 Botany
Evolvulus alsinoides is a very slender, more or less branched, spreading or ascending, usually extremely hairy herb. Stems are 20 to 70 centimeters long, not twining. Leaves are densely clothed with appressed, white and silky hairs, variable, lanceolate to ovate, usually 0.5 to 1 centimeter in length or larger; the apex is blunt with a little point, and the base pointed. Flowers are pale blue or nearly white, 6 to 8 millimeters in diameter. Fruit is a capsule, rounded, usually containing 4 seeds.
Distribution
- Locally abundant, from northern Luzon to Mindanao, in open grasslands at low and medium altitudes.
- Pantropic.
Constituents
- Plant contains a yellow neutral fat, an organic acid and saline substances.
- Yields alkaloids: betaine, shankhapushpine and evolvine.
- Fresh plant contains a volatile oil.
- Studies have reported scopoletin, scopolin, umbelliferone, ferulic acid esters, palmitic, stearic, oleic, 9-methyldecanoic and heptadecanoic acids.
- Plant yields alkaloids, amino acids, carbohydrates, betaine, evolvine, phenolic compounds, proteins, sterols, tannins.
Properties
- Considered alterative, febrifuge, anthelmintic, antiphlogistic, tonic and vermifuge.
- Large doses may cause drowsiness and decreased mobility; however, with no toxic effects.
Parts used
Entire plant.
Uses
Folkloric
- Infusion of entire plant used to cure irregularities of the bowels. Also used as vermifuge and febrifuge.
- In the Goa territory, whole plant used extensively as tonic and febrifuge.
- In decoction or infusion, used as alterative, febrifuge, anthelmintic and antiphlogistic.
- With cumin and milk, used for fevers, nervous debility and loss of memory; also used for syphilis and scrofula.
- Used as sovereign remedy for bowel complaints, especially dysentery.
- In India, used with oil to promote hair growth.
- Roots used by Santals for intermittent fevers in children.
- In Nigeria and India, leaves made into cigarettes and smoked in chronic bronchitis and asthma.
- In west tropical Africa, used as febrifuge, leprosy, pulmonary ailments, stomach troubles, vermifuge and for general healing.
- In Unani and Ayurveda traditional systems, used as nootropic or brain-tonic, used for memory loss, nervous debility, fever, epilepsy and immune disorders.
- Dried leaves rolled into cigarettes and smoked to treat bronchitis and asthma.
- Oil from the plant used to stimulate hair growth.
- In Sri Lanka, roots and stem extract used for dysentery and depression. Leaves used for asthma and mental disturbances.
- In India, decoction of roots used for coughs and colds.
Others
- In the old Sudanese Kingdom, used with other herbs as a charm to exorcise evil spirits causing disease. Women would burn the plant to fumigate the hut during puerperium and use a warm infusion as wash during the 40-day purification.
- In Ghana, the Hausa use the plant in love-potions and religious practices.
Studies
• Adaptogenic / Anti-Amnesic: Evolvulus alsinoides is used in the traditional Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda, for its memory enhancement, antiepileptic and immunomodulatory properties. Study of ethanolic extract suggested adaptogenic and anti-amnesic properties with improvement in the peripheral stress markers and scopolamine induced dementia.
• Antiulcer / Anticatatonic Activity: Study of alcoholic extract showed marked antiulcer and anticatatonic activity.
• Learning Behavior / Memory Enhancement: Study of significant reversal of amnesia induced by scopolamine. Results also showed potent memory enhancing effects.
• Anxiolytic / Antioxidant: Study showed significant reduction of neuromuscular coordination indicating muscle relaxant activity at higher doses. Results showed anxiolytic and antioxidant activities of E. alsinoides extracts and substantiates claims for use in stress-induced disorders.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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