Clitoria ternatea L.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 81-82

Clitoria ternatea L.

Names.

Myanmar: pe-nauk-ni, aug-mai-hpyu, aung-me-nyo. English: blue pea, butterfly pea.

Range.

Origin uncertain, probably tropical Africa or Asia. In Myanmar, found in Kachin, Mandalay, Sagaing, and Yangon.

Uses.

Whole plant: The powder and the powder of eikthara-mooli ( Aristolochia indica ) can be mixed and taken to neutralize snake venom. Leaf: Crushed and placed on abscess on the tip of the finger and bound with moist bandage to treat infection. Root: Mixed with roots from other medicinal plants to make medicines to treat edema. Roasted, made into a powder and taken with warm water to treat inflammation of the liver, inflammation of the spleen and general edema. Used in making medicines to prevent miscarriage, and to treat lumps on the throat, passing and hemorrhaging of blood, vitiligo, and cataracts. Juice from the male root is taken with cold milk to treat chronic coughing. Bark, Root: Used as purgative and diuretic. Flowers: Crushed together with milk and the juice used to paint circles around the eyes to treat sore eyes associated with infantile diseases. Fruit: Juice from the green fruit can be tipped into the nostrils to cure headaches that affect only one side of the head. Seeds: Used to treat inflammation of the testes, and hiccups.

Notes.

In India the leaf is used on swellings, the seed as a laxative, the root for goiter and leprosy, and an unspecified part for snakebite ( Jain and DeFilipps 1991). Perry (1980) discusses the uses of the species in Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula, and Indonesia. She notes that medicinal use of the species is primarily in Java and India.

Perry (1980) lists the chemical constituents of the species.

References.

Nordal (1963), Agricultural Corporation (1980).