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Lagundi
Common names: Dangla (Ilokano); five-leaved chaste
tree, horseshoe vitex.
Indications and preparations: Leaves and flowering tops
decoction, syrup, tablets and capsules for
coughs,
colds, fever and asthma. |
click here for enlarged picture |
| Family: |
Verbenaceae |
| Description: |
A shedding shrub or small tree up to 8 m tall, bark surface
slightly rough, peeling off in papery flakes, pale reddish-brown. Leaflets 3-5, narrowly
elliptical Fruit spherical to broadly egg-shaped, 3-6 mm long, purple or black when
mature. |
| Ecological distribution: |
Found in humid places or along watercourses, in waste places
and mixed open forest. Eastern Africa and Madagascar to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, throughout
the Malesian region, east to the Palau Islands, the Caroline Islands and the Mariana
Islands. Widely cultivated in Europe, Asia, North America and the West Indies. |
| Parts used: |
Leaves and flowering tops. |
| Traditional uses: |
roots and leaves – for pain, bitter tonic, expectorant
and diuretic; |
|
sap from crushed leaves – for coughs and sore throat; |
|
leaf decoction – for wounds, ulcers, aromatic baths, and
internally to promote the flow of milk, to induce menstruation, against gastric colic, and
against flatulence. |
|
seeds – boiled and eaten to prevent the spread of toxins
from poisonous bites of animals; |
|
flowers – for diarrhea, cholera and liver disorders |
| Special precautions: |
Make sure to have the five-leaved varieties, as there are
other varieties of lagundi. |
| Product available: |
Syrup, tablets and capsules. |
| Further information in: |
de Padua,L.S., N. Bunyapraphatsara, R.H.M.J. Lemmens
(Editors). 1999. Plant Resources of South East Asia 12(1) Medicinal and Poisonous Plants.
Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands.771 pp. |
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