Common Name:

General Information

Ipomoea pes-caprae is a very vigorous, creeping, or scrambling, evergreen, perennial plant with a large, thick root that can be 3 metres long and 5cm in diameter[]. With stems that can be 30 metres long and root at the nodes, the plant quickly forms a dense mat of low growth, completely covering the soil[].
Commonly used in traditional medicine, the plant is often harvested from the wild, also providing a useful fibre and emergency source of food. The plant is often cultivated, especially near the coast, where it makes an excellent, ornamental ground cover and soil stabilizer[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Pantropical, mainly along sea shores.

Habitat

Sandy dunes and foreshores, down to the limits of the high tide level[, ]. The plant sometimes also occurs inland, along roadsides and ditches, at elevations up to 800 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Perennial
Height	0.15 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Requires a sunny position in a well-drained soil[]. It is able to thrive in some of the worst soils imaginable[]. Plants are tolerant of maritime exposure[]. Established plants are drought tolerant[].
A very fast-growing plant[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable[]. They are chopped and cooked alone, or combined with other vegetables such as Cleome gynandra, Galinsoga parviflora or Bidens pilosa, and eaten with a staple food such as rice[]. The leaves are usually seen as a famine food because, in larger quantities, they have a laxative effect[].

Roots - cooked[]. The starchy roots are usually only eaten in times of need since, in larger quantities, they are strongly laxative[].

Medicinal

The leaves are aid to be alterative, anodyne, astringent, diuretic, emollient, laxative and tonic[]. They are used in the treatment of dropsy and urethral discharge[]. A few young leaf buds are sometimes eaten by women in labour in order to hasten the birth[]. The leaf is used to extirpate fungoid growth of ulcers[]. A leaf-preparation is anodyne in the treatment of rheumatism[]. The leaves can be boiled into a medicinal tea used in the treatment of chicken pox[].
Leaf-preparations are commonly applied externally to a range of skin ailments, including boils, carbuncles, swellings, ulcers and piles[]. The leaf-sap is applied to fish-stings[]. A hot poultice is applied to ulcerous and other sores[]. The mashed leaves and stems are used as a poultice on sprained joints[].

The starchy root is diuretic and purgative. It is also said to contain a saponin[]. The boiled root is used to bring relief in bladder-diseases[, ]. The root has also been used as an adulterant or falsification of Indian jalap[].

The seed, when chewed, is said to be a good remedy for stomach-ache and cramp[, ].

An unnamed alkaloid has been reported present in the leaves, but other reports indicate the absence of toxic substances such as alkaloid, glycoside, saponin, hydrocyanic acid, etc[]. Material from Florida has been reported to contain mucilage, a complex resin, volatile oils, fats, a bitter pigment, etc[].
The leaves are inactive against Staphylococcus aureus, but are said to have a beneficial effect on bed-sores[].
Strong anti-tumour action has been shown by extracts of the stems[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant is a pioneer colonizer of sand-dunes and is a sand-binder par excellence[, ].
The plant is used to revegetate mine spoil[].

Other Uses

The long stoloniferous stems are relatively strong. They are sometimes made into ropes[]. They have been used for tug-of-war and singly as skipping ropes[].

The scorched leaves are used for caulking the seams of canoes[].

Propagation

Seed -

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