Gen info
- There are nearly 1,400 mistletoe species in the world, distributed within four families of flowering plants in the order Santalales. Mistletoes are strictly aerial parasites, some are hemiparasites (leafy), others are holoparasites (without leaves). They extract nutrients or food from the host plants through a special organ called haustorium. (3)
- Helixanthera is a moderately sized genus in the showy mistletoe family, Loranthaceae, with over 40 species from tropical Africa, southern Asia and Malesia. The genus was described in 1790 by the Portuguese botanist João de Loureiro in his Flora Cochinchinensis. (2)

Botany
• Red-Spike Mistletoe is a hairless shrub 1-1.5 m tall, growing on trees. Flowers are borne in solitary or paired racemes in leaf-axils, sometimes at leafless node, 40-60-flowered, 5-10 cm, dull brown or gray. Bracts are subovate or ovate-triangular 1-1.5 mm. Flowers are red, pink, or yellowish, 5-merous, petals 6-8 mm, reflexed from above basal keels. Filaments are 1-2.5 mm; anthers 1-1.5 mm. Style cylindric, 5-angled, constricted in middle, 3-6 mm; stigma headlike. Flower-stalk is 1-2 mm, sepal-cup ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm, limb annular, about 0.5 mm, entire or 5-finely toothed. Mature bud with basal 1/3-1/2 abruptly expanded into 5 prominent semicircular keels, distal portion club-shaped. Branches are elongated. Leaves are opposite or nearly so, leaf-stalk 5-15 mm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-lanceshaped, 5-12 x 3-4.5 cm, papery to thinly leathery, lateral veins prominent, base broadly wedge-shaped to rounded, tip pointed to tapering. Berry is red, ellipsoid, about 6 x 4 mm. (Flowers of India)

• Glabrous except for the inflorescence and flowers hairy when young, soon glabrescent except sometimes for the inflorescence axis and fruit remaining shortly pale brown-tomentose and the ovary remaining grey-white tomentose. Leaves opposite or subopposite; lamina ovate, 5–18 by 1.5–6(–8) cm, cuneate to truncate at the base to a petiole 5–20 mm long, acuminate and acute at the apex, thin, lustrous or dull on either side; venation pinnate with the midrib and main laterals distinct on both sides. Inflorescences at the nodes, a many-flowered raceme; axis (50–)100–300 mm long; pedicels (0.3–)1–2 mm long, often verticillately clustered; bracts ovate or triangular, sometimes with a dorsal transverse fold, obtuse or acute, 0.7–1.5 mm long. Ovary campanulate, 1, 5–3 mm long; calyx limb entire, spreading, 0.3–0.7 mm long. Corolla in mature bud 5–merous, (3–)4–9 mm long, usually strongly keeled in the lower part, narrowed to a slender neck, clavate and obtuse or rounded at the apex, mostly bright red, rarely almost white. Anther 1–2.5 mm long, obtuse, about equal to the free part of the filament. Style (2–)3–5(–6) mm long, reaching to the base of the anthers, angular in the lower 1–3 mm below a distinct constriction, more slender above; stigma capitate, hardly wider than the style apex.
(e-Flora of Thailand)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (1)
- In humid and open forests; also in cultivated lands.
- Also native to Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Sumatera, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam. (1)

Constituents
- Study of EtOAc extract of stems of H. parasitica isolated three new flavans, (2S)-7-O-galloyl-5,30,40-trihydroxyflavan (1), (2S)-7,3’-O-digalloyl-5,4’-dihydroxyflavan (2), and (2S)-7,4’-O-digalloyl-
5,3’-dihydroxyflavan (3), together with four known compounds, (2S)-5,7,30,40-tetrahydroxyflavan (4), (-)-epicatechin (5), (-)-syringaresinol (6), and methyl gallate (7). (see study below) (5)
- Phytochemical study of leaves isolated gallic acid, ethyl gallate, quercitrin, and 4,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxy-flavan. (5)

Properties
- Studies have suggested anti-metastatic, antioxidant, anticancer, antimalarial, antidiabetic, anti-hyperlipidemmic properties.

Parts used
Leaves, stems.

Uses
Edibility
- In China, as Linga cha, used by Zhuang people in remote areas as herbal tea, to improve flavor when tea is unavailable. (8)
- Ripe fruits eaten raw; sweet. (9)
Folkloric
- No reports found on folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- In Thailand, water decoction of stems mixed with other parasitic plants are used to treat liver and kidney diseases.
Others
- Anticancer Food Supplement: In Thailand, Ka-fak (H. parasitifa) is an active ingredient along with Sappan (Caesalpinia sappan) of a Thai medicinal plant recipe (NE013) for a food supplement for oral cancer. (7)

Studies
• Antimetastatic / Antioxidant: Study evaluated the anti-metastatic activit5y of aqueous and dichloromethane extracts of several previously unstudied Thai herbs, using an in-vitro invasion test on HCC-S102, a hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. The aqueous extract of H. parasitica showed significant inhibitory effect on the cancer cell invasion, and showed antioxidant activity. The highest anti-metastatic activity fraction showed 83% inhibition of invasion with low cytotoxic effect. The anti-metastatic effect was not associated with the antioxidant activity. (4)
• Antimalarial / Anticancer / Stems: Study of EtOAc extract of stems of H. parasitica isolated three new flavans, (2S)-7-O-galloyl-5,30,40-trihydroxyflavan (1), (2S)-7,3’-O-digalloyl-5,4’-dihydroxyflavan (2), and (2S)-7,4’-O-digalloyl-5,3’-dihydroxyflavan (3), together with four known compounds, (2S)-5,7,30,40-tetrahydroxyflavan (4), (-)-epicatechin (5), (-)-syringaresinol (6), and methyl gallate (7). Compound1 and a mixture of 2 and 3 exhibited significant antimalarial activity against Plasmodium flaciparum, with IC50s of 0.59 and 1.38 µM, respectively. Flavans 1-3 showed cytotoxicity against KB, MCF-7, and NCI-H187 cancer cell lines with IC50s in range of 11,1 - 30.0 µM. (5)
• Antidiabetic / Antilipidemic / Combined Herbal Therapy: Study evaluated the effect of combined extracts of Helixanthera parasitica and Pistia stratiotes at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kbw administered to alloxan-induced diabetic rats for 21 days. Combined extract significantly (p<0.05) decreased the fasting blood glucose of diabetic animals to normal glycemic levels. There was also significant (p<0.05) amelioration of diabetes-induced alteration of lipid metabolism following combined extracts treatment. Liver damage and hepatomegaly were significantly (p<0.05) reversed. Results showed the combined extracts could prevent hyperglycemia, reverse compromised lipid metabolism and hepatomegaly caused by alloxan-induced diabetes. (6)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.
- Supplements in the cybermarket.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Helixanthera parasitica / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Helixanthera / Wikipedia
(3)
Helixanthera parasitica / ICIMOD
(4)
Anti-metastatic effects of aqueous extract of Helixanthera parasitica / Kriengwak Lirdprapamongkol, Chulabhorm Mahidol, Sanit Thongnest, Jisnuson Svasti et al / Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2003; 86(2-3): pp 253-256 / DOI: 10.1016/S0378-8741(03)00072-2
(5)
Bioactive galloyl flavans from the stems of Helixanthera parasitica / Oue-Artorn Rajachan, Lalitphan Hongtanee, Kasinee Chalermsaen, Kwanjai Kanokmedhakul, Somdej Kanomedhakl / Journal of Asian Natural Products Research, 2020; 22(5): pp 405-412 / DOI: 10.1080/10286020.2019.1592165
(6)
Combination Therapy of Pistia stratiotes and Helixanthera parasitica in Alloxan-induced Diabetic Rats: Reversal of Abnormal Lipid Metabolism and Hepatomegaly / Suleiman Aminu, Nasiruddeen U Matazu, Ismail A Umar et al / Nigerian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2022; 37(1): pp 41-47
(7)
Specification : The Thai Medicinal Plant Recipe Extract NE013/ (Manose RM-0112) - (Application : An active ingredient in food supplements for oral cancer / Manose: An International Leader in Research and Development of Natural Products
(8)
EXPLORING THE RICH TAPESTRY OF WILD EDIBLE PLANTS NUTRITIONAL, MEDICINAL, AND SOCIO-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW / Dhruvi Patel et al / International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science, 2024; 6(6) / eISSN: 2582-5208
(9)
Evaluation of ethnobotanical knowledge in Komkar-Adi Biocultural Landscape of Eastern Himalayan Region of India / Momang Taram et al / Asian Journal of Ethnobiology, 2020; 3(2): pp 70-87 /
eISSN: 2580-4537

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