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Botany
Slender-stemmed,
annual hairy plant with many branches from the base to the top,
spreading up to 40 cms tall, reddish or purplish in color. Leaves
are opposite, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, distichoous,
1 to 2.5 cms long, blotched with purple in the middle, toothed
at the edge. Numerous involucres, purplish to greenish in color,
dense, axillary, short-stalked clusters or crowded cymes, about
1 mm in length. Capsules are broadly ovoid, hairy, three-angled,
about 1.5 cms.
Distribution
Abundant in waste
places and open grasslands.
Properties
Anti-asthmatic, pectoral,
hemostatic, sedative, soporific, diuretic, antidote.
Constituents
Gallic acid; quercetin;
triacontane; cetyl alcohol; phytosterin; phytosterolin; jambulol; melissic,
palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acid.
Parts used
and preparation
Entire plant.
Uses
Folkloric
Called gatas-gatas because
of the healing property of the milky juice.
Juice used for colics.
Juice used as ophthalmic drops for conjunctivitis or ulceration of the
cornea.
Infusion or tea of the plant, 4 glasses daily, for bronchits and labored
breathing, asthma, chronic dysentery.
Decoction of dry plant used for skin disease.
Decoction of fresh plant used as gargle for the treatment of thrusth.
Decoction of the root used to allay vomiting, chronic diarrheas, and
fevers.
Root decoction also beneficial for nursing mothers deficient in milk:
4-5 glasses of tea.
The same root decoction as an enema for constipation.
Root used for snake bites.
Asthma: Make into cigarette or burn and inhale smoke.
Superficial bleeding: Crush leaves and apply on affected paret, as local
hemostatic.
Plant decoction: 25 gms of the whole plant to a pint of boiling
water; boil for 3-4 minutes; drink 3-5 glasses a day. Externally as
needed.
Recent
interests from the folk medicine grapevine
Dengue
A flurry of queries and
web blogs, gatas-gatas has found new interest for gatas-gatas (tawa-tawa)
for its use in dengue, with increasing anecdotal reports of "cures."
A recommended decoction
Cut
the roots off 5 to 6 gatas-gatas plants.
Rinse.
Put the tawa tawa into a pot of boiling water for 1 minute.
Let cool.
Drink the decoction, 1 to 1 1/2 glasses every hour for 24 hours. |
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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