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.
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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…
@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?”.
kindly include medicinal use of basella rubra
try this one the feasibility of alugbati
we have the same study
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!
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.
hi..i’m mae and i’m a third year student from isabela and my thesis is also about alugbati and its effect on blood pressure..it’s an experimental study and i was wondering if there’s unwanted side effects in consuming alugbati…
thanks!!
hello. i’m a 3rd yr high school student in mindanao state university-IDS. we have to make a research paper and i’m planning to make highlighter ink out of alugbati’s purple fruits. is that ok? thanks.
.. hmm.. hello… im a forth year high school
student and im looking for an investigatory
project, since that alugbati caught my
attention i want it to be the scope in my project..
can you put more information about the sap
of an alugbati?.. thanks…
hi..
may i ask if.. what are the uses and importance of ALUGBATI SEEDS in removing stains.. 
plz help.. it for our IP.. 
plz2… I NEED HELP!
hi..
may i ask if.. what are the uses and importance of ALUGBATI SEEDS in removing stains.. 
plz help.. it for our IP.. 
plz2… I NEED HELP! tnx and more power!
hi
im a biology teacher and i read that alugbati is used to treat cancer….
in what way po ba? and what type of cancer????
need to know para po magdevelop ako ng science investigatory proj..
thanks po