NAME: Cassytha filiformis
FAMILY: Lauraceae
COMMON NAMES: Devil's gut, parasitic vine, Dodder Laurel,love-vine
LOCAL NAMES: Omoniginigini, omonigele-gele, sulunwahi.
MORPHORLOGICAL DESCRIPTION:
Cassytha filiformis is a much branched, slender, parasitic or semiparasitic plant,green leafless, scruby and perennial plant.
USEFUL PART(s): Stem, twigs
GENERAL USES:
Whole plant is used as a paste for paper-making by local people
Leaves are used as vegetables
The stems serves as a source for brown dye when mashed in water.
Stems are used to make a mucilaginous hair tonic when dried,powdered and mixed with sesame oil
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:
Africa, Asia, Australia, America
WHY IS IT GREEN?
Anthelmintics
Antimicrobials
Antifungal
Oedema
Headache
Hepatitis
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
It poses a threat to endangered plant species in coastal habitats in the tropics
FUN FACT
Its stem has a luxuriant hair-like appearance
FURTHER READINGS
Armenia, A., Hercegovina, H., Gustinanda, D., Salasa, A. N., Yuliandra, Y., & Ismed, F. (2015). Acute and delayed toxicity study of Cassytha filiformis defatted ethanolic extract. World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Khare, C. P. (2007). Cassytha filiformis Linn. In Indian Medicinal Plants. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-70638-2_309
Mythili, S., Gajalakshmi, S., Sathiavelu, A., & Sridharan, T. B. (2011). Pharmacological Activities of Cassytha Filiformis: A Review. Asian Journal of Plant Science and Research.
Wu, C. S., Wang, T. J., Chia-Wenwu, Wang, Y. N., & Chaw, S. M. (2017). Plastome evolution in the sole hemiparasitic genus laurel dodder (cassytha) and insights into the plastid phylogenomics of lauraceae. Genome Biology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evx177
Yuliandra, Y., Armenia, A., & Arifin, H. (2017). Antihypertensive and antioxidant activity of Cassytha filiformis L.: A correlative study. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apjtb.2017.06.007