Common Name:

General Information

Merremia mammosa is a perennial, glabrous twining plant, producing herbaceous stems 3 - 6 metres long from a tuberous rootstock that can be 10 - 25cm long[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of fibre. It has been cultivated for centuries in eastern Malesia, Malaya and the Philippines for its medicinal uses and the edible tubers[, ].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia.

Habitat

Forms tangled masses over thickets, especially along the sides of small streams[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Perennial Climber
Height	5.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the lowland tropics, found at elevations below 500 metres[].

Edible Uses

Tubers - cooked[]. Eaten as a vegetable[]. They tend to have a purgative effect[]. The fusiform to globose tubers are 10 - 25 cm long with a milky juice[, ].

Medicinal

The tubers contain resin-glycosides, and are mildly purgative[, ]. The sap of the fresh tubers is widely drunk in the treatment of affections of the throat and respiratory organs, dysentery and fever[].
The sap is applied externally to treat snakebite, burns, fevers, dysentery, poisoning, chest and throat affections and oedema[].
The tubers used to be widely used in the treatment of diabetes, but this use is no longer common, as it has been shown that the plant does not possess suitable properties[].

Other Uses

The stems yield a fine, strong fibre, with a satin shine, which is made into cloth[]. The clothes made have to be dried in the shade after washing them, to prevent loss of this shine[].

Propagation

Seed -
Stem cuttings

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