 Botany
Malatalong is a shrub 1 to 4 meters high, covered all over with dense, yellowish, grey, tomentum with scurfy, stellate hairs. Leaves are ovate, oblong-ovate or elliptic-ovate, 10 to 23 cm long, entire, and usually pointed at both ends, occasionally rounded at the base, the lower surface pale and densely covered with stellate hairs. Flowers are white or pale blue, about 2 cm across, in compact, dichotomous corymbs. Calyx is grayish green, cup-shaped, about 5 mm long, very wooly, with short and broadly triangular segments. Corolla is wooly without, with spreading, oblong-ovate lobes, about 1.3 cm in diameter. Fruit is fleshy, green or yellowish, rounded and about 1 cm in diameter, with minutely dotted seeds.
Distribution
Weed found throughout the Philippines, in thickets and secondary forests at low and medium altitudes.
Pantropic.
Constituents
- Plant and fruit contains solanine, mallic acid, a coloring matter, and saponin.
- Yields steroidal saponins, free genins, steroidal alkaloids of the spirosolane group, such as solasodine and tomatidine. Alkaloids account for 0.4% of the mass of dry berries and leaves.
Parts used
Leaves and roots.
Uses
Folkloric
Leaves are heated and applied as emollient on the forehead for headaches.
Decoction of roots taken internally for diarrhea and dysentery.
In Mexico, leaves are heated and applied to forehead for headaches; and as poultice, to boils and ulcers.
In Nayarit, decoction of roots used for fever.
Decoction of root with piece of Zingiber rhizome and an onion, used in the treatment of hematuria.
Leaves are used for the expelling of impurities through the urine; used for women with vaginal discharge.
Leaves also used as abortifacient.
Others
In the Philippines, the soft and velvety leaves are often used for cleaning and removing grease from dishes.
Studies
• Cinnamide / Phytochemicals: Study isolated a new cinnamide derivative, N-2-hydroxy-2 (p-hydroxyphenylethyl)p-coumaramide, together with N (p-hydroxyphenylethyl)p-coumaramide and vanillic acid.
• Flavnonoid Glycosides: Study isolated three flavonoid glycosides, including a new one, 7'4'-dimethyl-apigenin-6-C-B-glucopyranosyl-2"-O-a-L-arabinopyranoside from the leaves of SV.
• Antibacterial: Study investigated the antimicrobial activity of 23 species of traditional Ghanaian medicines, with special interest in anti-methicillin resistant S aureus activity. Results showed antibacterial activity in extracts of E drupifera, R vomitoria and the leaves of Solanum verbascifolium.
• Cytotoxicity: Thirty-two methanol extracts of 31 Vietnamese medicinal plants were studied for cytotoxicity against five human cancer cells lines. Nine, including Solanum verbascifolium, exhibited high potent cytotoxic activity against different cell lines.
• Antibacterial: Study investigated the antimicrobial activity of traditional Ghanaian medicines with special interest in methicillin-resistant Staph. The presence of antibacterial activity in the extracts of E. drupifera, R. vomitoria and leaves of Solanum verbascifolim was reported for the first time.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
