Viscum articulatum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Viscum articulatum Burm.f.

Protologue: Fl. ind.: 211 (1768).

• Philippines: logolai (Bagobo), taka (Igorot)
• Thailand: kaafaak ton pao (northern), kafaak thao haa phao chok, naang hak (peninsular)
• Vietnam: ghi phân dốt, tầm gửi dẹt.

From eastern India to southern China and northern and eastern Australia; widespread throughout South-East Asia.

In Cambodia a decoction of V. articulatum is prescribed for the treatment of bronchitis. It is credited with tonic and sedative properties. In India it is used as an aphrodisiac and febrifuge, and to treat skin tumours. A poultice of crushed stems is applied to cuts. In Taiwan the whole plant is used as a remedy for neuralgia. In China whole plants are used to treat arthritis.

A hemiparasitic shrub, with slender, pendulous stems up to 1 m long; leaves rudimentary, spreading, c. 0.5 mm long; inflorescence consisting of a single flower, usually with many subsidiary cymules developing around the first one, with the first-formed flower female and the lateral flowers female or male, sessile; fruit globose, smooth, white. V. articulatum is found in open and closed forests from sea-level up to 1500 m altitude.

72, 181, 247, 731, 732.

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J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg