ABOUT 'IPOMOEA OBSCURA' PLANT
Ipomoea obscura
FAMILY:- CONVOLVULACEAE
BOTANICAL NAME:- Ipomoea obscura
VERNACULAR NAMES :
SINHALA : Tel kola
TAMIL : Chirudali, Kuruguttali
DESCRIPTION :
Vines, the stem slender, twining or less commonly glabrescent, perennial.
LEAVES:- Ovate to cordate, 2.7-9 cm long, cordate baselly, acute, acuminate or apiculate apically, pubescent or glabrescent on both surfaces.
FLOWERS:- Inflorescence 1 or less commonly several flowers, the peduncles 3.5-4 cm long. Corolla yellow, orange, green or white, usually with a white limb and yellowish.
FRUITS:- Capsular, globose, glabrous 8-12 mm long. Seed ovoid 1 black appressed pubescent or velvety, 5-5.5 mm long (Jayaweera, 1980).
DISTRIBUTION :
Found in Tropical Africa, throughout Tropical Asia including Queensland and Fiji, China, Taiwan and Polynesia (Dassanayake and Fosberg, 1980).
EDIBLE PARTS : Leaves
FOOD USE : Leaves are eaten as a green vegetable.
NUTRITIONAL AND THERAPEUTIC VALUE :
The leaves are used as an application on aphthous affections. The latex is used for treatment of gangrenous sores and for the preparation of medicinal oils used for some purposes. Internally, they act as a cardiac, stomachic, expectorant and diuretic and are useful for chronic dyspepsia, bronchitis and revel and hepatic dropsy (Jayaweera, 1980; Department of Aurveda, 1985).
