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Botany
· Large, spiny woody vine which is pungent in all its
parts and provided with sharp, recurved prickles.
· Leaves: 3-foliate, leaflets sessile, ovate-elliptic,
obovate or obovate-oblong; 3 to 8 cm long, 5 to 25 mm wide, and
rounded at the base, pointed at the apex.
· Flowers: small, greenish-white, 5 mm across and borne
on terminal cymes or from the upper leaf axils.
· Fruits: small, nearly spherical, less than 1 cm in diameter,
borne in fairly large clusters, 3 to 5 grooved and with as many
cells and orange-red when ripe. Seeds solitary in each cell.
Distribution
In thickets at
low and medium altitudes, ascending to 1,700 m. Luzon (Benguet,
Mtn. Province, Rizal, Laguna, Nueva Vizcaya), Palawan.
Constituents
Volatile oil, 0.08%
- toddalolactone, citronella, linalool.
Stem bark - aculeatin; aculeatin hydrate; colorless substance,
m.p.239.
Parts
utiliezed and preparation
· Entire plant.
· May be collected the whole year round.
· Rinse, cut into sections, sun-dry.
Characteristics
and Pharmacological Effects
Bitter-tasting, minty, warming-natured. Activates blood, dissipates
contusions, antiphlogistic, analgesic.
Folkloric
uses
· Rheumatic arthritis, sprains, contusions, intercostal
neuralgia.
· Cough, malaria.
· Dysentery, gastralgia.
· Poisonous snakebites.
· Furuncle infections: use pounded fresh leaves as poultice.
· Dosage: 6 to 9 gms dried material in decoction. Pounded
fresh leaves or bark may be used as poultices over afflicted
areas.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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