, Phyla scaberrima (A.L.Juss.) Moldenke, Phylla scaberrima (A.L.Juss.) Moldenke
P. lanceolata (464)
P. nodiflora (3,642)
Synonyms: Lippia nodiflora Michx., Lippia nodiflora Rich.
VERBENACEAE Phyla
Phyla [genus] Lour. VERBENACEAE
Common names: Frogfruit (Hortus)
Worldwide, warm & trop. regions; 15 spp. Procumbent or creeping per. herbs, glabrous or with 2-armed hairs. Lvs. opp., toothed or lobed. Fls. small, violet, blue, pink or white, in dense spikes on axillary peduncles, calyx 2-lobed, enlarging and enclosing the fruit. Corolla 2-lipped, stamens 4. Fruit dry, 2 nutlets (Hortus Third 1976:865) Cent. & S Am. Infl. an axillary bracteolate spike, 1-2 in leaf axils, stamens 2, included (Griffiths 1994:883)
VERBENACEAE Phyla canescens
Phyla canescens (HBK) Greene VERBENACEAE
Synonyms: Phyla nodiflora var. canescens (HBK) Moldenke, Lippia canescens HBK
Common names: Carpet Grass (Hortus)
S Am. Stem white, pubescent, rugose. Lvs. to 2.5 cm long, oblanceolate, dentate, pubescent above. Infl. to 8 cm, bracteoles purple, corolla white to purple, puberulent outside (Griffiths 1994:883) P. n. var.: Corolla lilac with yellow throat (Hortus Third 1976:865) Valid species & synonyms (GRIN 2007)
VERBENACEAE Phyla dulcis
Phyla dulcis (Trev.) Mold. VERBENACEAE
Synonyms: Lippia dulcis Trevir, Phyla scaberrima (A.L.Juss.) Moldenke, Phylla scaberrima (A.L.Juss.) Moldenke
Common names: Mexican Lippia, Yerba dulce (Griffiths) Orozuz (Guatemala)
Lippia d.: Mexico to Panama. Per. herb or subshrub to 60 cm, erect or decumbent, sometimes strigulose. Lvs. to 5 cm, ovate, aromatic, strigulose, glandular beneath, serrate. Infl. with a sol. peduncle to 5 cm, corolla to 1.5 mm, white (Griffiths 1994:680) Lippia d.: Contains hernandulcin, 800 times as sweet as sucrose. Known to the Aztecs (Mabberley 1997:414) Lippia d.: Tmps., Ver., Mor., Oax., Yuc.; Cent. Am., Colombia, W Indies. Shrubby or suffrutescent, erect or procumbent, usually less than 60 cm high. Lvs. long-petiolate, coarsely crenate, green, ovate, more than 2 cm wide, thin, appressed hairs. Heads elongate in age, 6 mm diam. Bracts irreg. imbricate in several ranks, not accrescent in fruit. Peduncles much longer than petioles, heads 1-2 at each node. Fls. white. Tea made from the plant is a common remedy for colic, colds (Standley 1924:1248) Lippia d.: S Mexico to Panama, W Indies. Damp thickets, waste ground, to 1,800 m. Some put it in Phyla, but it does not have malpighiaceous hairs. Lvs. aromatic. Root when chewed has the flavor of licorice, hence the name ‘orozuz’ common in Cent. Am (Flora of Guatemala 1970:210). Lippia d.: Common in Yuc. A small per. herb, strong-scented. Fls. small, whitish, in long-stalked short-cylindric heads. A decoction is used for coughs, catarrh, bronchitis, colds (Standley 1930:402) Phylla s.: Small plant to 50 cm. Lvs. membranous, saw-toothed, the upper face rough & prickly, lower equally prickly and pubescent. Fls. in heads. The lvs. have a sweet taste; contain a sweet oil, volatile; also a volatile oil similar to that of Japan camphor. Infusion is used as a demulcent, pectoral and emmenagogue to induce menstruation. In Papantla, Ver., a decoction of 10 g lvs. in a liter of water for quinsy [tonsillitis]. Ximénez says the lvs. are sweeter than honey or sugar; this single plant demonstrates how much sweetness could be given to natural things. Not v. useful, the lvs. drunk in water heal fevers and the juice when drunk quiets the cough and hoarseness and awakens the appetite for food. No mention of its properties as an emmenagogue, but in our markets it is sold esp. for that. The Newer Materia Medica: demulcent and expectorant, also exercises alterative action on the mucous membrane and the bronchia. The most effective is a tincture prepared from the fresh plant: shake one part of lvs. with 9 of alcohol. Neither the powder nor the infusion is recommended. For intractable cough, prescribe 2-4 cc every 3 hours. In the Therapeutic Gazette 1882, important testimony on the tincture’s efficacy for coughs, stubborn catarrh, bronchitis (Martínez 1959:Medicinales page 166) Lippia d.: In the Valley of Mexico, boil with fls. of Ceiba [Bombacaceae] and manzanilla [?Crataegus, Rosaceae], apply externally for cough (Ford 1975) Lippia d.: S Mexico to Colombia, to 1800 m; also Cuba, Hispaniola, etc. Per. herb woody at base, strongly aromatic, sometimes trailing with stems often taking root. Lvs. rough above, bristly-hairy beneath, somewhat sweet when chewed. Fls. white, minute, in dense heads, round-ovoid at first, elongating to 3 cm long by 6 mm wide, singly or in pairs, stalks to 5 cm, in leaf axils. Cult. in Puerto Rico for medicine. In Mexico 100 g in a liter water [?] for coughs, catarrh, bronchitis, asthma, colic. A common treatment for coughs & colds throughout Cent. Am. Puerto Rico, drink the plant infusion as a demulcent & expectorant in bronchitis and as a sedative to overcome coughing, gastrointestinal colic. Guatemala, valued as a stimulant & diuretic. Sold by herb vendors in Cuba. A decoction of 100 g lvs. taken for asthma, suffocation. Also as a stomach tonic. Wren 1970: plant has been exported from Mexico to Eu. for similar medicinal uses. The licorice-flavored root is chewed in Cent. Am. Formerly in Cuba cigarette paper was dyed with the juice of this plant (Morton 1981:Vol. 2 page 746) P. scaberima: In Dominican Republic R. A. & E. S. Howard 1946: lvs. sweet smelling and eaten like mint. In Colombia Ewan 1944: used medicinally (von Reis and Lipp 1982:253). Valid species & synonyms (GRIN 2007)
VERBENACEAE Phyla lanceolata
Phyla lanceolata (Michx.) Greene VERBENACEAE
Common names: Northern Frogfruit (Hortus)
Cent. & S US, N Mexico. Stems procumbent or ascending to 2 ft. long. Lvs. oblong to 3″ long, acute, cuneate, toothed below middle, bright green. Peduncles longer than lvs., spikes to 1.5″ long, corolla pale blue, purplish or white. Wet areas (Hortus Third 1976:865) Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
VERBENACEAE Phyla nodiflora
Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene VERBENACEAE
Synonyms: Lippia nodiflora Michx., Lippia nodiflora Rich.
Common names: Frogfruit, Matgrass, Capeweed, Turkey Tangle (Hortus) Fog Fruit (Dalziel) Bleekha (Abbas)
Widespread, trop. & subtrop. Creeping & spreading, rooting at the nodes. Lvs. spatulate to cuneate-obovate, to 1.8″ long, toothed toward apex, green or gray-hairy. Fls. white or lilac, peduncles much longer than subtending lvs. Variable. Grown as ground cover in warm climates; plant small sods a few feet apart (Hortus Third 1976:865) Infl. to 2.5 cm, bracteoles green or violet, corolla white or lilac with a yellow eye (Griffiths 1994:883) NC to TX, W Indies, N S Am.; Old World tropics. Herb with reclining, creeping, minutely downy stems rooting at the nodes, to 3 m or more; often with erect branches to 15 cm. Forms extensive mats. Becomes reddish during drought & cold spells. Lvs. opp., stemless, spatulate, to 6 cm long 2.5 cm wide, fairly thick. Fls. white & purple, to 4 mm long, in heads rounded at first, later oval or cylindric to 2.5 cm long, 9 mm thick, on erect stalks to 10 cm long. Seeds small, pale yellow. Damp soil, salt flats, old pastures, beaches, disturbed ground. Bahama Out Islands, parched & powdered plant sprinkled on diaper rash. Caicos Is., boil the leafy runners, drink the decoction to get rid of a hex someone has put on you. Philippines, India, the plant decoction is taken as a diuretic. Plant contains the glucosides nodiflorin A & B, also 2 flavone glycosides, lippiflorin A & B. Grown as a ground cover where grass is too difficult to maintain. In FL an imp. honeybee plant (Morton 1981:Vol. 2 page 750) Lippia n.: Valued for making lawns in Egypt and other hot, dry countries (Dalziel 1948:456) Lippia n.: The only sp. of Lippia in Malaya; widespread. A small plant of cleared ground or sand dunes. Slightly bitter, sometimes used medicinally. India, toasted, used in infusion for indigestion in children. Also a demulcent in gonorrhea. Chinese sometimes use it in the Straits, not recorded how. Herbal tea made by Filipinos (Burkill 1966:Vol. 2 page 1375) Weed of rice fields in W Bengal. In Sri Lanka lvs. are eaten. Philippines, leaf infusion taken as a tea. Plant has cooling, diuretic, & febrifuge props. An infusion of lvs. & tender stalks are given to women after delivery & to children with indigestion. Maharasta: plant used as a demulcent in cases of gonorrhea. A paste of the plant is applied as a suppurant [bring to a head] for boils, chronic indolent ulcers, swollen neck glands (e) (Datta and Banerjee 1978:307). Lippia n.: In Bahrain a per. herb. Dry lvs. in infusion as a febrifuge, diuretic, astringent, for dysuria, diarrhea (Abbas, El-Oqlah and Mahasneh 1992) Valid species & synonym; some plants may be in P. canescens (GRIN 2007)
Phyla nodiflora var. rosea (D.Don) Mold.
Fls. rose-colored. Grown as a ground cover in warm climates. Plant small sods a few ft. apart (Hortus Third 1976:865) Taxon not in GRIN (GRIN 2007)
Bibliography
Abbas, J. A., A. El-Oqlah, and A. M. Mahasneh. 1992. Herbal Plants in the Traditional Medicine of Bahrain. Economic Botany 46(2):158-163.
Burkill, I. 1966. A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula., 2nd ed. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-Operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dalziel, J. 1948. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Crown Agents, London U.K.
Datta, S. and A. Banerjee. 1978. Useful Weeds of West Bengal Rice Fields. Economic Botany 32(4):297-310.
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