O. diffusa is a well-known medicinal plant (Islam et al. 2009). This plant has one ofthe longest herb names in Chinese – Bai Hua She She Cao – which means “plantused as a treatment for snake bites” (Gupta et al. 2004). O. diffusa is from the familyRubiaceae and the order Gentianales (Islam et al. 2009). It is an annual plant, of0.3 m in height, with small leaves. It has long been used in China for the treatmentof hepatitis, sore throat, and tumors of the liver, lung, and stomach (Xu et al. 1997).Chemical compounds isolated from O. diffusa such as oleanolic and ursolic acidhave anticancer, antibiosis, and transaminase-degrading properties (Rodriguez et al.2003). The aqueous extract of this plant is effective in inhibiting the growth ofcancer lines (Gupta et al. 2004). To date, endophytes isolated from O. diffusa haveonly been reported by Chow and Ting (2015), which are Fusarium verticillioidesstrain jb111, Ascomycota sp., and Colletotrichum sp., as producers of L-asparaginase.
