Botany
Sabilau is a succulent, slender, prostrate, somewhat branched, smooth herb. Stems are about 5 millimeters thick, 20 to 40 centimeters long, rooting at the nodes. Leaves are sessile, lanceolate, 4 to 11 centimeters long, 6 to 12 millimeters wide. Flowers are 3 to 6 in each leaf-axil, opening one at a time, with small bracteoles, and not imbricated. Calyx is pale-greenish. Corolla is bluish or purplish, with long-clawed petals; the limb 5 to 6 millimeters long. Capsules are long-beaked. Seeds are oblong, compressed or ventrally concave, brown, shining and shallowly pitted.

Distribution
- Commonly found from northern Luson to Palawan and Mindanao, in most islands and provinces, In clearings, open places along streams, rice paddies, etc, at low and medium altitudes.
- Also occurs in India to China and through Malaya to Australia.

Properties
Traditionally considered febrifuge, antiinflammatory, and antiparasitic.

Parts used
Whole plant.

Uses
Folkloric
- In the Malabar Coast, used as a remedy for tympanitis.
- External applications used in ascites and abscesses.
- Decoction of whole plant used in swellings above the abdomen.
- In India, roots and tubers used for fever and worms. Warm leaf juice used as ear drops to relieve eardrum inflammaation.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Cyanotis axillaris (L.) D. Don ex Sweet / Chinese names / Catalogue of Life, China
(2)
A Survey of Ethnomedicinal Plants used by the tribals of Ajoydha Hill Region, Purulia District, India / Abhijit Dey and Dr Jitendra Nath De / American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 4(3): 280-290, 2010