 Botany
Damung-balang is a rather coarse grass, variable in habit, 15 to 60 cm high, the basal parts decumbent, usually more or less creeping and rooting, the flowering stems erect or ascending. Leaves are narrowly linear, 5 to 18 cdm long, 2 to 6 mm wide, with the sheaths loose, and imbricate. Spikes number 3 or 4, rarely only 2, digitately radiating from the top of the peduncle, 1 to 5 cm long, 5 to 7 mm thick. Spikelets are numerous, and densely crowded, spreading, and about 3 mm long, 3- to 4-flowered, the first glume ovate and acute, the second, obliquely awned. Flowering glumes are cuspidate-awned, the cusps recurved.
Distribution
A common weed throughout the Philippines in settled areas at low and medium altitudes.
Pantropic in distribution.
Constituents
Ash (6.9%) is rich in lime (20.67%) with SiO (24.17%) and chlorine (6.76%).
Properties
Astringent, anthelmintic, tonic.
Parts used
Whole plant, seeds.
Uses
Edibility
A famine food in Africa.
Folkloric
- Decoction of plant, in fresh or in dry state, used internally for dysentery and acute hemoptysis.
- In Africa, decoction of seeds used to relieve pains in the region of the kidney; stems and leaves applied externally for treatment of ulcers.
- In traditional Thai medicine, use for diuretic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic effects.
- In India, juice of fresh plant used for fevers. Used externally for wounds and ulcers,
Studies
• Apoptotic Activity: Study of grass extracts of D. aegyptium and Eleusine indica showed selective inhibitory growth inhibition effect on human lung cancer and cervical cancer (HeLa) cells. The activity was probably mediated through induction of apoptosis.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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