| Botany
A widespreading, creeping or twining,
smooth vine. Leaves are alternate, orbicular to elliptic, thick, shining,
6 to 14 cm long, with a notched or lobed tip and broad base. Flowers
are campulate, light purple, borne on pedicels in the axils of leaves,
usually as long as the stalks. Stalk is erect and bears one to six flowers,
which often opens one at a time. Sepals are green, elliptic, and 8 mm
long. Capsules are smooth, ovoid, about 1 cm long. Seeds are covered
with hairs.
Distribution
Found on all sandy seashores throughout
the Philippines.
Also along the margins of some lakes.
Parts utilized
Leaves
Properties
and constituents
Plant contains a resin and an alkaloid.
Tubers considered diuretic.
Seeds are stomachic.
Phytochemical study suggest the presence of steroids, terpenoids, alkaloids
and flavonoids.
Uses
Folkloric
Leaves used as an escharotic to extirpate
the fungoid growth of ulcers.
Cooked, it is used as a antirheumatic topical.
Boiled tubers, as diuretic, used for disease of the bladder.
Seeds used for stomach pains and cramps.
In India, leaves are boiled
and applied externally as an anodyne for colic; as decoction for rheumatism.
Paste of leaves applied to carbuncles.
In Australia, traditionally
used for headache treatments.
Studies
• Antinociceptive / Phytochemicals:
Study of the methanolic extract of Ipomoea pes-caprae exhibited considerable
antinociceptive activity against classical models of pain in mice and
supports the traditional use of the plant for painful conditions. Phytochemicals yielded the presence of steroids, terpenoids, alkaloids and flavonoids.
• Antioxidant: Ipomoea
pes-caprae was one of the selected mangrove plants in India studied
for polyphenol antioxidants.
• Anti-platelet aggregation:
In a study looking for potent inhibition of ADP-induced human platelet
5-HT release in vitro.
• Anti-Inflammatory: Topical application of an extract from the leaves of Ipomoea pes-caprae inhibited carrageenan-induced paw edema. In vitro prostaglandin formation was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner. Study showed significant anti-inflammatory activity probably through reduction of prostaglandin and leukotrine formation.
Availability
Cultivated.
|
