Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 83-84

Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr.

Names.

Myanmar: do, gon-nyin. English: sword bean.

Range.

Pantropical. Reported from Myanmar.

Uses.

Seed: Used as an emetic and febrifuge; also as a fish poison.

Notes.

In China the plant is considered anti-cancer; also used for splenititis with high temperature and as a wash for itch, pityriasis, and wounds. The seed is used to treat hemorrhoids in children ( Duke and Ayensu 1985). In India the juice from the bark and wood is applied externally for ulcers and the stem is used as an emetic; the seeds are used as an anthelmintic, tonic, antiperiodic, and emetic; a paste made from them is locally applied to inflamed glandular swellings ( Jain and DeFilipps 1991). Medicinal uses of the species in additional East and Southeast Asian countries follow: In Mongolia the plant is used to treat illnesses with a high temperature in the spleen; on the Malay Peninsula ashes of pods are applied to the abdomen for severe internal complaints; in Indonesia the pounded roots are rubbed on, and the juice from the stem is drunk to treat a feverish abdomen and dysentery, roasted seeds are eaten by women as a depurative in post partum and are administered in small doses for stomachache, as an emetic, and are a component in some compound medicines; and in the Philippines a decoction of the roots is drunk to treat a rigid abdomen and smashed seeds are used to poultice abdominal complaints, such as colic of children ( Perry 1980).

The seeds contain oil with palmitic-, stearic-, lignoceric-, linoleic-, and oleic acid, raffinoe, traces of alkaloid, and steroids; the seed, stem, and bark contain saponin A and B; and the stem and root bark contain HCN. Also, the seed has entagenic acid, a saponin active against a type of carcinosarcoma in rats ( Duke and Ayensu 1985). "Much of the medicinal use of the species is due to the presence of saponin in the bark, wood, and seeds." Seeds are edible after proper preparation: "They must be roasted until the seedcoat bursts, washed in water for 24 hours, and boiled before eating." Reported chemical constituents include saponins and a heteroside, also a poisonous alkaloid. "Two saponins, nearly alike in chemical and pharmacological properties, have a strong hemolytic action on human red blood cells; stem, seeds, and bark are poisonous" ( Perry 1980).

References.

Nordal (1963), Perry (1980).