Gen info
- Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. The family consists of about 14,100 species in about 580 genera, making it the fourth largest angiosperm family. (10)
- The name Rubiaceae (nomen conservandum) was published in 1789 by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. (10)
- Dentella is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Most species are endemic to Australia, with one species extending through southeast Asia to subtropical Asia and the southwestern Pacific. (11)
- Etymology: Genus name Dentella derives from the Greek word dentos, meaning "tooth", referring to the toothed corolla lobes of the plant. The species epithet repens means spreading or creeping.

Botany
• Dilang-butiki is a prostrate, nearly or quite smooth, somewhat succulent, slender, branched, herbaceous annual weed, rooting at the nodes. Leaves are narrowly oblong-obovate to narrowly elliptic, and 1 centimeter long or less. Flowers are stalkless, white, about 2 millimeters long, and borne singly in the axils of the leaves. Fruit is an indehiscent capsule, ovoid, about 4 millimeters long, crowned by the sepal, usually densely hairy and many seeded. Seeds are small, angular, reticulate and dark brown.

• Dwarf herbs, creeping, much branched, rather fleshy; branches flattened to angled, glabrous or puberulent, often rooting at nodes. Leaves subsessile to shortly petiolate; petiole to 1[-4] mm; blade drying stiffly papery, oblong-lanceolate, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 4-7[-10] × 1-2[-4] mm, glabrous or sparsely hirtellous at least along margins and principal veins, base cuneate to acute, margins flat, apex obtuse to acute; secondary veins not visible; stipules triangular, ca. 1 mm, entire to erose. Flowers solitary at forks of branchlets or rarely along stems, subsessile or with pedicel to 1[-2] mm. Calyx with ovary portion subglobose, ca. 1 × 1-1.5 mm, densely papillose-villous with flattened trichomes; limb 1-1.2 mm, deeply lobed; lobes narrowly triangular. Corolla white or pale yellow, 3-8[-12] mm, glabrous outside, sparsely villous inside throat; lobes triangular-ovate, 1-2 mm, acute. Fruit compressed globose, 3-5 × 3-5 mm, densely villous with multicellular, transparent, flattened, bulbous-tipped trichomes; seeds 0.3-0.5 mm. (Flora of China)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- A weed in open, waste places in and about towns at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
- Also native to Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Caroline Is., China Southeast, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Marianas, Marshall Is., Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. (5)

Uses
Edibility
- Leaves are edible.
Folkloric
- In Tboli, south Cotobato, leaf juice used for vomiting; leaf paste used as topical for toothache. (9)
- Malays used the plant for poulticing sores.
- In the Nalbari district, Assam, crushed warm leaf is given for loose motion in infants. Plant juice is taken once daily for blood pressure. (1)
- In eastern Uttar Pradesh, India, leaves are used to purify the blood. It is also used to improve eyesight damaged by high blood sugar. Also, used as laxative. (3) Leaves used to poultice sores.
- In West Bengal, leaves are eaten as vegetable to cure constipation. (6) Leaves are used for poulticing sores.   (4)
- Fresh leaf juice taken to treat high blood pressure. Paste made from leaves applied to treat eczema. and for poulticing sores. Crushed warm leaves given for loose motion.
- In Orissa, India, paste made from whole plant applied for eczema. (12)
- In Bangladesh, juice from warmed leaves used as drops for conjunctivitis. (13)
Others
- Agroforestry: Helps prevent soil erosion.

Studies
• No studies found.
 
Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Medicinal weeds of crop fields and role of women in rural health and hygiene in Nalbari district, Assam / D K Bhattacharjya, P C Borah / Indian Journ of Traditional Knowledge, 2008; 7(3): pp 501-504
(2)
Dentella repens / GLOBinMed
(3)
ANTIDIABETIC HERBAL MEDICINES OF EASTERN U.P. / PREETI SINGHAND SYED JAVED ALI / Indian J.L.Sci.1(2) : 105-107, 2012
(4)
A review on the medicinal and edible aspects of aquatic and wetland plants of India / Swapna M. M., Prakashkumar R., Anoop K. P., Manju C. N.* and Rajith N. P. / Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, Vol. 5(33), pp. 7163-7176, 31 December, 2011 / DOI: 10.5897/JMPRx11.005
(5)
Dentella repens / Synonyms / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(6)
A contribution to the medicinal plants used by the tribal people of leteritic belt of West Bengal / Nasrin Begum, Sudhendu Mandal /World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 4(8): pp 1420-1431 (7)
Studies on Some Economically Important Aquatic Plants of Katwa Subdivision of Burdwan District, West Bengal, India / Debjit Das et al / International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 2016; 5(6): pp 961-972 / ISSN: 2319-7706
(8)
Dentella repens / Nature Info
(9)
Quantitative Ethnobotanical Study, Phytochemical Screening and Antibacterial Assay of Ethnomedicinal Plants of Tboli in Lamsnolon, Tboli, South Cotobato / Joni Rey H Campilan, Marigold C Tumamac, Emma L Dorado / International Journal of Pharmacology, Phytochemistry and Ethnomedicine, 2019, Vol 13: pp 45-61 / DOI: 10.18052/www.scipress.com/IJPPE.13.45 / ISSN: 2297-6922
(10)
Rubiaceae / Wikipedia
(11)
Dentella / Wikipedia
(12)
Ethno-medicinal Informations from Orissa State, India, A Review / Sarita Das, SK Dash, SN Padhy / J Hum Ecol., 2003; 14(3): pp 165-227
(13)
Medicinal Plants of a Folk Herbalist in Tangail District, Bangladesh / Nilima Mahnoor, Ive Farha Moonmoon et al / American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 2015; 9(4): pp 74-82 /
pISSN: 1995-0748 / eISSN: 1998-1074

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