Physalis angulata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Physalis angulata L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 183 (1753).

Family: Solanaceae

Physalis angulata L. - 1, plant habit; 2, flower, ventral view; 3, flower, lateral view; 4, berry, calyx partly removed; 5, seed

Vernacular names

• Gooseberry, hogweed, balloon cherry (En)
• Indonesia: ceplukan (Javanese), cicendet an (Sundanese), daun kopo-kopi (Moluccas)
• Malaysia: leletup, chipluan, ubat pekong
• Papua New Guinea: kaipos (Navuapaka, Central Province), oviovi (Oroi, Central Province), watosivo (Garara, Oro Province)
• Philippines: putok-putokan, tino tino, toltolaya
• Thailand: baa tom tok (northern), thong theng (central), pung ping (peninsular)
• Vietnam: tầm bóp, lu lu cái.

Distribution

Native to tropical America, now distributed pantropically, including Malesia, as a weed.

Uses

In Malesia, the aerial parts, including the fruits, are used to cure digestive and intestinal problems, and various skin problems such as sores, boils and cuts. In Papua New Guinea, constipation is relieved by drinking a decoction of the leaves. The sap of the leaves in water is taken as an abortifacient, although their use to treat sterility is also mentioned. The fruit is eaten as a snack, and the leaves as a salad, although the taste is bitter.

Observations

• An annual herb, 10-100 cm tall, glabrous or with a few short appressed hairs, stems sharply angled, hollow, lower branches sometimes prostrate and rooting at the nodes.
• Leaves ovate to lanceolate, sometimes linear, 4-15 cm × 2.5-10 cm, margins irregularly toothed or entire, short hairy, petiole 2-11 cm long.
• Flowers solitary, flowering calyx 3-5 mm long, fruiting calyx 2-4 cm long, greenish-yellow with purple ribs, corolla 5-10 mm long, up to 1 cm in diameter, pale yellow, with or without dark spots and a triangular spot of dense short hairs at the throat; anthers entirely pale blue.
• Berry 10-16 mm in diameter, yellow.

P. angulata occurs in sunny to somewhat shaded, not too dry fertile spots in fields, gardens, wastelands, fallow fields, along roads, in open forests and forest margins, up to 1500 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.
• [323] Freiburghaus, F., Kaminsky, R., Nkunya, M.H.H. & Brun, R., 1996. Evaluation of African medicinal plants for their in vitro trypanocidal activity. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 55: 1—11.
• [407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [440] Holm, J., Doll, J. & Holm, E., 1997. World weeds: natural histories and distribution. Wiley, New York, United States. 1129 pp.
• [599] Lee, W.C., Lin, K.Y., Chen, C.M., Chen, Z.T., Liu, H.J. & Lai, Y.K., 1991. Induction of heat-shock response and alterations of protein phosphorylation by a novel topoisomerase II inhibitor, withanguatin A, in 9L rat brain tumor cell. Journal of Cellular Physiology 149(1): 66—76.
• [619] Lin, Y.S., Chiang, H.C., Kan, W.S., Hone, E., Shih, S.J. & Won, M.H., 1992. Immunomodulatory activity of various fractions derived from Physalis angulata extract. American Journal of Chinese Medicine 20(3/4): 233—243.
• [696] Morton, J.F., 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Middle America. Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, United States. 1420 pp.
• [810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [948] Soepadmo, E. & Mohamed Azam, A., 1989. Growth rate and reproductive biology of Malaysian anti-hypertensive plants. In: Soepadmo, E., Goh, S.H., Wong, W.H., Din, L.B. & Chuah, C.H. (Editors): Perubatan Tradisi Malaysia [Malaysian traditional
• [977] Syrov, V.N., Khuskbaktova, Z.A. & Vasina, O.E., 1989. Anti-inflammatory properties of vitanolides. Khimiko Farmatsevticheskii Zhurnal 23(5): 610—613. (in Russian)
• [997] te Beest, M., 1999. Physalis: een weg naar de toekomst? - Chemische, taxonomische en medicinale aspecten van Physalis spp. [Physalis: a road to the future? - Chemical, taxonomical and medicinal aspects of Physalis spp.]. MSc. Thesis, Plant Taxonomy, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. 52 pp.

Main genus page

• Physalis

Authors

• Slamet Sutanti Budi Rahayu