 Botany
Malasandia is a twining, herbaceous, annual vine, all part being more or less covered with rather long, spreading, pale or brownish hairs. Leaves are somewhat rounded in outline, 6 to 10 centimeters in diameter, palmately 5- to 9-lobed, heart-shaped at the base and somewhat hairy on both surfaces. Lobes of the blade are elliptic, with narrowed base and rounded sinuses. Flowers occur in axillary heads usually only one opening at a time. Calyx is green and about 1 centimeter long. Corolla is white and 4 centimeters long, the limb about 3 centimeters in diameter. Fruit is rounded, 6 to 7 mm in diameter.
Distribution
- In all or most parts of the Philippines in open grasslands and waste places at low and medium altitudes.
- Also occurs in tropical Africa and Asia through Malaya to Polynesia.
Parts used
Leaves
Uses
Folkloric
- Poultices of leaves used as resolvent for pimples, boils, carbuncles, etc.
- In Java, leaves used for poulticing sores.
- In Sri Lanka, entire creeper is crushed and the juice extracted and take orally for treatment of or prevention of rabies if bitten by a rabid dog.
- In India, used for wound healing. In the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, leaf powder is smoked to get relief from bronchial spasm. The Kerala tribe use the herb for various painful conditions - headaches, swellings, poisonous stings, snake bites, etc.
- In Tamil Nadu, southern India, leaf paste is applied twice daily for 2 days to treat pimples. Seed paste with coconut oil is applied to facilitate wound healing.
Studies
• Analgesic:
Study showed the ethanolic leaf extract of Ipomoea pes-tigridis has significant analgesic activity with a dose-dependent significant reduction of writhes using plate reaction time.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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