Cayratia trifolia (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cayratia trifolia (L.) Domin

Protologue: Biblioth. Bot. 89: 370 (1927).

Synonyms

Vitis trifolia L. (1753), Cissus trifolia (L.) K. Schum. (1889), Cayratia carnosa (Lamk) Gagnep. (1911).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: galing (Javanese), gumburu rogbo-robo (Ternate), ai lau salak (Ambonese)
• Malaysia: lakum, daun kapialun, galing-galing
• Papua New Guinea: vualai, vaulai (Gunantuna, East New Britain)
• Philippines: kalit-kalit (Tagalog), alangingi (Bisaya), arinat (Iloko)
• Laos: ta det
• Thailand: thao kan khaao (central)
• Vietnam: sàn sạt, dây vác.

Distribution

From India to southern China, Indo-China, through Malesia and the Pacific Islands; not common in Peninsular Malaysia.

Uses

In Peninsular Malaysia, the leaves and roots are commonly used for poulticing ulcers of the nose. A decoction of the leaves and roots or the fresh juice of the leaves and stem are also used for high fever. In Java, the juice of the leaves, together with the juice of young pineapple is used on the head for itch and dandruff. In Thailand, the leaves and roots are used for fever and as an astringent, the stem as an expectorant, carminative and blood purifier. Heated leaves are applied to boils to relieve inflammation. In the Philippines, a decoction of the leaves or the juice of the fresh leaves is considered antiscorbutic.

In the Moluccas (Indonesia), the young leaves are eaten as a vegetable, after boiling them with salt to remove the irritant properties.

Observations

A usually deciduous climber, 2-20 m long, stems angular, pubescent when young, tendrils 4-5-fid, ending in adhesive disks, roots tuberous; leaves 3-foliolate, petiole 2-4 cm long, leaflets ovate to oblong-ovate, 2-8 cm × 1.5-5 cm, margins coarsely toothed, lateral leaflets often lobed, both surfaces pubescent, often becoming sparsely so when old; inflorescence axillary, cymose corymbiform, primary branches 3-4, about 6-9 cm × 3-6 cm, peduncle long, flowers small, greenish-white; berry compressed globose, about 1 cm in diameter, dark purple or black, 2-4-seeded. C. trifolia occurs in thickets and open forest, from sea-level up to 400 m altitude.

Selected sources

74,

• 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.

• Chuakul, W., Saralamp, P., Paonil, W., Temsiririrkkul, R. & Clayton, T. (Editors), 1997. Medicinal plants in Thailand. Vol. II. Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. 248 pp.586, 786.

Authors

Slamet Sutanti Budi Rahayu