 Botany
Melon-daga is a slender vine 1 to 2 meters long, with simple tendrils. Leaves are rough, triangular-ovate, 3 to 8 cm long, pointed at the tip, and heart-shaped at the base; the margins are subentire, irregularly toothed, or even slightly lobed. Flowers are somewhat straw-colored, solitary or few in each axil of the leaves, about 5 mm long, and borne on slender pedicels 1 to 2.5 cm long. Male and female flowersw are often in the same axil. Fruit is ovoid or ellipsoid, pointed and about 2 cm long.
Distribution
- Along streams, old clearings, etc., at low and medium altitudes in the Batan Islands; Ifugao, Lepanto, and Benguet Subprovince; Bataan, Rizal, Laguna and Sorsogon Provinces in Luzon; and in Polillo, and Mindanao.
- Also occurs in India to China, and through Malaya to the Moluccas and Samoa.
Properties
Considered purgative.
Parts used
Leaves, fruit.
Uses
Folkloric
In the Moluccas, juice of leaves used to cure aphtha in children; also used for opacities of the cornea.
Fruit is used as purgative.
Juice of leaves applied to sore places affected by thrush; used for eye affections.
Studies
• Apoptosis Induction: Invention describes a method of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells by administration of Melothria indica to cancer cells - leukemia cells or prostate cancer cells.
• Inhibition of TNF-a release: An extract from Melothria indica plant showed an effect on inhibiting the relase of cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha, by immune response cells, such as macrophages.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
