The Bitter Leaf plant is an indigenous African plant, its natural habitat spanning along the equatorial belt of Africa, commonly found as a broad-leaved shrub with tender twigs, but matures into a small tree. The epithet “Bitter Leaf” that has come to be the common name of this plant derives from the fact that its leaves are extremely bitter to taste; leaves that are characteristically deep green on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the underside, not scented, simple in formation, mature leaves approximating the size of the palm of an adult male person, and ellipsoid in shape with pointed ends. The leaves are arranged in alternate pattern on slender twigs of the shrub.
Botanical classification has assigned to this plant the name Vernonia amygdalina Delile, and recently a concern has been raised that it is the same species of plant which was also named and described in a later publication as Gymnanthemum amygdalinum (Delile)Sch.Bip.1 The plant has been put into the following taxons;
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
The fresh leaves of Vernonia amygdalina Del. are consumed as a vegetable in West Africa. This and other organs of same plant have been attributed with a plethora of medicinal activities and have been put to several medical applications by the native folks. The monograph about this plant in the Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia2 and the review literature published by Ijeh and Ejike3 are recommended for detailed information on the botanical, ethnomedical, and pharmacological studies that have been conducted on Vernonia amygdalina Del. In the present publication the author seeks to build on the vast wealth of knowledge that has accumulated about this plant so far. A first attempt is here made to introduce, define and describe finished products obtainable from this plant, and to briefly discuss how these products can be put to useful pharmaceutical application.
1. CORTEX VERNONIAE
Cortex Vernoniae is defined as the dried stem bark of Vernonia amygdalina (Fam. Asteraceae). The fresh stem bark is collected from the mature trees and grated or otherwise reduced into small pieces before drying in the sun. In contrast to the leaves of the same plant Cortex Vernoniae is only faintly bitter to taste.
Cortex Vernoniae is the material basis for the preparation of Vernonia Tincture and Vernonia Fluidextract.
2. VERNONIA TINCTURE
Vernonia Tincture is an alcoholic extract prepared from Cortex Vernoniae. Its colour is straw to dark yellow and essentially composed of the saponins of the plant.
Vernonia Tincture is recommended as an excipient in pharmaceutical and food preparations, to be applied as emulsifying, foaming or wetting agent. It is a suitable local alternative to Quillaia saponins and Yucca schidigera juice. Studies by this author has shown that Vernonia Tincture could effectively substitute for Quillaia Liquid Extract in the formulation of Concentrated Peppermint Emulsion BPC 1973.
Method:
Cortex Vernoniae, in moderately coarse powder …………………………. 1,000g
Alcohol USP, sufficient quantity to obtain …………………………………. 1,000mL
Macerate the Cortex Vernoniae powder with 1,100mL of Alcohol USP in a suitable covered vessel for 4hours, gently agitating the vessel at regular intervals. Transfer the materials to a percolator and carefully perform the percolation at slow rate to obtain 1,000mL of tincture, using Alcohol USP as solvent.
Reserve the residue for the preparation of Vernonia Fluidextract according to the method below.
3. VERNONIA FLUIDEXTRACT
Vernonia Fluidextract is recommended as an active ingredient in oral pharmaceutical preparations intended for the treatment of cough and related respiratory tract diseases. It is a dark brown, slightly viscous liquid product prepared from Cortex Vernoniae after partial extraction of its saponins with Alcohol USP.
Prepare Vernonia Fluidextract by using the residue obtained from extraction of Vernonia Tincture according to the following method: Fill residue into a percolator and carry out percolation at a fast rate using boiling Purified Water USP as solvent, until the plant material clearly has been exhausted. Combine the percolates and evaporate on steam bath to obtain a volume of 700mL. Add to this and mix 300mL of freshly prepared Vernonia Tincture, and a sufficient quantity of Purified Water USP to obtain 1,000mL of fluidextract.
REFERENCES:
1. The International Plant Names Index, accessed at www.powo.science.kew.org/taxon/257798-1 on 2021-02-19.
2. Bitter Leaf. Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia, 2nd edition(2007). Ed. Kofi Busia. CSIR, Ghana. Pp 30—35.
3. Ijeh, I.I. and Ejike, C.E.C.C.(2011). Current perspectives on the medicinal potentials of Vernonia amygdalina Del. J. Med. Plant. Res. 5(7): 1051—1061.
CITATION:
Adjei, M. A preliminary report on the pharmaceutical importance of Vernonia products. Paracelsus Transactions, 2021: pp 1—4.
