I admit, there are times I’ve been a naughty daughter.
My lovely parents have visited me in every backwoods, hard-to-find, takes-ages-to-get-to location I’ve ever called home, and they even seemed to 
enjoy themselves. But several summers ago, when I was living in North Carolina nestled against some pretty blue mountains, I grew a big garden, herbs outnumbering vegetables 2:1. And as we were moseying through the chamomile, calendula, and spilanthes, what do you think I did?
Yeah, you guessed. I gave my folks each a big old spilanthes eyeball flower to chew on. My mom made a face that reminded me of Stimpy and said, “Something’s wrong with my mouth.” My dad gamely chewed the thing, because he’s a Taurus and one of the sturdiest people on earth. The tingling only lasts five minutes, folks, I’m not totally cruel.
This winter, I’ve been going through my apothecary bottles of spilanthes tincture as, one by one, the people around me fall prey to colds, flus, and an astounding number of instances of food poisoning. It’s been such a gnarly winter, my sweetheart has been asking for the spilanthes instead of only taking it when I push it, although maybe he’s not a good sample since he also adores brussel sprouts and organ meats (obviously we were made for each other).
But enough about me. Let’s talk about spilanthes.
ETHNOBOTANY & TRADITIONAL USE
60 species of spilanthes are endemic to tropical and subtropical regions from India to Brazil, with 6 different species used medicinally and Spilanthes acmella being one of the most studied species in this genus, which is in the Aster Family. Literature on a variety of traditional medicine practices shows centuries of cultivation of the spilanthes genus for horticultural, medicinal, insecticidal, and culinary purp
oses.
This plant is small and hardy, with bulls-eye pattern flower heads that have no ray petals, giving it common folk names that include “spot plant” and “eyeball plant,” in addition to function-indicating “toothache plant” and the curious “pricklebloom.” Ethnobotanists have compiled centuries-old practices involving this plant, including as a vulnerary in Ethiopia, a silagogue in Nigeria and Sri Lanka, mouth ulcers in India, labor induction in Uganda, and menstrual regulation in China.
There are a lot of products on the market that incorporate spilanthes or constituents derived from the plant, most of which relate to pain and oral care, such as for tooth and gum infections, swelling, and periodontosis. HerbPharm sells an oral health tonic, anti-fungal compound, and another topical compound containing Spilanthes acmella, while Dentaforce sells mouth spray for periodontal disease a
nd gingivitis, as well as a mouthwash and an aftershave.
Check out this table of ethnobotanical research on spilanthes from the Hindawi research journal.
ACTIONS & ENERGETICS
Traditional medicine practices understood how to use this plant medicine through its energetic actions. When tasted or drunk as tea, one can immediately understand the aromatic nature of this plant. Spilanthes is one of the essential-oil heavy genera belonging to the family Asteraceae, with components including caryophyllene, limonene, and myrcene. This aromatic aspect along with the herb’s acrid constituents produces tingling, numbing, and saliva (which is why its known as a sialogogue). The spilanthol-induced tingling of the tongue can be unpleasant (as my folks learned), but the leaves may be eaten as vegetable when cooked, as some of the more intense flavor seeps out.
Spilanthes is also warming, stimulating, and diffusive, causing fluids to move through tissues and systems. These energetics likely contribute to the known actions of spilanthes: analgesic, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, and immune-stimulating.
Check out this cool table on the phytochemical makeup of various spilanthes species.
MODERN USAGE & CURRENT RESEARCH
Below is a (by no means exhaustive) list of some of the most common ways that this herb is used. I’ve included some research, the links to which are listed at the end of this article.
- Oral and dental care: toothache, decay, and infection, sore throats, mouth ulcers, bleeding gums, stomatitis, gingivitis, and as a sialagogue.
- Pain: headache, muscle pain, rheumatism, topical local anesthetic. In several studies with albino rats, an aqueous extract of Spilanthes acmella showed significant pain-reducing activity, with effectiveness of action increasing with dose from 100-400 mg/kg.
- Antimicrobial: antibacterial, antifungal against infections such as ringworm, vaginal yeast, athlete’s foot. In several round of testing, ethanol extracts of spilanthes were found to be effects against Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus cereus, B. pumilus, B. subtilis, B. cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Corynebacterium diphtheriae and the Gram-negative bacteria E. coli. Aqueous extracts were found to be inactive against these microbiota.
- Immunity: common cold, fever, flu, cough, tuberculosis, pneumonia. Researchers think various species of spilanthes effect immune function by modulating modulation of macrophage function. This immune stimulating activity may be due to the presence of alkamides and polysaccharides in tested extracts.
- Gastrointestinal distress: stomach ache, dysentery, gastritis, intestinal diseases, diarrhea, constipation, emetic, liver dysfunction. Both ethanol and aqueous extracts of fresh leaves of Spilanthes acmella have been reported to possess anti-inflammatory activity in acute, subacute, and chronic inflammatory states. Research results suggest support that one constituent, spilanthol, inhibits the production of proinflammatory mediators at the transcriptional and translational levels.
- Kidney tonic: diuretic activity, dissolution of kidney stones and calcium accumulations.
- Antiparisitic: Malaria, worm infections, itchy scalp conditions, insecticidal.
- Pelvic and menstrual regulation: aphrodisiac, amenorrhea, leucorrhoea, anemia, fertility regulation.
Check out this table of spilanthes’ pharmacological actions from the Hindawi research journal.
ON PLANT SYNERGY & HIP RESEARCHERS
Much of the current research on spilanthes comes from India, and some of the papers I reviewed contained very smart things to say about not depending on technology-dependent single-constituent extracts for healing purposes, or human longevity in general.
There are five constituent groups that are thought to be responsible for a lot of the activity in the Spilanthes genus: alkamides, coumarins, flavonoids, terpenoids, and polysaccharides. While pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies are wont to used isolated compounds commercially, the research suggests that Spilanthes extract is superior in action to isolated compounds, likely due pharmacokinetic potentiation or pharmacodynamic enhancement. These are fancy ways of saying synergy, or results which manifest when small molecules interact and even depend on each other to create a substantive (and magical, lets face it) effect.
It’s sort of a no-brainer for a lot of folks versed in integrative or constitutional medicine, but the researchers spell it out: Ingestion of a plant extract is nearly always going to act on multiple pathways in the body. And, the scientists point out, this indicates that an herb is more than the sum of its parts — also a pretty darn familiar concept in integrative and holistic healing practices. But its nice of the scientists to say so, along with the suggestion that this sort of rather pharmacodynamic synergism suggests that herbal medicines have something special to offer.
TAKING THE MEDICINE
I most often use spilanthes in the form of tincture, as the prospect of drinking a whole cup of the tea gives me full-body willies. For topical wound and rash care, a water infusion is perfectly fine, though; I imagine a rubbing alcohol-based extract might be a nice liniment as well. I’ve yet to try spilanthes in a salve, and while it seems like it could be effect given its antibacterial actions, none of the research and few of the traditional preparations suggest spilanthes to be effective in an oil-based extract.
My favorite winter acute cold-and-flu combo is an ethanol tincture with 3 parts spilanthes to 1 part red root (Ceanothus americanus). The antimicrobial and macrophage mobilizing actions of spilanthes combine with the powers of red root’s lymphatic stimulation to catalyze superhero-like immune action. For a serious cold, I usually take 30-60 drops every two hours.
Before I sign off, I’d just like to encourage budding and experienced gardeners alike to have a whirl at growing this charming plant, if you haven’t yet. This creature of tropical origins does very well in temperate climate and thrives under multiple harvests. This year, I’ll probably only put six or eight plants in a raised bed. Once it starts flowering, I’ll do a “haircut” harvest of the flowers and top leaves once or twice a week. Some folks tincture the whole plant, in which case, you’ll still want to deadhead the flower to allow the plants to bush out before you pull the whole thing out of the ground.
I welcome any stories or perspectives on this tingly plant ally. Thanks for reading!
SOURCES
Pavani Manupati et.al. Preliminary Phytochemical Investigation of Ethyl Acetate Extracts of Leaves of Three Indian Medicinal Plants: Spilanthes calva, Declpis hamiltonii, and Madhuca longifolia. Department of Pharmacology. September 2014. http://www.ijipsr.com/sites/default/files/articles/IJIPSRMNR-145.pdf
Suchita Dubey,et al. Phytochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology of Spilanthes acmlla: A Review. Advances in Pharmacological Sciences.Volume 2013 (2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/423750
Jayaraj Paulraj et al. The Genus Spilanthes Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacological Properties: A Review. Advances in Pharmacological Sciences. Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 510298, http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aps/2013/510298/