Gen info
- Parsonsia alboflavescens is a woody vine of the family Apocynaceae. It was first described in 1818 as Periploca alboflavescens, and described many times thereafter. The current name was given by Mabberley in 1977, who found Dennstedt's publication preceded all others, and also took the species epithet alboflavescens. (3)
- Etymology: The genus name Parsonsia was given by Scottish botanist Robert Brown in 1810 to honor James Parsons (1705-1770), an English physician, natural historian, and author of botanical works including Philosophical Transactions. The species epithet derives from Latin words albus, meaning "white" and flavescens, meaning "turning yellow", referring to the flower color habit that transitions from white to yellowish. (9)

Botany
• Spiral-Vined Silkpod is a woody lianas, up to 10 m long, hairless except for inflorescences. Branches are pale gray. Leaf-stalk is 2-4 cm. Leaves are ovate or subelliptic, 4-12 X 3-7.5 cm, base wedge-shaped to shallowly heart-shaped, lateral veins 5-7 pairs. Flowers are borne in cymes 8-15 X 8-11 cm, which are carried on stalks 3-9 cm long. Sepals are 2 mm, glands broadly triangular, membranous. Flowers white or greenish, tube about 5 mm, limb 1-2 cm wide, petals about 6 mm. Anthers are about 3.5 0.6 mm, inserted at middle of corolla tube. Ovary as long as or slightly shorter than disc, glabrous. Seed-pods are 2, linear-cylindric, parallel, 7-16 X 1-2 cm. Seeds are oblong 1.5-1.8 cm X 2 mm. Flowering: April-October. (Flowers of India)

• Climber with twining stems, glabrous except for inflorescence; latex clear. Leaves thin, soft, pale green; petiole slender, 12–30 mm long; lamina elliptic, 8–15 cm long, 3.4–8.2 cm wide, cuneate, attenuate or occasionally rounded at base, shortly acuminate or mucronate; secondary veins 6 or 7 pairs, curving, slightly raised below, with some fine tertiary veins visible. Inflorescence of axillary, open panicles, with 13–30 flowers, usually longer than leaves; axes finely hairy; pedicels 4–9 mm long. Calyx lobes 2 mm long, finely hairy. Corolla yellowish or green, abruptly expanded above apex of tube, glabrous externally or very minutely puberulous; tube 2.5–4 mm long, with a ring of very short, flattened hairs in throat; lobes widely spreading, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 5–6.3 mm long, 1.5–1.8 mm wide, obtuse, glabrous internally. Anther cone 3.3–4 mm long, ± fully exserted; filaments spirally twisted; anther tails convergent. Nectary scales free, ovate-deltoid, c. 1.2 mm long. Capsules slender, narrowly fusiform, 10–18 cm long, 0.5–0.9 cm diam. (Flora of Australia)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (1) (2)
- In thickets and secondary forests; also near the seashore. 0-1500 m.
- Also native Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, China Southeast, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Northern Territory, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. (1)
- Listed as lower risk or near-threatened by IUCN-UK 1996.

Constituents
- Unusual macrocyclic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) were detected in archived samples up to 13-yr old nectar, leaves, sap, and seeds, which demonstrate the longevity and persistence of PAs that protect against herbivores (Bruzynski et al., 2015). PAs also play an important role in chemical defence mechanisms of plants against certain insect herbivores (Hartmann, 1999). (see study below) (8)

Properties
- Studies have suggested wound healing properties.

Parts used
Leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- No information found on edibility.
Folkloric
- In the Mindoro, Philippines, heated leaves are applied as poultice for treatment of hernia. (6) In Marindugue, juice from pounded leaves drunk for treatment of asthma. (7)
- In India, used as febrigue, vulnerary, and disinfectant. Used for treatment of leg swellings tuberculosis, rheumatism, and kidney problems. (4)
- Used for treatment of epistaxis, boils, insanity, leg swellings, wound healing, fever, and to enhance immunity in AIDS patients.
Others
- Host plant: Plant is a larval and major nectar host plant of the malabar tree nymph butterfly, Idea malabarica (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). (3)

Studies
• Wound Healing / Leaves: Study evaluated the efficacy of ethanol leaf extract gel P. alboflavescens on incision wound model and the efficacy of the extract gel to cure a scar on male rats. Results showed homogeneous results, normal pH, stability, dissemination and good viscosity, less irritating and with good adhesion. The optimum dose for incision wound healing is 5%. (5)
• Macrocyclic Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids (PAs): Unusual macrocyclic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) present in P. alboflavescens are known for curing many kinds of human disease and defense against herbivore. PAs were detected in archived samples up to 13-yr old nectar, leaves, sap, and seeds, which demonstrate the longevity and persistence of PAs that protect against herbivores (Bruzynski et al., 2015). PAs also play an important role in chemical defense mechanisms of plants against certain insect herbivores (Hartmann, 1999). Reports have confirmed therapeutic properties of the alkaloids in curing nose bleeds, boils, insanity, leg swellings, tuberculosis, rheumatism, immunity enhancement in AIDS, among others. (8)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.
- Seeds in the cybermarket. (BGS)

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Parsonsia alboflavescens / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Apocynaceae: Parsonsia alboflavescens / Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines
(3)
Parsonsia alboflavescens / Wikipedia
(4)
Prospects of Traditionally important Apocynaceae plants of India in Cancer Remediation / Nirmala Devi, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Sunil K Prajapati / JJDDT: ournal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics, 2019; 9(1): pp 293-302 / DOI: 10.22270/jddt.v9i1.2208
(5)
Incision Wound Healing Test of Ethanolic Extract Gel from Salaon (Parsonsia alboflavescens [Dennst.] Mabb.) Leaves in Male Rats / N Zebua, Muharni Saputri, Aula Firsa et al / Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, 2021 / DOI:10.5530/pj.2017.6s.163 / Corpus ID: 55572496
(6)
Lagaylay / Philippine Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of Health
(7)
Lagaylay / Philippine Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of Health
(8)
Rare and endemic medicinal plant, Parsonsia alboflavescens (Dennst.) Mabb. and malabar tree nymph butterfly, Idea malabarica in Western Ghats of Karnataka / B Aishwarya, Revanna Revannavar / Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 2018; SP3: pp 201-203 / eISSN: 2278-4136 / pISSN: 2349-8234
(9)
Parsonsia alboflavescens / Grokipedia

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