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Botany
Stems are 10-25 meters high,
8-15 cm diameter, the basal parts surrounded by branched, inteerlaced
and spiny branches. Leaves are 10-20 cm long, 1-2 cm wide. Rare
flowering also occurs at the nodes. Panicles are large. Spikelets
are slender, compressed and 2-3 cm long.
Distribution
At low and medium altitudes
in settled areas throughout the Philippines.
Parts
utilized:
Stems, roots, leaves.
Constituents
Leaves are rich in hydrocyanic and benzoic acids.
Properties
Emollient, diuretic and diaphoretic,
emmenagogue, astringent.
Leaves are considered stimulant, aromatic, tonic, emmenagogue, anthelmintic
and aphrodiasiac.
The bark is astringent and used in hemorrhoids, nausea and vomiting.
Uses
Folkloric
• Decoction of leaves as emmenagogue,
to induce lochia after childbirth.
• Decoction (20 gms for 1 liter ofwater; 3 cups daily) of stems
of young shoots applied externally for inflammed joints.
• Decoction of leaves used to stimulate menstruation; also used
for intestinal worms.
• Poultice of young shoots used for dislodgement of worms from
ulcers.
• Decoction of roots used for anuria.
• Decoction of shoots taken for respiratory ailments.
• Poultice of tender shoots used for cleaning wounds. Decoction
or juice of leaves applied to wounds.
• Decoction of tender shoots used as abortifactient in the first
month and in the last month, to induce labor, and to facilitate placental
expulsion.
•
In India, decoction of
leaves used for diarrhea.
Livestock
• In India, for ethnoveterinary use, a handful of leaves once a day for two to three days.
Nutrition
The young shoots (labong) are edible
as vegetables, the seasonal ingredient in atchara preparations.
Others
• Bambusa spinosa is the most
commonly used specie of bamboo in the Philippines.
• Used in the building of bamboo houses, furniture and household
utensils.
Availability
Cultivated or wildcrafted.
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