Ipomoea purga (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ipomoea purga (Wender.) Hayne

Protologue: Getreue Darstell. Gew. 12: 5, t. 33-34 (1833).

Synonyms

• Convolvulus purga Wender. (1830),
• Exogonium purga (Wender.) Benth. (1840).

Vernacular names

• Philippines: jalapa.

Distribution

Originating from southern Mexico to Costa Rica, but has spread to other tropical regions, including South-East Asia. Sometimes cultivated in India as an ornamental and medicinal plant.

Uses

The tubers are generally used as a purgative and against inflammations. In small doses, they are employed against gastritis, colitis and chronic dysentery.

Observations

• A stout, twining herb, roots large, fusiform, tuberous.
• Leaves heart-shaped, 5-11 cm × 3-9 cm, apex pointed, basal leaves with long petiole, upper leaves nearly sessile.
• Flowers solitary or in few-flowered cymes, peduncle 2-4 cm long; sepals equal, small, corolla funnel-shaped, 7-8 cm long, red-purple.

I. purga grows in thickets, hedges and waste places, from sea-level up to 2000 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
• [622] Linajes, A., Rico-Gray, V. & Carrigon, G., 1994. Traditional production system of the root of jalapa, Ipomoea purga (Convolvulaceae), in Central Veracruz, Mexico. Economic Botany 48(1): 84—89.
• [647] Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of agricultural and horticultural plants in cultivation (without ornamentals)]. Schultze-Motel, J. et al. (Editors). 2nd Edition. 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.
• [696] Morton, J.F., 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Middle America. Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, United States. 1420 pp.
• [1026] van Oostrom, S.J., 1940. The Convolvulaceae of Malaysia, III. Blumea 3(3): 481—582.

Main genus page

• Ipomoea (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Anna L.H. Dibiyantoro & G.H. Schmelzer