Botanical Name: Acampe praemorsa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Subfamily:Epidendroideae
Kingdom:Plantae
Order: Asparagales
Genus: Acampe
Species:A. praemorsa
Synonyms: Acampe excavata, Acampe wightiana, Vanda wightiana
Common Names: Wight’s Acampe, Brittle orchid • Kannada: Seete hoo, Seete dande, Gandhanakula, Marabale • Konkani:Kanphoden • Malayalam:Thaalimaravaazha • Marathi: Waghri • Sanskrit: Gandhanakuli, Rasna
Habitat : Acampe praemorsa is a species of monopodial orchid It distributed in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma.
(India:peninsular India, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram Nagaland, Odisha Sikkim Tripura; Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Laos, Sri – Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam)
Description:
Acampe is a genus of seven orchid species distributed from tropical Africa to India, eastwards to China and southwards to Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea. The name Acampe was derived from the Greek word akampas, meaning “rigid”, referring to the little, brittle, inflexible flowers. Wight’s Acampe is a robust shrub growing on trees. Stem is stout, 20-50 cm high, with vermiform roots from basal nodes. Leaves are distichous, 12-20 x 2-3 cm, linear, sheathing at base, tip unequally 2-lobed, thick, leathery. Corymbs leaf-opposed; flower-cluster-stalk 3.5-5 cm long. Floral bracts scaly, broadly round, broader than long. Flowers 0.8-1 cm across; sepals and petals 0.8-1 x 0.3-0.5 cm,ovate-lanceshaped, creamy yellow with reddish-brown transverse bands, thick, fleshy. Lip about 8 x 4 mm, fleshy, creamy white with narrow red streaks, saccate at base, 3-lobed; lateral lobes small; mid-lobe ovate-blunt, margin crispate; spur short. Anther at branch-ends, 2-loculed; pollinia 2, spherical. Capsule to 4 cm long, cylindrical, ribbed. Wight’s Acampe is found in Peninsular India, Sri Lanka and E India. Flowering: March-April.
Medicinal Uses:
The orchid is used traditionally by for treating ailments such as stomachache, earache, backache, wounds, neuralgia, rheumatism, eye diseases, sciatica, cough and fracture. A. praemorsa is investigated for various pharmacological activities. Studies have revealed the potential of A. praemorsa to exhibit a range of bioactivities such as anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. In conclusion, A. praemorsa is an extensively used epiphytic orchid for medicinal purposes in several parts of the India and other countries.
Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acampe_praemorsa
https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Wight%27s%20Acampe.html
http://jddtonline.info/index.php/jddt/article/view/2224#:~:text=praemorsa%20to%20exhibit%20a%20range,the%20India%20and%20other%20countries.
