Alugbati – Scientific name: Basella rubra Linn
Scientific name: Basella rubra Linn
English: Malabar Night Shade
Tagalog: Alugbati
A succulent, branched, smooth, twining herbaceous vine, several meters in length. Stems are purplish or green. Leaves are fleshy, ovate or heart-shaped, 5 to 12 cms long, stalked, tapering to a pointed tip with a cordate base. Spikes are axillary, solitary, 5-29 cm long. Fruit is fleshy, stalkless, ovoid or spherical, 5-6 mm long, and purple when mature.
Properties
Demulcent, diuretic, emollient, laxative, rubefacient.
Distribution
Found in settled and cultivated areas, in hedges.
Application
Common market product, a popular leafy and stew vegetable, a good substitute for spinach. The green and purple cultivated varieties are preferable to the wild ones.
Both the young shoots and stems are eaten. Excellent source of calcium and iron; good source of vitamins A, B, and C, with a high roughage value. Roots are employed as rubefacient. Poultice of leaves used to reduce local swelling. Sap is applied to acne eruptions to reduce inflammation. Decoction of leaves used for its mild laxative effects.
Pulped leaves applied to boils and ulcers to hasten suppuration.Sugared juice of leaves useful for catarrhal afflictions. Leaf-juice, mixed with butter, is soothing and colling when applied to burns and scalds.
| Published on March 5th, 2009 | | Posted by admin |
March 11th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
hi there,
i am a third year college taking up a biology degree in western mindanao state university. my name is michael and i am searching for a title to propose for my thesis. and it looked intersting about alugbati. can you give me a title fo my title using alugbati. thanks.
it is my pleasure over knowing this site…and i will approach if you help me with my title proposal…
March 12th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
@michael manalo
Thanks for your comments. I’m not sure if you will like the title I have in mind. Anyway why not try “The Wonders of Alugbati?”.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:47 am
kindly include medicinal use of basella rubra
November 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
try this one the feasibility of alugbati
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:37 pm
we have the same study
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I’m a 3rd year student of Marinduque State College in Marinduque, can you post some details about the fruits of the alugbati.I wonder if it also have nutritional value or poisonous. thanks!
March 7th, 2010 at 12:38 am
good day! i am meryl bernardino, a senior student at central luzon state university.
i love eating alugbati. the taste itself is the reason why i love to eat this plant. every afternoon, my father request for an alugbati salad(blanched leaves with bagoong) and will eat with smoked fish! delicious meal.
but there was something bothering me. i happened to know a scientist while having my training in thailand. he is also a filipino who’s gathered many awards because of research. that proves how knowledgeable the man is. one time, i happened to find an alugbati in the market. delighted, i made alugbati salad. however, this scientist commented that alugbati contains high level of alkaloid, a toxic compound. i knew, alkaloid is natural occuring, but i want to know what particular alkaloid is present in the alugbati. and its effect to our body. inaddition, he told me alugbati is same as tha marijuana.
do you believe on what he told me? i search in the net but found no research conducted about it.
i love alugbati, its taste and nutritional are really impressive. but i am bothered by the comment made by the intelligent man.
kindly tell me what do you think about it. thank you.