Gen
info
Clerodendrum L. is
widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world,
with more the 500 species identified, with ethnomedical use in many
indigenous systems (Indian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese) for a variety
of disease: syphilis, typhoid, cancer, jaundice and hypertension.
Botany
Kasopangil is an erect, branched,
shrubby or half-woody plant, 1 to 2 meters in height. Stems are green, four-angled.
Leaves, ovate, 9 to 20 centimeters long, with a pointed tip and heart-shaped base, and
shallowly toothed margins. Flowers are odorless, bright red, slender and
borne in terminal panicles in the upper axil of leaves. Corolla-tube
is about 1 centimeter long; limb is spreading, somewhat oblique, subequally 5-lobed, the lobes being oblong and obtuse, and 1.5 centimeters in diameter. Stamens are
2 centimeters long, and red or purplish. Fruit is fleshy, blue, depressed-rounded,
about 1 centimeter in diameter, with 3 to 4 seeds. Calyx is accrescent, red, spreading or reflexed, about
2 centimeters in diameter.
 Distribution
- Common in thickets,
secondary forests, and damp places, at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
- Also occurs in Taiwan, Borneo, Celebes, and Sumatra.
Constituents
- Mature flowers tested positive for alkaloids, while young flowers (less than two months old) tested negative for alkaloids.
- Phytochemical screening yielded carbohydrates, glycosides, tannins, and phenolic compounds in methanolic and aqueous extracts, and sterols in all extracts.
Properties
- Purgative, anti-inflammatory, vulnerary.
Parts
utilized
Leaves, roots.
Uses
Folkloric
· Leaves, whole
or pounded, used as cataplasm to relieve pains after childbirth.
· Also
used for rheumatism and neuralgia.
· Plaster of leaves used for colic in children.
· Leaves, whole or pounded applied to abdomen for abdominal post-partum
complaints.
· For colic, leaves are heated over fire, then wiped with coconut
oil and applied to the stomach.
· Root used as purgative.
· In South East Asia, C. paniculatum leaf juice extracted with water used to treat sore eyes.
Concentrated water extract also used for wounds.
· In Ayurveda, plant pacifies vitiated pitta, inflammation, ulcers, wounds, and skin diseases.
Studies
• Antimicrobial: Methanolic and chloroform extracts of leaves of Cp showed effective antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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