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Family • Compositae
Dilang-aso
Pseudoelephantopus spicatus (Juss.) Rohr.
TOBACCO WEED

Scientific names Common names
Pseudoelephantopus spicatus (Juss.) Rohr. Ardatig (Bik.)
Distreptus spicatus Cass. Dila-dila (Tag.)
Elephantopus spicatus Aubl. Dilang-aso (Tag.)
Elephantopus dubius Blanco Habul (Bik.)
  Kabkaron (Ilk.)
  Kalkalapikap (Bon.)
  Maratabako (Ilk.)
  Sigang-dagat (Tag.)
  Sumag (Pamp.)
  Supsuput (Bon.)
  Iron weed (Engl.)
  Tobacco weed (Engl.)
Dila-dila is a shared common name by many different species of plants: (1) Onychium siliculosum: Buhok-virgin (Tag.); dila-dila (Tag) (2) Nopalea cochinellifera: Dila-dila (Ilk.); dilang baka (Tag.) (3) Elephantus scaber: Dila-dila (Tag.), kabkabron (Ilk.); prickly leaved elephant's food (Engl.) (4) Pseudoelephantopus spicatus: Dila-dila (Tag.); dilang-aso (Tag.) Kabkaron (Ilk.) Other phonetic variations and use of "dila" for other local plant names further add to the confusion: Dila-dilag (Spilanthes acmella); Dilang aso (P. spicatus); Dilang-baka (N. Cochinellifera); Dilang-boaia, dilang-halo (Aloe vera); Dilang-butiki (Dentella repens); Dilang-butiki (Hedyotis philippensis); Dilang-usa (Trichodesma zeylanicum); and Diladila (Cordyline roxyburghiana).
Sigang-dagat is a local common name shared by Sigang-dagat (Jussiaea repens) and Dilang-aso.
Tobacco weed is a common English name shared by Malatabako and Dilang-aso.

Botany
Dilang-aso is an erect, much branched, hairy or nearly smooth, rather stiff herb, 20 to 80 cm in height. Leaves are oblong-obovate and 9 to 14 cm long, with a blunt tip and narrowed base; those of the upper part of the stem are smaller. Flowering heads are about 1.5 cm long, without stalks, occurring in clusters of 2 to 5, borne in the axils of the very much-reduced leaves, and arranged along the few, elongated, spikelike branches of the inflorescence. Involucral bracts are green, the outer being much smaller than the inner ones. Achenes are linear-oblong, about 6 mm in length, ribbed and hairy, and glandular between the ribs. Pappus hairs are four, dilated, laciniate-cleft at the base, and unequal, two being straight and two being longer and abruptly recurved and again curved upward. Corolla is white and about 7 mm long.

Distribution
Common in waste places in settled areas generally, from the Batan Islands and northern Luzon to Mindanao, in most islands and provinces.
Introduced from Mexico.
Also occurs in the Marianne Islands, Taiwan, southern China and Java.

Properties
 Vulnerary.

Parts used
Leaves.

Uses
Folkloric
In Central Luzon, leaves used as topical for eczema.
Leaves used as vulnerary.

Studies
• Antifungal / Cadinanolide: Study yielded a new sesquiterpene lactone from a chloroform extract of P. spicatus which was shown to exhibit moderate antifungal activity against Candida albicans and A. niger.
• Hepatoprotective: Study evaluating the liver protective effect of E. scaber, E. mollis and P. spicatus on CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity showed a moderate effect with P. spicatus.
• Cytotoxic Sesquiterpene Lactones: Study yielded five new sesquiterpene lactons, spicatolides D-H with four known compounds. Tested against human cancer cell lines, compounds 1-4 showed cytotoxicity against the Hep3B and MCF-7 cancer cell lines.
• Germacranolides: Study yielded two novel germacranolides, stigmasterol, and glaucolide B.
• Teng-Khia-U / Anti-Inflammatory: 'Teng-Khia-U," a folk medicine from Taiwan, derived from E. scaber, E. mollis and P. spicatus, was evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity in CFA-induced chronic arthritis in rats. Results showed pretreatment with Teng-Khia-U significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced acute arthritis and significantly suppressed the development of chronic arthritis induced by CFA.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

April 2011
IMAGE SOURCES (2): Pseudelephantopus spicatus / Flower spikes at Hana Ranch, Maui / Forest and Kim Starr / Plants of Hawaii / Creative Commons Attribution / Modifications by G. Stuart / alterVISTA

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
An Antifungal Cadinanolide from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Consolacion Ragasa and John Rideout / CHEMICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN, Vol. 49 (2001) , No. 10 1359
(2)
The pharmacological and pathological studies on Taiwan folk medicine (VI): The effects of Elephantopus scaber subsp. oblanceolata, E. mollis and Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Lin CC, Yen MH, Chiu HF / Am J Chin Med. 1991;19(1):41-50.
(3)
Cytotoxic Sesquiterpene Lactones from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Yu-Liang Yang, Sue-Ming Chang et al / J Nat Prod, 2007, 70, 1761-1765
(4)
Germacranolides from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Consolacion Ragasa, William Padolina et al / Phytochemistry, Volume 33, Issue 3, 18 June 1993, Pages 627-629 / doi:10.1016/0031-9422(93)85461-Y
(5)
Anti-inflammatory effects of Taiwan folk medicine ‘Teng-Khia-U’ on carrageenan- and adjuvant-induced paw edema in rats / Chin-Chuan Tsai and Chun-Ching Lin / Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 64, Issue 1, 1 January 1998, Pages 85-89 / doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00108-1
(6)
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