Hedyotis philippensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Hedyotis philippensis (Willd. ex Spreng.) Merr. ex C.B. Rob.

Protologue: Philipp. Journ. Sci., Bot. 6(3): 222 (1911).

Spermacoce philippensis Willd. ex Spreng. (1824), Hedyotis congesta Wallich & G. Don (1834).

• Malaysia: sebueh, bunga kakarang
• Philippines: magdadakan (Samar-Leyte Bisaya), dilang-butiki (Tagalog), pulapasagit (Panay Bisaya)
• Thailand: mae klon, saam nam (peninsular)
• Vietnam: an diền philippin.

Widely distributed from Thailand to Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.

The roots are used internally and externally. Internally, as a decoction, they are given for dysentery, colic and as a stomachic. Externally, the decoction is used to wash listless children, and it is also applied as a poultice to scalds, and in general to any painful part of the body. The aerial parts are eaten with a bitter gourd ( Momordica sp.) after childbirth.

A perennial, spreading subshrub, up to 1.2 m tall, openly branched, stems slender and often hairy when young; leaves variable, narrowly oblong, 4-11 cm × 1-3.5 cm, glabrous, midvein underneath hairy, shiny above, terminal leaves much smaller, lanceolate, petiole 3-10 mm long, interpetiolar stipules triangular, setae many, up to 7 mm long; cyme axillary, small, crowded; calyx obconical, 1-2 mm in diameter, glabrous, lobes 2.5 mm long, glandular appendage between lobes, corolla slightly longer than calyx, tube 2-3 mm long, lobes oblong, 2-2.5 mm long, spreading; capsule rounded to ellipsoid, 3.5-4 mm long, fleshy, whitish, glabrous. H. philippensis occurs on sandy soils, in open forest areas, along streams and seasonally boggy localities at low and medium altitudes.

• 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.

407.

Isa Ipor