Botany
Sayikan is a slender, prostrate, annual, succulent herb, the stems rooting at the nodes from each of which grows a ring of hairs. Leaves are very shortly toothed, ovate-elliptic, and about 5 millimeters long. Flowers are small, terminal, and solitary, surrounded by a 4-leaved involucre and copious white hairs. Petals are four and yellow. Capsule dehisces horizontally, and contains minutely tubercled seeds.
 Distribution
- A weed in and about towns in the Batan Islands and from Cagayan to Rizal Provinces in Luzon.
- Probably introduced.
- Also occurs in Tropical Asia and Africa to Malaya, and the Marianne and Caroline Islands.
Constituents
- Leaves contain mucilage and acid potassium oxalate.
- Phytochemical screening of ethanolic extract yielded alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, triterpenoids/steroids, tannins and glycosides.
- Aqueous extract yielded flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, amino acids and saponins.
Parts used
Seeds, leaves.
Uses
Edibility
- Like P. oleracea, leaves used as vegetable.
- Used as traditionally leafy vegetable and famine food in many African countries as Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, among others. In the Kusume and Derashe areas, when consumed in larger quantity and/or for prolonged periods of time, reported to cause anemia and body weakness.
Folkloric
Plant use in skin diseases and diseases of the kidneys, bladder and lungs.
Uses of seeds and leaves similar to those of Portulaca oleracea.
Used for asthma, cough, urinary discharges, inflammations and ulcers.
Poultice of plant applied to erysipelas, hemorrhoids and abdominal complaints.
In Guam, plant is used as an antiscorbutic.
In Egypt bruised leaves are used as an anticephalic.
Zulus use a plant infusion as emetic.
Studies
• Neuropharmacologic Effects / CNS Depressant: Study of ethanol extract of Portulaca quadrifida in mice showed a significant reduction in spontaneous motor activity, antinociceptive activity, and reduction of recovery time from electrically induced convulsions. The effects were central rather than peripheral.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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