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Botany
Pansit-pansitan is an erect, branched, annual herb, shallow rooted, reaching up to 40 centimeters high, with very succulent stems. Stems are round, often about 5 millimeters thick. Leaves are alternate, heart-shaped and turgid, as transparent and smooth as candle wax. Spikes are green, erect, very slender, 1 to 6 centimeters long. Tiny dotlike flowers scattered along solitary and leaf-opposed stalk (spike); naked; maturing gradually from the base to the tip; turning brown when ripe.
Distribution
An annual herb, favoring shady, damp and loose soil.
Often grows in groups in nooks in the garden and yard.
Conspicious in rocky parts of canals.
Propagation by seeds. Numerous tiny seeds drop off when mature and grow easily in clumps and groups in damp areas.
Pantropic species of American origin.
Parts utilized
Leaves and stems.
Constituents
• Study yielded 5 new bioactive compounds: two secolignans, two tetrahydrofuran lignans, and one highly methoxylated dihydronaphthalenone.
• Proximate analysis of leaves yieled a high ash content, a higher crude fiber content, and a still higher carbohydrate content. Mineral analysis showed low manganese, iron, zinc and copper, with high sodium content. Phytochemical screening yielded alkaloids, cardenolides, saponins and tannins.
Properties
• Considered anti-inflammatory, refrigerant, analgesic, antifungal, anticancer.
Uses
Nutritional
Leaves and stems may be eaten as vegetable.
In salads, the fresh plant has the crispness of carrot sticks and celery.
Folkloric
Infusion and decoction of leaves and stems are used for gout and arthritis.
Decoction of leaves used for urinary tract infections.
Externally, as a facial rinse for complexion problems.
Pounded whole plant used as warm poultice for boils, pustules and pimples.
In Bolivia, decoction of roots used for fever; aerial parts for wounds.
In Bangladesh, leaves used in the treatment of excited mental disorders.
Used for headaches, rheumatic pains, impotence.
In Brazil, used to lower cholesterol; for treatment of abscesses, furuncles and conjunctivitis
New uses
Belongs to the "preferred list" of Philippine medicinal plants, being studied for its use in the treatment of arthritis and gout.
For arthritis: Leaves and stems of the fresh plant may be eaten as salad. Or, as an infusion, put a 20-cm plant in 2 glasses of boiling water; and 1/2 cup of this infusion is taken morning and evening.
Studies
• Analgesic / Antiinflammatory: Extract study of aerial parts of PP tested in rats and mice exhibited anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. The antiinflammatory activity was attributed to interference with prostaglandin synthesis. Results also showed low toxicity.
