(Fabaceae) Desmodium styracifolium (Osbeck) Merr.

Local name(s): Lao script (roman script italicized and in lowercase letters) - leave a space between words in Lao script.

Medicinal use(s): to treat migraine

Field Characters: Herbaceous plant.

Locality: Saravanch Province, Saravanh District, Ban Ka Xa.

Habitat: 

Altitude: 497 m asl. 

Collector(s): K. Sydara

Collection Date: September 27, 1999

Additional information:  

Voucher specimen is in deposit at the Field Museum (F) Herbarium, Chicago, USA under accession no. 2222111.

Synonyms, images, taxonomic description: 


Plants of the World onlineFlora of China Vol. 10 Page 269, 275GBIF | Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Medicinal properties:

Balkrishna A, Semwal A, Sharma N, et al. Phytochemical and Pharmacological Profile of Desmodium styracifolium (Osbeck) Merr: Updated Review, Current Traditional Medicine 2023, volume 9, issue 5. https://doi.org/10.2174/2215083809666221209085439

Li X, Chen C, Ding N, et al. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modelling and simulation to predict the plasma concentration profile of schaftoside after oral administration of total flavonoids of Desmodium styracifolium. Front. Pharmacol.  2022, 13:1073535. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1073535   

Opryshko V, Prokhach A, Akimov O, et al. Desmodium styracifolium: Botanical and ethnopharmacological insights, phytochemical investigations, and prospects in pharmacology and pharmacotherapy. Heliyon 2024,  volume 10, issue 3, e25058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25058.

Tran TD, Bui TQ, Le TA, et al. Styracifoline from the Vietnamese Plant Desmodium styracifolium: A Potential Inhibitor of Diabetes-Related and Thrombosis-Based Proteins. ACS Omega 2021, 6(36):23211-23221. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c02840 

Yu BX, Long J, Liang YP. et al. Therapeutic potential of Desmodium styracifolium polysaccharide in attenuating nano-calcium oxalate induced renal injury and fibrosis. Commun Biol 8, 1330 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08757-7