Botany
Balatong-pula is a copiously branched, suberect, slender, herbaceous perennial. Stems are smooth or finely downy, 30 to 60 centimeters in height. Leaves are odd-pinnate, 7.5 to 15 centimeters long, with 13 to 21 leaflets which are narrow and oblanceolate. Racemes are long, all leaf-opposed, and 7.5 to 15 centimeters in length. Lower flowers are fascicled. Calyx is covered with silky hair, has narrow teeth, and is as long as the tube. Corolla is red. Pods are 3.5 to 5 centimeters long and slightly recurved, containing 6 to 10 seeds.
Distribution
- In open grasslands or waste places at low altitudes.
- In Cavite and Batangas Provinces in Luzon; and in Bukidnon and Misamis Provinces in Mindanao.
- Also occurs in India to southern China through Malaya to tropical Australia.
 Constituents
- Leaves yielded a glucoside, rutin, 2.5 %.
- Study of aerial parts yielded an aromatic ester, a sesquiterpene and a prenylated flavonoid.
- Plant also yields chalcones and rotenoids.
- Seed extracts yielded alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, tannins, phenolic compounds, saponins, steroids, sterols, triterpenoids and fixed oil.
Properties
- Plant is considered cooling, deobstruent, cordial, diuretic, laxative and tonic; internally as blood purifier.
- Root is bitter.
Parts used
Roots, seeds, leaves and bark.
Uses
Folkloric
- Used for coughs, tightness of the chest, bilious febrile attacks, obstructions of the liver, spleen and kidneys.
- Recommended as blood purifier, for boils and pimples.
- Roots used for dyspepsia and chronic diarrhea.
- Infusion of seeds used as cooliing medicine.
- Decoction of pounded leaves used for snake bites.
- In Ceylon, used as anthelmintic for children.
- In Punjab, infusion of seeds considered cooling.
- In Sri Lanka, decoction of roots used as nematicide for treatment of Toxocara canis larvae which causes lung disease. Also used for colic, diarrhea and dyspepsia, and as anthelmintic.
- Fresh root-bark, ground and made into a pill, mixed with a little black pepper, used for obstinate colic.
- In traditional Indian medicine, a common ingredient of formulations for liver ailments. Also, used for bilious febrile attacks, liver and splenic affections, cirrhosis and hepatitis.
- Oil from seeds used for scabies, eczematous itching, and other skin eruptions.
- Used for piles, syphilis and gonorrhea.
Others
- Leaves used as fodder in India and South Africa.
- In India, grown as green manure in paddy fields.
- In India, dry plants collected as fuel.
- Seeds used as substitute for coffee.
- Used as insect repellent.
 Studies
• Modulatory Effect / Chemopreventive: Study results suggest that T. purpurea is an effective chemopreventive agent in the skin that may suppress benzoyl peroxide-induced cutaneous toxicity.
• Immunomodulatory : The flavonoid fraction of Tephrosia purpurea significantly inhibited sheep RBCs-induced delayed type-hypersensitivity reactions and significantly dose-dependently reduced hemagglutination antibody titer. Results of the study in mice indicate the ability to modulate both cell-mediated and humoral components of the immune system.
• Antihyperglycemic / Antioxidant: Study of the ethanolic seed extract clearly indicated potent antihyperglycemic and anti-lipid peroxidative effects in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
• Antibacterial: The ethanolic root extract of Tephrosia purpurea showed significant activity against Pseudomonas aeruginos, two other pseudomoas strains and two coliform strains.
• Hepatoprotective: Study in albino rats evaluating the hepatoprotective activity of aerial parts of T purpurea and stem bark of T undulata against thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity showed significant reduction of serum enzymes and other chemical indices, significant improvement in liver glutathione, and dose-dependent reduction of necrosis on histopath exam.
• Antioxidant: Study showed the leaves of T purpurea have antioxidant potential. The ethanolic extract showed to be more portent than the aqueous decoction. The antioxidant content may be responsible for its use in the treatment of jaundice and other oxidative stress-related diseases.
• Renal Protective: Study evaluated the protective and curative effects of TP extracts on gentamicin-induced acute renal injury in albino rats. Results showed the ethanol extract of leaves possess marked nephroprotective and curative activities without toxicity. The mechanisms of activities were attributed to phenolic and flavonoidal compounds like quercetin. Results suggest a promising role for TP in the treatment of acute renal injury caused by pharmaceutical nephrotoxins.
• Wound Healing: (1) Histopathological study of wound healing potential using three types of wound models in rats (incision wound, excision wound and dead space wound) showed significant increase in fibroblast cells, collagen fibers and blood vessels formation. (2) Flavonoid-rich fraction of aerial parts of Tephrosia purpurea showed a potential for enhancing the burn wound healing process, probably through to its free radical scavenging property.
• Anticarcinogenic / Anti-Lipid Peroxidative: Study showed the ethanolic root extract has potent chemopreventive efficacy and significant anti-lipidperoxidative effect, in DMBA-induced oral carcinogenesis.
• Anti-Ulcer Healing: Study showed the aqueous extract of roots of Tephrosia purpurea possess significant anti-ulcer property which could be due to a cytoprotective action of the drug or through a strengthening of the gastric and duodenal mucosal and enhancing of mucosal defense mechanisms.
• Phytochemical / Antimicrobial: Study showed a pet ether extract to have the most potent antimicrobial activity against gram positive, gram negative bacteria and Candida albicans.
• Antihyperglycemic / Antihyperlipidemic: Study of aqueous extract of leaves showed prominent antihyperglycemic and hypolipidemic effects in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
• Anti-Inflammatory / Analgesic: Study of an ethanol extract of aerial and root parts of T. purpurea in rats showed dose-related anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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