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Family Apocynaceae
Latok
Telosma procumbens (Blanco) Merr.
Wo jing ye lai xiang

Scientific names Common names
  Adwan-di-dalom (If.)
Pergularia filipes Blanco Ampupuyat (Pal.)
Pergularia procumbens Blanco Bagbagkong (Ilk.)
Telosma cathayensis Merr. Dugep (Ilk.)
Telosma procumbens (Blanco) Merr. Dukep (Ilk.)
  Kapas-kapas (Tag.)
  Kapuk-kapuk (Sul.)
  Kuridayong (Ilk.)
  Laknit (Bag.)
  Latok (Tag.)
  Pagpadol (Ilk.)
  Pusa-pusa (Tag.)
  Saka-saka-ti-uwak (Ilk.)
Puso-puso is a common name shared by Telosma procumbens (latok) and Litsea glutinosa (Indian laurel).
Telosma procumbens (Blanco) Merr. is an accepted name. The Plant List

Other vernacular names
CHINESE: Wo jing ye lai xiang.

Botany
Latok is a woody vine with slender, smooth or slightly hairy branchlets. Leaves are thin, ovate to oblong-ovate, 8 to 13 centimeters long, 3 to 8 centimeters wide, pointed at the tip and slightly heart-shaped at the base. Cymes are axillary and umbelliform. Flowers are numerous, greenish-yellow, odorless, about 1.5 centimeters long, and hairy at the throat. Fruit is lanceolate, about 15 centimeters long. Seeds are flattened and crowned with silky hairs.

Distribution
- In thickets and secondary forests at low altitudes in Ilocos Norte to Sorsogon Provinces in Luzon; and in Mindoro, Cuyo, Biliran, Leyte, Negros, Mindanao and Basilan.
- Also occurs in China and Vietnam.

Constituents
- Phytochemical studies have yielded phenol, flavonoid, coumarin, tannin, terpenoid, steroids, and cardiac glycoside.   (5)
- Study yielded an intensely sweet polyoxypregnance glycoside, telosmoside A, together with 17 other new glycosides. (See study below) (1)

Constituents
- Considered anti-tussive, expectorant, hypoglycemic.
- Studies have suggested antioxidant, hypoglycemic, radical scavenging, sweetening properties..

Parts used
Leaves

Uses

Edibility
- Flowers and immature fruits eaten cooked.
- Pericarp is cooked and eaten as vegetable, with the consistency and taste of string beans.
- In Albay, fresh leaves and stems have been reported to be poisonous to pigs.
- In Ilocos Norte, immature fruit used for making dinengdeng.
- Clustered inflorescence eaten as vegetable, sautéed and eaten with rice.
- In everyday vegetable in Thailand, steamed or boiled and served with spicy Nam Pric, friend with eggs as omelet, sautéed with meat or added to hot and sour soup. (2)
Folkloric
- Decoction or infusion of leaves used for cleansing wounds, scabies and ulcers.
- Leaves, as cataplasm, applied to the forehead for headaches.

- In Vietnamese folk medicine, whole plant is used as a substitute for licorice, due to its sweet taste. Also used as expectorant and antitussive. (1)

Studies
Pregnane Glycosides / Intensely Sweet:
An intensely sweet polyoxypregnane glycoside, telosmoside A15, was isolated from Asian Telosma procumbens. The sweetness has an intensity 1000 times greater than that of sucrose. The plant also yielded 17 other new glycosides, telosmosides A1-A14, and A16-A18. Some of these glycosides are sweet, while others are tasteless and bitter. (1)
Anti-Diabetic / Leaves:
Study evaluated an ethanolic leaf extract of Telosma procumbens for hypoglycemic activity in alloxan-induced diabetic mice. Results showed a dose-dependent blood glucose reducing effect. (3)
• Antimicrobial / Leaves and Flowers:
Study evaluated the antimicrobial property of Telosma procumbens leaf and flower extracts against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Results showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli with zones of inhibition of 20.67 and 23.67 mm for leaf extracts, respectively, and 16.67 mm and 20.67 mm for flower extracts, respectively. (5)
• Antioxidant / Radical Scavenging Activity:
Study evaluated crude extracts of five common indigenous vegetables for radical scavenging activity i.e., Telosma procumbens, B. luzonica, Schismatoglottis sp., M. cochinchinensis, and M. verticillata. All five vegetables exhibited antioxidant activity. T. procumbens showed 50.10 ± 0.09 % radical scavenging activity. (6)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Updated March 2019 / February 2016

IMAGE SOURCE: / Photo / Apocynaceae : Telosma procumbens / Twig with young inflorescence Copyright © 2011 by Leonardo L. Co / (contact: benctan@berkeley.edu) [ref. DOL30462]/ Non-Commercial Use / click on image to go to source page / Phytoimages.siu.edu
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: / Line drawing of the leaves and flowers / Photograph by: filibot.web / Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) / click on image to go to source page / Useful Tropical Plants

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Sweet Pregnane Glycosides from Telosma procumbens / Vo Duy HUAN, Kazuhiro OHTANI, Ryoji KASAI, Kazuo YAMASAKI, and Nguyen Viet TUU / Chem. Pharm. Bull., 2001; 49(4): pp 453-460
(2)
Native wild edible : Telosma procumbens / Balinghasai Farms

(3)
Hypoglycemic property of Telosma procumbens (Blanco) Merr. (Apocynaceae) in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic juvenile mice (Mus musculus) / Lilibeth A. Cajuday*, Edna A. Amparado / The Journal of Phytopharmacology, 2014; 3(2): pp 113-117
(4)
Telosma procumbens / Synonyms / The Plant List
(5)
The antimicrobial property of Telosma procumbens leaf and flower extracts against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli  /  Efren B. Cabotage, Rachel P. Hamadon,   Jamal V. Lucero,   Jesseca S. Bulanit,  Dr. Dahlia D. Soriano /  School of Teacher  Education University of Baguio
(6)
Phytochemistry and Radical Scavenging Activity of Some Indigenous Vegetables in the Ilocos /
MAINGELLINE B. VIVIT AND MENISA A. ANTONIO / Research Directorate, Mariano Marcos State University, Batac, Ilocos Norte
(7)
Kapas-kapas: An Indigenous Vegetable / Dr. Rodel G. Maghirang / Agroculture Monthly

It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page.

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