Philippine Medicinal Plants

English: Eggplant
Tagalog: talong

Talong is cultivated throughout the Philippines, and is common on Mt. Banahaw. In the Philippines, the Talong roots are taken as a decoction internally as an antiasthmatic and general stimulant. The roots are also used in treatment of skin diseases.

English: Indian hydocotyle
Tagalog: Takip-kohol

• A prostrate, creeping sparingly hairy or nearly smooth herb. The stems rooting at the nodes.
• Leaves: rounded to reniform, 2 to 5 cm wide, horizontal, more or less cupped, rounded at the tip, and kidney-shaped or heart-shaped at the base, palmately veined, scalloped margins, the rounded lobes often overlapping. Petioles erect, 3 to 20 cm and long.
• Flowers: petals dark-purple, ovate, and about 1 long. Peduncles occur in pairs or threes, less than 1 cm long and usually bear 3 sessile flowers. Flowering October to May.
• Fruits: minute, ovoid, white or green, and reticulate, each with 9 subsimilar longitudinal ridges
• 5 carpels, cylindric compressed, about 2.5 mm long, white or green, reticulate. Ovary inferior. Stamens 5, epigynous.

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English: Tobacco
Tagalog: Tabako

Tobacco has a long history of use by medical herbalists as a relaxant, though since it is a highly additive drug it is seldom employed internally or externally at present.

The leaves are antispasmodic, discutient, diuretic, emetic, expectorant, irritant, narcotic, sedative and sialagogue. They are used externally in the treatment of rheumatic swelling, skin diseases and scorpion stings. The plant should be used with great caution, when taken internally it is an addictive narcotic. The active ingredients can also be absorbed through the skin.

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English: Yam bean
Tagalog: Singkamas

a Central American climbing plant of the pea family, which has been cultivated for its edible tubers (jicama) since pre-Columbian times.

English: Tamarind
Tagalog: Sampalok

Sampalok is a fruit tree found throughout the Philippines, and is common on Mt. Banahaw. Sampalok fruit is used as a laxative, for bilious vomiting, and against cholera. It is also a refrigerant, and used to reduce fevers. The bark is astringent and tonic, and used for asthma and amenorrhoea. The leaves are used to destroy worms in children, and are useful for jaundice.

English: Elumea, Ngaicamphor
Tagalog: Sambong

Sambong is found throughout the Philippines, and grows wild on Mt. Banahaw. Doctors in the Philippines prescribe Sambong for the dissolution of kidney stones. The leaves of Sambong are used as a tea in the Philippines, and as a cure for colds. It is also said to have antidiarrhetic and antigastralgic properties. It is also used as an expectorant. It is given for worms and dysentery. It is one of the most common used medicinal herbs in the Philippines.

English: Aloe vera
Tagalog: Sabila

Aloe, genus of succulent plants with more than 150 species, most native to southern Africa. They usually have short stems, fleshy, tapering leaves crowded in rosettes at the end of the stem, and red or yellow tubular flowers in dense clusters. Species vary in height from several centimetres to more than 9 m (30 ft); they are widely cultivated as garden and tub plants in warmer regions. Several species are commercially important as the source of the bitter-tasting aloes used in medicine.

Scientific classification: Aloes belong to the family Liliaceae.

English: Rosemary
Tagalog: Romero

Romero is cultivated in some places in the Philippines, and is grown on Mt. Banahaw. Romero is reported to fight bacteria, relax the stomach, stimulate circulation and digestion, act as an astringent and decongestant, and improve circulation to the brain. It is reported to help prevent liver toxicity, and have anticancer and antitumor properties.

English: Cabbage
Tagalog: Repolyo

A biennial herb. The main axis, short and thick. Leaves are densely packed, and as it grows, close and develop into a gigantic bud of head. Leaves vary in color, from the common light yellowish green to dark green and dark red.

Chemical constituents and properties
Contains a considerable amount of sulfur.
Seeds are diuretic, laxative, stomachic and antihelminthic.
Red cabbage is emollinet and pectoral.

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English: Luffa
Tagalog: Patola

Loofah or Luffa, common name for a climbing plant of the cucumber family and for the vegetable sponge derived from the plant. There are six species of loofah plant, all of which are native to the Tropics and subtropics of Asia and Africa. The common name loofah and the scientific name Luffa are derived from the Arabic common name for this plant, lûfa. The most commonly used species, Luffa aegyptiaca, is an annual, monoecious vine (where male and female flowers appear on different parts of the plant), with deep yellow flowers. The female flowers are borne singly and the male flowers are in clusters.

The leaves are hairless, lobed, and triangular in outline. Tendrils arise from the stems near the leaves and the numerous branches are long and slender. The cylindrical or club-shaped fruit can be up to 30-40 cm (12-16 in) long and hangs down from the stems owing to its weight. The skin of the fruit is ridged and green, becoming straw-coloured at maturity. The small, brown or black seeds are wrinkled on the surface and look like watermelon seeds. They are released when the lid-like apex of the fruit breaks off. It is the dried and bleached vascular system of the mature fruit that is used as a sponge or dishcloth in many parts of the world. The young fruits of Luffa aegyptiaca and Luffa acutangula are also eaten as vegetables in some countries.

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