Botany
Bilogo is a smooth woody vine, reaching a length of 4 to 10 meters. Branches are pendulous. Leaves are ovate to elliptic-ovate, 5 to 12 centimeters long, toothed at the margins. Flowers are numerous, greenish or greenish white, borne on lax, pendulous panicles, 7 to 18 centimeters long and about 5 millimeters in diameter. Fruit is ovoid or subglobose, 7 to 9 millimeters long, yellow, three-celled and usually three-seeded. Seeds are red and surrounded by a fleshy aril.
 Distribution
- In thickets and second-growth forests at low altitudes in Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte, Nueva Viscaya, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Bataan, Rizal, and Cavite Provinces in
Luzon; and in Mindoro, Palawan, and Mindanao.
- Also occurs in India through Malaya to New Caledonia.
Constituents
- Seeds yield an oil, a bitter resinous principle, tannin and ash.
- Oil from seeds yield alkaloids celastrine and paniculatin in varying amounts.
- Destructive distillation of seeds yield oleum nigrum – an empyreumatic black oil.
- Fatty oil contains colasterol and a coloring matter, chromagen.
- A study of the leaves suggested a small amount of scarcely poisonous alkaloid and a glucoside.
- Analysis of the percentages of individual acids in seed fat showed: formic, 1.5; acetic, traces; benzoic, 3.4; palmitic, 31.2, stearic, 3.5; oleic, 22.5; linoleic, 15.7; linolenic, 22.2.
Properties
- Oil considered a nerve-stimulant and brain tonic, alterative, stimulant.
- Seeds considered aphrodisiac, appetizer, anti-inflammatory, brain tonic,expectorant, intellect- and memory-promoting, emetic, expectorant, liver tonic, stimulant, sudorific.
Parts used
Seeds, leaves, oil.
Uses
Folkloric
- Pulverized seeds used as antirheumatic; also used for cases of paralysis.
- Leaves used for dysentery.
- Decoction of seeds, with or without aromatics, used for rheumatism, gout, paralysis and gout.
- Boiled seeds used for body and mind purification and blood cleansing.
- Oil, with benzoin, nutmegs, cloves and mace, used as a remedy for beriberi; also used as a powerful stimulant.
- Oil used as ointment for malarious rheumatic pains and for paralysis.
- In Ayurveda, bark considered as abortifacient; the leaves and leaf sap used as antidote to opium poisoning. Also used as brain tonic, appetite stimulant, and emetic.
- In Greco-Arabic Yunani medicine, seed oil used to treat physical weakness, mental confusion, asthma, headaches, joint pains and arthritis. Also used as a sexual stimulant.
- In India, used for memory difficulties, to improe memory recall and retention.
Studies
• Phytochemicals: Analysis of seeds yielded terpenes, carbohydrates, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and glycosides.
• Antioxidant: Study of aqueous extracts have shown antioxidant activity, augmented endogenous antioxidant enzymes and decreased lipid peroxidation in rat brain.
• Nootropic Effect / Memory Enhancing: (1) In a rat study of an aqueous extract using elevated plus maze and passive avoidance test, results showed a statistical improvement in memory processing compared to control. The mechanism of cognition enhancement may be due to increased acetylcholine level in the rat brain. (2) Study showed the aqueous extract of C paniculatus seed has cognitive-enhancing properties and an antioxidant effect might be involved. (3) Study data indicates CP oil causes an overall decrease in the turnover of all three central monoamines and suggests involvement of these aminergic systems in the learning and memory process.
• Analgesic / Anti-Inflammatory: A study on the methanol extract of flowers showed C paniculatus had both analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities.
• Cognitive Enhancement / Neuroprotection: Study data showed decreased in AChE activity in treated animals leading to increased cholinergic activity in the brain. There was significant decrease in AChE activity assayed from the hypothalamus, frontal cortex and hippocampus of the rat brain.
• Neuroprotective / Neuroprotection: Study on neuronal cultures from rat forebrain to evaluate CP neuroprotective effects showed the water soluble extracts protected against glutamate-induced toxicity by modulation of glutamate receptor function.
• Antibacteral / Antifungal: Study on different leaf extracts showed CP possesses remarkable microbial toxic acitivity against human and agricultural pathogens.
• Anthelmintic: Study of the four seed oils from four medicinal plants, including C paniculata, on the anthelmintic activity against Pheritima posthuma, showed all of them exhibited moderate to significant anthelmintic activity. Piperazine was the standard reference drug.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Oil, seeds, tinctures, and extracts in the cybermarket.
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