Global InformationBreynia androgyna information
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2024) |
| Breynia androgyna | |
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Conservation status
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 Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1] | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Phyllanthaceae |
| Genus: | Breynia |
| Species: | B. androgyna
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| Binomial name | |
| Breynia androgyna (L.) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2012)
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| Synonyms[2][3] | |
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List
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Breynia androgyna, also known as katuk, star gooseberry, or sweet leaf, is a shrub grown in some tropical regions as a leaf vegetable.
Its multiple upright stems can reach 2.5 meters high and bear dark green oval leaves 5–6 cm long.
It is native to India and Bangladesh, Indochina, southern China including Hainan, Malesia, and New Guinea.[2] It inhabits tropical and subtropical humid lowland forest, where it grows on brushy slopes and sunny forest margins from 100 to 400 meters elevation.[1] It is cultivated up to 1,300 m.[4][full citation needed]
It is a good source of vitamin K.[citation needed] and contains high level of provitamin A carotenoids, especially in freshly picked leaves, as well as high levels of vitamins B and C, protein and minerals. The more the leaves mature, the higher the nutrient content of the leaves.[5]
However, a study has suggested that excessive consumption of uncooked and juiced katuk leaves (due to its popularity for body weight control in Taiwan in the mid 1990s) can cause lung damage, due to its high concentrations of the alkaloid papaverine.[6]
- ^ a b Barstow, M. 2021. Breynia androgyna. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T183248426A183248512. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T183248426A183248512.en. Accessed 17 March 2024.
- ^ a b Breynia androgyna (L.) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ The basionym of S. androgynus (Clutia androgyna) was originally described and published in Mantissa Plantarum 1: 128. 1767. "Name – Clutia androgyna L." Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
- ^ "Globinmed – Globinmed". www.globinmed.com.
- ^ Fletcher, Rob. "Sauropus androgynus (sweet leaf bush)". The Australian New Crops Newsletter. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
Sauropus has a high level of provita-min A carotenoids, especially in freshly picked leaves, as well as high levels of vitamins B and C, protein and minerals. Nutrient content of the leaves is usually higher in more mature leaves.
- ^ Kao CH; Ho YJ; Wu CL; ChangLai SP (1999). "Using 99mTc-DTPA Radioaerosol Inhalation Lung Scintigraphies to Detect the Lung Injury Induced by Consuming Sauropus androgynus Vegetable and Comparison with Conventional Pulmonary Function Tests". Respiration. 66 (1). Karger AG: 46–51. doi:10.1159/000029336. PMID 9973690. S2CID 38378580.