Heart Pea

Overview

It is probably native to the Neotropics, but is also distributed in the tropics of the Old World. The plant is harvested from the wild, mainly for local use as a medicine, food and source of various commodities.

Vernacular Names

Peria bulan (Malaysia), Paria-aso (Philippines), Kok kra om (Thailand), Dao di ling (China), Pois de merveille (France), Vesicaria del cuore (Italy), Amor en bolsita (Spain).

Agroecology

Grows in many tropical and subtropical areas, prefering moist thickets and waste grounds. Found under a wide range of ecological conditions: in everwet or seasonal climates, on acid and basic soils, and in dry, marshy or periodically flooded places. Succeeds in the tropics, subtropics and warmer regions of the temperate zone.

Morphology

• Roots - underground, tap root, fibrous.
• Stems - stems with 5 longitudinal ribs, glabrous or puberulent, cross section with a single vascular cylinder.
• Leaves - alternate, biternate, leaflets , acute, chartaceous, puberulent or sparsely pubescent, the apex obtuse, or acuminate, the base attenuate, the margins lobate or laciniate, terminal leaflet lanceolate or triangular, rhombic or narrowly lanceolate in outline, 2- 3.5(5) cm long.
• Flowers - unisexual, zygomorphic, calyx light green, petals white, obovate, stamens 8, the filaments unequal, pubescent, ovary trilocular, with one style and 3 stigmas.
• Fruits - brown, pearlike, turbinate-obtriangular or sometimes nearly ellipsoid, pubescent.
• Seeds - black, shiny, approximately 5 mm in diameter; hilum green when fresh, white when dry, cordate.

Cultivation

• By seeds - sow in light shade in a nursery seedbed. Germination usually takes place within 3-4 weeks at 20 °C. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on until large enough to plant out

Chemical Constituents

• Saponins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, proanthocyanidin, apigenin, phytosterols, glycosides and cardiac glycosides.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• The whole plant is diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, emmenagogue, laxative, refrigerant, rubefacient, stomachic and sudorific. It is used in the treatment of rheumatism, nervous diseases, stiffness of the limbs and snakebite.
• The root is occasionally used in the treatment of rheumatism, lumbago and nervous diseases. It is also used in the treatment of catarrh of the bladder and urinary tract.
• The leaves are rubefacient, they are applied as a poultice in the treatment of rheumatism. A tea made from them is used in the treatment of itchy skin. Salted leaves are used as a poultice on swellings. The leaf juice has been used as a treatment for earache.
• Fried leaves are applied to the pubis to increase menstrual flow in amenorrhea.
• Leaves boiled in castor oil applied for rheumatism, pains, swellings, tumors of various kinds.
• In the Philippines, decoction of roots used as diaphoretic, and used for catarrh of the bladder.
• In Ayurveda, used for rheumatism, fever and earache.