Katakataka – Bryophyllum Pinnatum (Lam) Kurz.

katakataka leaves

Katakataka – Bryophyllum Pinnatum (Lam) Kurz. / Cotyledon pinnatum Lam. / Brayophyllum calysinum Salisb. / Cotyledon paniculata Blanco / Bryophyllim germanians Blanco

Local names: Abisrana (Ilk.); angelica (Sp.); aritana (Bik.); halangbang (If.); inginga (Ig.); kapal-kapal (Sul.); karitana (Bis.); katakataka (Tag.); kokoeng (Bon.); lapak-lapak (Sul.); putputok (Bon.); siempre-viva (Sp.).

Katakataka is found from northern Luzon to Mindanao, in open settled areas, dry second-growth forests, etc. It is sometimes planted and is locally abundant. The plant is of prehistoric introduction from tropical Asia or Malaya. It is now pantropic in distribution.

This is an erect, more or less branched, smooth, succulent herb, 0.4 to 1.4 meters in height. The leaves are simple or pinnately compound, with the leaflets elliptic, usually about 10 centimeters long, thick succulent and scalloped margin. The flowers are cylindric, and pendulous in a large, terminal panicle. The calyx is tubular, cylindric, inflated, brownish or purplish, 3.5 to 4 centimeters long. The corolla is tubular, about 5 centimeters long, inflated at the base, and then constricted the exerted parts being reddish or purplish and the lobes tapering to a point. The fruit is a follicle with many seeds.

In the Philippines the leaves are used as an astringent and antiseptic, and a counterirritant against poisonous insect bites. The fresh leaves, pounded, are also applied to burns, and as poultices on boils. The juice is mixed with lard and is used for diarrhea, dysentery, cholera and phthisis. Father Blanco says that the pounded leaves are applied as poultice to the soles of the feet in order to stop hemorrhages. Guerrero states that the leaves are used as topicals in dislocations, equimosis, callosities, etc.

Sulit says that the pounded and mixed with salt, are applied as a plaster to the abdomen to relieve eneurosis.

Wehmer records that the leaves contain malic acid.

Dey and Kirtikar and Basu report that the leaves, after being made pliable by being held over fire, are applied to wounds, bruises, and boils, and are also used in the form of a poultice or powder in bad ulcers.

Dymock says that in Concan the juice of the leaves is given to bilious diarrhea and lithiasis. Rivera reports that it is used in the treatment of acute nephritis in Puerto Rico. Dalziel records that the juice is used as a diuretic. The leaves are rubbed or tied on the head for headaches, and the juice is applied for earache and ophthalmia. In Sierra Leone a cough medicine is made from the roots. In Brazil Freise states that the leaves, heated over a fire and mixed with oil, are used as an emollient and refrigerant over a face swollen because of neuralgia or tooth trouble.