Botany
Taingan-daga is a small variable, prostrate, creeping herb, somewhat pubescent with long, scattered hair, the stems creeping, up to 50 centimeters in length, usually rooting at the nodes. Leaves are trifoliate, with three small heart-shaped leaflets, their petioles 5 centimeters long or less, sessile. Leaflets are obcordate, 0.5 to 1.5 centimeters long and stalkless. At noontime, the leaflets droop like folded umbrellas. At night, the leaflets close and fold together. Flowers are yellow, one to several on each peduncle, subumbellately disposed, nearly 1 centimeters long. Petals are obcordate.
Fruits are capsules, hairy, tomentose, subcylindric, 1 to 1.8 centimeters long, divided into minute segments with numerous black seeds the size of sand grains.

Distribution
- In waste places, open grasslands, etc., from sea level to an altitude of 2,200 meters throughout the Philippines.
- Also occurs in the warmer parts of the Old World.

Constituents
Phytochemical study yielded tannins, palmitic acide, a mixture of oleic, linoleic, linolenic and stearic acids.

Properties
Acidic tasting, cooling effect, astringent, appetizing, febrifuge, antibilious.
Antipyretic, blood refrigerant, tranquilizer.
Antiscorbutic.

Parts utilized
· Entire plant.
· May be collected throughout the year.
· Rinse, sun-dry, compress.
· Propagate by seeds or vegetative propagation.

Uses
Edibility
· In the Philippines, leaves used as salad ingredient.
Folkloric
· Juice of leaves used for cleansing wounds and for itches.
· Cold-fever, enteritis-diarrhea, infection of the urinary tract, neurasthenia: Decoction of 30 to 60 gms of the prepared material.
· Sprains, bruises, poisonous snake bites: Apply poultice of pounded fresh materials.
· Burns, dermatoses of the lower limb, skin eczema: Rub fresh sap over afflicted area or use decoction of the fresh material as external wash.
· Used for removing corns, warts, and other excrescences on the skin.
· Poultice of bruised leaves, with or without water, applied over inflammed parts.
· Fresh juice of leaves used to relieve intoxication produced by Datura.
· Juice of leaves also used as application to remove fiber over the cornea or opacities of the cornea.
· Expressed leaf juice, made into sherbet with sugar, used for dysentery and rectal prolapse, and to allay thirst.
· Leaves boiled in buttermilk, used for chronic dysentery and enteritis.
· Juice considered antidotal to mercurial and arsenical poisoning; also used for burns, insect and scorpion bites, and eruptions.
· Plant considered antiscorbutic in China and India.
· Paste from leaves pounded with a little rice-flour applied to prickly heat. Also used for mouth and gum sores.
· In Java, leaves mixed with onion and salt, used for stomachaches. Juice used for coughs.
· In Nepal, leaves used ritually for stomachaches.
· In Zairean pharmacopoeia, used as antivenom: (1) Paste of whole plant of O corniculata rubbed on the wound; swallow the juice of the masticated plant (2) Make paste with a salted mixture of O corniculata and Aframomum sanguineum, and cover the bite.
· In traditional Indian medicine, used to treat epilepsy, dysentery and diarrhea.
· In Ayurvedic medicine, used for liver and digestive problems.

Studies
• Antibacterial: (1) One in a study of the traditional medicinal plants from North East India, OC showed antibacterial activity against E. coli. (2) In a study of aqueous extracts of leaves of 46 plants, Oxalis corniculata was one of only 12 that exhibited antibacterial activity against test pathogens. (3) Phytochemical analysis of leaf material revealed that the antibacterial activity of the plant material was due to the presence of phenolic compounds.
• Anti-fertility: Report on the post-coital antifertility activity of the whole plant of Oxalis corniculata in female albino rats.
• Abortifacient: Report on the abortifacient activity of O corniculata.
• Antifungal: Study on the water extract of Oxalis corniculata showed it to be active against Aspergillus niger.
• Anti-Urolithiasis / Antibacterial: Of 17 plants studied, O corniculata was one of six with antibacterial efficacy that showed promising roles in the prevention and cure of urolithiasis.
• Anti-Epileptic: Study showed the methanol extract of Oxalis corniculata increased the monoamines on rat brain, which may decrease the susceptibility to MES and PTZ-induced seizures in rats.
• Antitumor / Antioxidant: Study of ethanol extract of Oxalis corniculata showed significant antitumor and antioxidant activities in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) induced in Swiss albino mice. There was effective inhibition of tumor growth in ascitic and solid tumor models.
• Antibacterial / Cream Formulation: Study of aqueous extract OC showed strong antibacterial activity especially with increased extract concentration. A cream formulation showed potential as a topical to protect the skin against S. aureus and E coli.
• Cardioprotective: In vitro studies confirmed that O. corniculata extract could protect the myocardium against ischemic insult and the protective effect can be attributed to its antioxidative and antihyperlipidemic activities.
• Anti-Amoebic / Anti-Giardia: Study of extracts identified several compounds that showed anti-amoebic activity in axenic cultures of E. histolytica. Of the different compounds, the strongest anti-amoebic activity was found with GGL (galacto-glycerolipid). GGL was also found to be effective in killing Giardia lamblia, another protist pathogen that causes diarrhea in humans.

Availability
Wild-crafted.