|
Botany
One of the most common
edible alga, 15 to 25 cm high. Fronds are elongated, cylindrical, 2
to 3 cm in diameter at thickest, gradually diminishing, soft or subcartilaginous, smooth
and irregularly and dichotomously branched. Color is purplish with a tinge of green when fresh,
yellowish white when dry. Branches are rather fastigiate, bare below, divided
above with tapering branchlets which are often forked at the apex with short divaricate segments. Fructications consist of small, stalkless,
more or less spherical, slightly elongated bodies.
Distribution
Plentiful in
rocky and sandy places.
Constituents
Gelose, 60%; protein,
2.3%; fat, 0.1%; carbohydrate, 72.5%; galactose; fructose; pentose;
iodine, 0.05%.
Dried alga contains salts, such as sulfate and chloride of soda, and suphate and phosphate of lime, and contains wax and iron.
Properties
Pectoral and antidysenteric, emollient, demulcent and alterative.
Parts
used and collection
Entire plant.
Two ways of collecting the alga: (1) by dividing and (2) by picking them from shallow water at low tide.
Uses
Edibility
Members of the genus are highly prized as foodstuff or for the agar
content.
One of the most common edible algae.
Food: Blanch the entire plant and eat as salad. In Japanese cuisine,
called ogonori or ogo.
As decoction or jelly, used as a light and readily digestible for invalids and children.
Folkloric
Cough and consumption.
Poultice used for swollen knee joints and sores.
Strained mucilaginous decoction and take extracted jelly for constipation.
Mucilaginous decoction and jelly are used as pectoral and antidysenteric.
In India, used as emollient, demulcent, and alterative.
Malays used it for coughs and consumption.
Also used for poulticing swollen knee joints and unhealthy sores.
Intestinal and bladder difficulties.
Bladder irritiation, menorrhagia, leucorrhea.
In China, used for treatment
of chronic constipation with intestinal atony, tuberculosis of lymph
node, tumor of thyroids, abdominal mass, edema, beriberi, testicular
swelling.
With its iodine content, useful in goitre, scrofula, etc.
Good substitute for ising-glass.
Decoction given for dysentery and diarrhea.
Useful for pulmonary complaints.
Other
Used in manufacture of commercial agar-agar.
Studies
•
Pharmaceutical Biology of Seaweeds: Study showed grown
seaweeds exhibited greater antibacterial activity than the green and
red ones. In elemental composition, green seaweeds had higher Ca, Cr,
and Pb; green seaweeds with highest Co, Cu, Fe and Zn; and red seaweeds
highest in Cd, K, Mg and Na.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
|
