 Gen info
- Portulaca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Portulacaceae, and is the type genus of the family. It consists of over 100 species, found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. Portulacas are also known as purslanes.
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
- Native to the Philippines.
-
A weed in and about towns.
- Found
in the Batan Islands and in the Island of Luzon from Cagayan to Rizal Provinces.
- Probably introduced.
- Also native to Angola, Assam, Bangladesh, Benin, Borneo, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, China South-Central, China Southeast, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Gilbert Is., Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Hainan, India, Ivory Coast, Jawa, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laccadive Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Malawi, Malaya, Maldives, Mali, Maluku, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Oman, Pakistan, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Somalia, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, Zaïre, Zimbabwe. (7)
 Constituents
- Leaves contain mucilage and acid potassium oxalate.
- Phytochemical screening of ethanolic extract yielded alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, triterpenoids/steroids, tannins and glycosides. (see study below) (1)
- Aqueous extract yielded flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, amino acids and saponins.
- Methanol and chloroform extracts of aerial parts revealed total flavonoid content of 2.335 and 1.7312 mgQE/100 g respectively. (see study below) (12)
- Preliminary phytochemical analysis of ethanol (E) and aqueous (Aq) whole plant extracts of P. quadrifida yielded: alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, and amino acids in both extracts. Tannins and triterpenoids were present in the ethanol extract and carbohydrates in the aqueous extract. (15)
Properties
- Antiscorbutic, anticephalic, emetic.
- Studies show antimicrobial, antinociceptive, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anticancer and CNS depressant, neuroprotective, gastroprotective, anti-H pylori properties.
Parts used
Seeds, leaves.
 Uses
Edibility
- Like P. oleracea, leaves used as vegetable.
- Leaves and young shoots collected from the wild and eaten raw. Consumed as cooked vegetable or used in salads. (4)
-
In India, boiled leaves mixed with sorghum or pearl millet flour in preparing a kind of bread. (4)
- 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.
- In Ayurveda, used for treatment of urinary and inflammatory disorders. Leaf juice applied to abscesses. Leaf decoction used in dysentery. Plant decoction used as anthelmintic and for treatment of stomach complaints and diarrhea. (10)
- In Indo-China, leaf juice applied to abscesses and used as colyrium. In Nigeria, leaves applied locally to swellings. (11)
Others
- Agroforestry: Large types planted as soil binder to prevent erosion in sandy soils. (4)
- Fodder: A favorite fodder for chickens and pigs. (16)
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. (1)
• Reproductive Effects / Seeds: Study evaluated the reproductive effect of P. quadrifida seed extract in male mice. Extract treatment caused mass atrophy of the spermatogenic elements, involution of seminal vesicle. In conclusion, the alcoholic extract of seed induced infertility state in male albino mice. (5)
• Anticancer Effects: Study evaluated ethanol and polyphenol extracts of P. quadrifida on proliferation of Human colon cancer HT-29 line. Both extracts exhibited significant effect against HT-29 cells lines with less activity against normal L-6 cell lines indicating a cancer specific effect. (6)
• Antimicrobial / Aerial Parts: Study evaluated ethanolic extracts of aerial parts for antimicrobial activity against gram positive bacteria (S. aureus, B. subtilis, B. polymexia and Streptococcus faecalis), gram negative bacteria (P. aeruginosa, S. typhii, S. dysenteriae and E. coli) and fungus (P. notatum, A. niger, and C. albicans). Results showed concentration dependent antimicrobial activity against tested strains, with better effectiveness against gram positive bacteria than gram negative bacteria. (8)
• Hepatoprotective / Antioxidative: Study evaluated aerial parts of P. quadrifida for in vitro and in vivo antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects in paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats. Results showed the EPQ extract and Silymarin produced significant hepatoprotective effect with decreased enzymes and in vivo lipid peroxidation and antioxidative effect on hepatocytes. (9)
• Antimicrobial / Antioxidant / Aerial Parts: Study evaluated extracts of aerial parts of P. quadrifida for total flavonoid content, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities. Extracts showed good total flavonoid content, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and antibacterial activity. There was good correlation between total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity with correlation coefficient (R2) 0.996. Methanol extract showed most significant antimicrobial activity against all tested bacteria, with E. coli and S. aureus as most susceptible. The chloroform extract showed good activity against fungi. (see constituents above) (12)
• Anticonvulsant: Intraperitoneal administration of ethanol extract showed significant reduction in time to recover from electrically induced convulsions in mice. Phenytoin sodium was used as standard drug. (13)
• Gastroprotective / Anti-H. pylori: Study evaluated the effects of extract on the gastrointestinal tract. In vitro studies showed direct spasmolytic activity on intestinal smooth muscle. Results suggest protective and curative effects on gastric ulcer. A study showed antimicrobial activity against Helicobacter pylori responsible for chronic gastric ulcers. (13)
• Neuroprotective / Antioxidant Effect: Study evaluated the effects of plant constituents on stress-induced diseases that include oxidation damage to cellular components, especially the brain, on Wistar male rats exposed to 6 h of immobilization stress method. Results showed the extract demonstrated significant resistance toward oxidative metabolism triggered by restraint stress. The post-extract treatment (curative) was more effective in restoring the altered oxidative metabolism compared with pre-extract treatment (prophylactic) (14)
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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