Justicia pectoralis
(freshcut)

Preferred Common Name

• freshcut

Other Scientific Names

• Dianthera pectoralis (Jacq.) Murray
• Ecbolium pectorale (Jacq.) Kuntze
• Justicia pectoralis var. latifolia Bremek.
• Justicia stuebelii Lindau
• Leptostachya pectoralis (Jacq.) Nees & Mart.
• Psacadocalymma pectorale (Jacq.) Bremek.
• Rhytiglossa pectoralis (Jacq.) Nees
• Stethoma pectoralis (Jacq.) Raf.

International Common Names

• English: carpenter's grass; death-angel
• Spanish: carpintero; hierba tila; tila; tilo
• French: herbe à charpentiers

Local Common Names

• Brazil: takurushni
• Colombia: curibano; mejorana
• Costa Rica: arbusto carpintero; hierba tilo; te de tilo
• Cuba: hierba de carpintero; té criollo
• Dominican Republic: carpintera; curía; yerba carpintera
• Ecuador: escancel
• Haiti: herbe au charpentier; herbe charpentier; z’herbe charpentier
• Jamaica: fresh cut
• Lesser Antilles: chapantyé; garden balsam; goat barsum; rock balsam; zeb sepanche
• Peru: cariñito
• Puerto Rico: curía
• United States Virgin Islands: sweet mint

EPPO code

• IUIPE (Justicia pectoralis)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Scrophulariales
•                         Family: Acanthaceae
•                             Genus: Justicia
•                                 Species: Justicia pectoralis

The family Acanthaceae includes about 221 genera and 4000 species widespread in both New and Old World Tropics (Scotland and Vollesen, 2000; Stevens, 2012). Species within this family are herbs or woody shrubs, lianas and trees. Member of the Acanthaceae may be recognized by their fruit: a few-seeded, explosively dehiscent capsule within which seeds are borne on hook-like structures called retinacula (the lignified derivatives of the funiculus) (McDade et al., 2009). The genus Justicia is the largest genus in the Acanthaceace, containing about 600 species found in tropical and temperate areas of the Old and New World (Graham, 1988). Most of the species within the genus Justicia grow as perennial plants, herbs and subshrubs, erect or scandent. J. pectoralis was described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin in 1760, who provided additional data in 1763. A well-marked variety, var. stenophylla, was described by Emery Clarence Leonard in 1958. This variety is found only in South America, whereas J. pectoralis is also found in Central America and the Caribbean.

J. pectoralis plants are erect, ascending or decumbent herbs 30-40 (200) cm tall; stems weak, erect or ascending, often rooting at the lower nodes, sub-quadrangular, grooved, glabrous to puberulous, the hairs retrorse. Leaves narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 5-11 ×0.5-1.8(2.5) cm, apically acuminate, basally acute to obtuse, the cystoliths dense and prominent above, not visible beneath, glabrous to strigose at the costa above, glabrous beneath, the margins entire to undulate; petioles short, to approximately 5 mm long, strigose above. Inflorescences in terminal, lax, spicate panicles to 25 cm long, 15 cm broad, the lower internodes of spicate branches approximately 2 cm long, the rachises and the peduncles glandular puberulous; bracts and bracteoles subulate, 2 mm long, 1 mm wide basally, puberulous and with a few glandular hairs. Flowers with 5-merous calyx, segments narrowly subulate, to 2 mm long, 0.5 mm wide basally, glandular puberulous; corollas white or purple, 8-12 mm long, puberulous outside, the throat transversely plicate, often spotted with dark purple, the tube narrowly funnel-form, basally 1.25 mm broad, 2.5 mm wide at the mouth, the upper lip erect, triangular, 3.5 mm long, 3 mm wide, apically acute, the lower lip spreading, to 5 mm long, 3-lobed, the lobes 1 mm long, the middle lobe 2 mm wide, the lateral lobes 1.5 mm wide, all apically obtuse; stamens exserted to about the tip of the upper lip, the anther cells slightly superposed, basally apiculate, the filaments glabrous. Capsules slender-clavate, to 8 mm long, 2 mm wide, puberulent; seeds orbicular, flattened, 1.5 mm in diameter (Standley et al., 1974; Missouri Botanical Garden, 2014).

Currently, J. pectoralis occurs only in tropical America (which is considered its native distribution range) and in the Caribbean (Ezcurra, 2002; Missouri Botanical Garden, 2014; USDA-ARS, 2014). In the case of the Caribbean, we do not have enough information to determine if this species is native or exotic. However, if the species was introduced into the Caribbean Islands, its introduction would have had to be early during European colonization.

Soil reaction

• alkaline
• neutral

J. pectoralis spreads by seeds and vegetatively by rooting nodes (Standley et al., 1974). Capsules are explosively dehiscent facilitating dispersal of seeds over short distances. Seeds can also be secondarily dispersed by water (Andel, 2000).

• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Fast growing
• Reproduces asexually

• Modification of successional patterns

• Hybridization
• Rapid growth
• Rooting

• Highly likely to be transported internationally accidentally
• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately
• Difficult to identify/detect as a commodity contaminant

The genus Justicia has been described as rich in amine metabolites, coumarins and lignans (Al-Juaid and Abdel-Mogib, 2004; Verdam et al., 2012). J. pectoralis is widely used as a medicinal herb in tropical America and the Caribbean (Oliveira and Andrade, 2000; Perez, et al., 2001). This species is often used for the treatment of inflammation, influenza, and other infections (Perez et al., 2001; Madaleno, 2009). Decoctions of the whole plant are used to treat pulmonary infections, to relieve coughs, and as an expectorant (Joseph et al., 1988). Leaves are also mixed with bark resin of Virola spp and are used as an ingredient in hallucinogenic snuff (Macrae and Towers, 1984).