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MARTYNIACEAE(Unicorn Plant family)
• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects: The internal and external use of the leaves, seeds, or fruit from one species for the treatment of skin conditions, including external use for wound healing, has been noted but detail is largely lacking. • The family comprises 15 species of glutinous-villous herbs and a shrub in 5 genera; the plants occur naturally in tropical and subtropical America (Mabberley 2017). Previously considered to be members of the Pedaliaceae, these plants are now regarded by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2003) as constituting a distinct family. Some of these plants are grown as curiosities, either by collectors of carnivorous plants or for their remarkable seed pods, which when ripe bear two curved claws that can attach to passing animals for the purpose of seed dispersal. Although native to North, Central, and South America, some have become widely naturalised elsewhere, being categorised as declared weeds in parts of Australia.a,b,c
The fruit is covered with prickly spines and bears two long curved claws that can snag onto the feet, over the nose, under the throat, or in a leg joint of an animal and hence can inflict mechanical injury, lameness and even death (McBarron 1976). The plants are covered in glandular hairs producing a foul-smelling, sticky exudate that catches many insects. Cleland (1925) citing an earlier report by JL Froggatt (1920), noted that men employed in cutting Martynia lutea became extremely dizzy in the head. The sticky glandular hairs have long been thought to be indicative of an insectivorous habit. A study published in 1916 reported that the secretion of the glandular hairs possesed trypsin-like proteolytic activity that could dissolve albuminous substances. More recent studies have failed to detect either gelatinase activity or phosphatase activity in the exudate, or release of plant nutrients (N, P, K, Mg) from flies by the leaves (Chase et al. 2009, Płachno et al. 2009). According to Usher (1974), the seeds of Martynia montevidensis are used in Argentina to make soothing poultices.
The seed pods bear a pair of short fang-like claws capable of inflicting mechanical injury (McBarron 1976). These sharp hooks can attach themselves to animals and hence facilitate seed dispersal (Howes 1974). In volume 3 of a treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants, Kirtikar & Basu (1935) noted that the fruit is useful in inflammation, the leaves are applied to tuberculous glands of the neck, and the juice is used as a gargle for sore throat, adding that in scorpion sting the fruit is rubbed down to a paste with water and applied to the part affected. Quattrocchi (2012) expands on this list of traditional uses, adding the oral use of a root decoction to treat skin diseases, the use of the seed powder on wounds, and the use in veterinary medicine of a leaf paste applied externally to kill worms and when mixed with turmeric, applied to boils, blisters, ulcers, and wounds. Referring to Martnia diandra [sic], Nadkarni (1976) noted that a paste of the nut is used as a local sedative and is said to have a curative effect when applied to bites of venomous insects, such as scorpions [sic]. Citing an earlier source, Biswas & Mukherjee (2003) noted that the fruit and flowers of Mertynia diandra [sic] are used in Ayurvedic medicine to aid healing of wounds, but no further detail is provided. Jain et al. (2005) noted that tribal villagers in the Sitamata wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan, India use the plant to treat scabies and eczema but, again, no detail is provided as to how the plant is used. Also citing an earlier source, Lodhi & Singhai (2011) noted that the plant is applied locally to "tuberculosis glands of camel’s neck" [= cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis ?], that the juice from the leaves is used as a gargle for sore throat, the "fruit in inflammation", and that a paste prepared from the leaves has a beneficial effect when applied to the bites of venomous insects and wounds of domestic animals. Their study of an ethanol extract of the leaves in two rat wound healing models demonstrated increased wound contraction and tensile strength, and changes in biochemical parameters and histopathology suggestive of improved wound healing. Their further studies of wound healing in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (Lodhi & Singhai 2013) and in a burn wound model (Lodhi et al. 2016) demonstrated that a flavonoid fraction from the leaves, and luteolin in particular may be responsible for the enhanced wound healing they observed. According to Plants of the World Online,a the genus comprises 7 species found in warm regions of the Americas, and introduced elsewhere. Some are cultivated for their ornamental flowers or as curiosities, and in particular by collectors of carnivorous plants.b The ripe seed pods bear a pair of long curved claws that can attach to passing animals (hence facilitating seed dispersal), and can inflict mechanical injury. The following species are the most likely to be found in cultivation:
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