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Picão Preto

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Family: Asteraceae 
Genus: Bidens 
Species: pilosa 
Synonyms: Bidens adhaerescens, B. alausensis, B. chilensis, B. hirsuta, B. leucantha, B. montaubani, B. reflexa, B. scandicina, B. sundaica, Coreopsis leucantha, Kerneria pilosa 
Common Names: Picão preto, carrapicho, amor seco, pirca, aceitilla, cadillo, chilca, pacunga, cuambu, erva-picão, alfiler, clavelito de monte, romerillo, saltillo, yema de huevo, z’aiguille, jarongan, ketul, pau-pau pasir, Spanish needles, bident herisse, herbe d’aiguille, zweizahn, bidente piloso, mozote, beggar’s tick 
Parts Used: whole herb


From The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs: 

Picão preto is a small, erect annual herb that grows to 1 m high. It has bright green leaves with serrated, prickly edges and produces small, yellow flowers and black fruit. Its root has a distinctive aroma similar to that of a carrot. It is indigenous to the Amazon rainforest and other tropical areas of South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. It is often considered a weed in many places. It is a southern cousin to Bidens tripartita, the European bur marigold, which has an ancient history in European herbal medicine. In Brazil, the plant is most commonly known as picão preto or carrapicho; in Peru it is known as amor seco or pirca.

TRIBAL AND HERBAL MEDICINE USES

Picão preto has a long history of use among the indigenous people of the Amazon, and virtually all parts of the plant are used. Generally the whole plant is uprooted and prepared in decoctions or infusions for internal use, and/or crushed into a paste or poultice for external use. In the Peruvian Amazon picão preto is used for aftosa (foot-and-mouth disease), angina, diabetes, menstrual disorders, hepatitis, laryngitis, intestinal worms and for internal and external inflammations. In Piura region of Peru, a decoction of the roots is used for alcoholic hepatitis and worms. The Cuna tribe mixes the crushed leaves with water to treat headaches. Near Pucallpa, Peru, the leaf is balled up and applied to a toothache; the leaves also are used for headaches. In other parts of the Amazon, a decoction of the plant is mixed with lemon juice and used to treat angina, hepatitis, sore throat, and water retention. The Exuma tribe grinds the sun-dried leaves with olive oil to make poultices for sores and lacerations and, in Tonga, an infusion of the flowers is used to treat upset stomach in food poisoning.

In Peruvian herbal medicine picão preto is employed to reduce inflammation, increase urination, and to support and protect the liver. It is commonly used there for hepatitis, conjunctivitis, abscesses, fungal infections, urinary infections, as a weight loss aid, and to stimulate childbirth. In Brazilian herbal medicine it is used for fevers, malaria, hepatitis, diabetes, sore throat, tonsillitis, obstructions in the liver and other liver disorders, urinary infections, and vaginal discharge and infections. An infusion or decoction of the entire plant is often gargled for tonsilitis and pharyngitis. Externally it is used for wounds, fungal infections, ulcers, diaper rash, insect bites, and hemorrhoids. Brazilian herbalists also report using picão preto to normalize insulin and bilirubin levels in the pancreas, liver, and blood. In Mexico the entire plant or leaf is used to treat diabetes, stomach disorders, hemorrhoids, hepatitis, nervous problems, and fever. It is used as a gargle for mouth blisters, and the juice of the plant is used in an external poultice for kidney and liver inflammation.

PLANT CHEMICALS

Picão preto is rich in flavonoids, terpenes, phenylpropanoids, lipids, and benzenoids. Even as early as 1979 and 1980, scientists demonstrated that specific chemicals found in the herb were toxic to bacteria and fungi. Many of the flavonoids in picão preto have been documented with antimalarial activity. In 1991, Swiss scientists isolated several known phytochemicals with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, which led them to infer that the presence of these compounds "may rationalize the use of this plant in traditional medicine in the treatment of wounds, against inflammation and against bacterial infection of the gastrointestinal tract." New bioactive phytochemicals, discovered in 1996, showed activity against transformed human cell lines.

The plant chemicals in picão preto include: aesculetin, behenic acid, beta-sitosterol, borneol, butanedioic acid, butoxylinoleates, cadinols, caffeine, caffeoylic acids, capric acid, daucosterol, elaidic acid, erythronic acids, friedelans, friedelins, germacrene D, glucopyranoses, glucopyranosides, inositol, isoquercitrin, lauric acid, limonene, linoleic acids, lupeol, luteolin, muurolol, myristic acid, okanin-glucosides, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, paracoumaric acids, phenylheptatriynes, phytenoic acid, phytol, pilosola A, polyacetylenes, precocene I, pyranoses, quercetin, sandaracopimaradiols, squalene, stigmasterols, tannic acid, tetrahydroxyaurones, tocopherolquinones, tridecapentaynenes, tridecatetrayndienes, and vanillic acid.

BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES AND CLINICAL RESEARCH

Picão preto has been the subject of recent clinical research that has supported many of its uses in herbal medicine. A research group in Taiwan reported that a picão preto extract was capable of protecting the liver of rats from various introduced toxins known to cause liver injury. This research group had previously demonstrated picão preto's anti-inflammatory actions in animals a year earlier (in 1995). In 1999, a Brazilian research group confirmed the anti-inflammatory activities in mice and attributed them to an immune modulation effect (noting the extract reduced the amount of pro-inflammatory immune cells in human blood in a previous study). In addition, other research demonstrated that a picão preto extract inhibited prostaglandin-synthesis and cyclooxygenase (COX) activities. Both are chemical processes in the body which are linked to inflammatory diseases (and provide the focus for newer "COX-inhibitor" classes of anti-inflammatory and arthritis pharmaceutical drugs).

Other areas of research have validated picão preto's traditional use for ulcers and diabetes. Extracts of the leaf (as well as the entire plant) have clinically shown to protect rats against chemical- and bacteria-induced gastric lesions and ulcers and, also, to reduce gastric acid secretion. The activity noted in these studies was higher than that shown by two prescription anti-ulcer drugs. Other in vivostudies with rats and mice have demonstrated that picão preto has hypoglycemic activity and is able to improve insulin sensitivity which validates its long history in herbal medicine for diabetes. Researchers (in 2000) attributed the plant's hypoglycemic properties to a group of glucoside chemicals found in the aerial parts of the plant. Picão preto was also documented to prevent hypertension in rats fed a high-fructose diet, and to lower the resulting (elevated) blood pressure and triglyceride levels. In hypertensive rats (including high dietary salt-induced hypertension), extracts of the plant significantly lowered blood pressure - without having an effect on heart rate and urine volume.19 A leaf extract was also shown to have smooth-muscle relaxant activity on the heart.

Picão preto has long been used in traditional medicine systems for infections of all kinds: from such upper respiratory tract infections as colds and flu to urinary tract infections and venereal diseases-and even infected wounds on the skin. Research has begun to confirm these uses in several in vitro microbial studies. In 1991, scientists in Egypt first documented picão preto's antimicrobial activity against various pathogens. Other in vitro studies have demonstrated its antibacterial activity against a wide range of bacteria includingKlebsiella pneumonia, Bacillus, Neisseria gonorrhea, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Salmonella. Extracts of the leaf also have been documented to have antimycobacterial activity towards Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. smegmatis. A water extract of the leaf has shown significant anti-yeast activity towardsCandida albicans. Much of picão preto's antimicrobial actions have been attributed to a group of chemicals called polyacetylenes, which includes a chemical called phenylheptatriyne. Phenylheptatriyne has shown strong in vitro activity against numerous human and animal viruses, bacteria, fungi, and molds in very small amounts.

In the tropics, picão preto is also used for snakebite and malaria; research has confirmed these uses as well. Several studies have confirmed the plant's antimalarial activity; it reduced malaria in animals by 43-66 percent, and in vitro by 90%. With regard to its status as a traditional snakebite remedy, one research group confirmed that a picão preto extract could protect mice from lethal injections of neurotoxic snake venom.

The last area of research has focused on picão preto's anticancerous possibilities. Early research, in various in vitro assay systems designed to predict antitumor activity, indicated positive results in the early 1990s. Picão preto first was reported to have antileukemic actions in 1995. Then researchers from Taiwan reported (in 2001) that a simple hot-water extract of picão preto could inhibit the growth of five strains of human and mouse leukemia at less than 200 mcg per ml in vitro. They summarized their research by saying that picão preto ". . . may prove to be a useful medicinal plant for treating leukemia."

CURRENT PRACTICAL USES

Picão preto, one of South America's well-known medicinal plants, is widely used for numerous conditions. Many of its indigenous uses for inflammation, hypertension, ulcers, diabetes and infections of all kinds are being validated and verified by modern research. Unfortunately, little is known of it in herbal medicine practices in the U.S. - and it is not widely available here. In South America, it is considered a safe plant to use; in the various animals studies performed to date, no toxic effects have been reported. Specific toxicology studies have shown no toxicity when dosages of (up to) 1 g per kg of body weight were injected into mice.