Traditional uses and benefits of Hugas

Item: Traditional uses and benefits of Hugas
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Hugas Quick Facts
Name:	Hugas
Scientific Name:	Microglossa pyrifolia
Origin	Tropical Africa, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Madagascar, Comoros and Mayotte
Shapes	Achene is compressed and 4-angled, with the reddish pappus about 3 millimeters long
Health benefits	Fever, headaches, colds, malaria, dermal infections , cough, elephantiasis, wounds, ophthalmia, stomach complaints, jaundice and edemas.

Hugas scientifically known as Microglossa pyrifolia is an erect or scandent, shrubby and climbing plant belonging to Microglossa genus and Asteraceae family. The plant is native to tropical Africa, Madagascar, Bangladesh, China, Comoros Cambodia, Mayotte, Philippines, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bhutan and Indonesia. Some of the well-known common names of the plants are Hugas, Maniak and Saroka.

The plant is found growing in thickets on slopes, along forest edges, grass land, open forests, forest margins, river forests, stream banks, bush land, wastelands and edges of bamboo plantations. The plant is found growing up to 6 meter tall. Stem is branched, cylindrical becoming quickly woody. It is speckled, thickly shielded with tiny glandular hairs.

Leaf

Leaves are simple alternate, supported by tiny petiole about 10-15 mm long. Leaf blade is oval, about 5 to 10 cm long and 2.5 to 4 cm wide. Base is rounded and apex is acuminate. Margin is entire more or less corrugated with spaced, thinly marked teeth. Lower surface is pale green, enclosed with tiny glandular hairs, and a thick, ferruginous villosity on the veins. Upper surface is green and rough. It has a curved venation.

Hugas Facts

Name	Hugas
Scientific Name	Microglossa pyrifolia
Native	Tropical Africa, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Madagascar, Comoros and Mayotte
Common Names	Hugas, Maniak and Saroka
Name in Other Languages	African: Asibogo Chinese: Guo shan long (过山龙), Li ye xiao she ju, Jiu li ming, Ko shita kiku (小舌菊), Màn mián cài (蔓綿菜), Kunori Akira (九里明), Nashi Kanō ko shita kiku (梨叶小舌菊), Xiǎo pán mù (小盘木) Congo: Muntantali East africa: Nyabungu odide Finnish: Pilviripsusäde Japanese: Shimaizuhahako (シマイズハハコ) Kinyarwanda: Umunyaragisaka, Nyakahe Kenyan: Nyabungu odide, Muhinga, Muteei, Olabai-oibor Malay: Ragin Myanman: Bizat, Bezat Nigerian: Anikan segbo, Anikan segbo torisa, Okbakakwu Papua new guinea: Gogo, Pundari Rundi: Umuhe, Muhe Tanzanian: Kichwaghwmbe, Lauhala, Mswaswaki, Uswaswaki Thailand: Khaa bia, tonghung, tonghong Vietnam: Tiểu thiệt
Plant Growth Habit	Erect or scandent, shrubby and climbing plant
Growing Climates	Thickets on slopes, along forest edges, grass land, open forests, forest margins, river forests, stream banks, bush land, wastelands and edges of bamboo plantations
Plant Size	Up to 6 m tall
Stem	Stem is branched, cylindrical becoming quickly woody. It is speckled, thickly shielded with tiny glandular hairs.
Leaf	Stalked, ovate-lanceolate, 3.5 to 7.5 centimeters long, pointed at both ends, and obscurely toothed at the margins.
Flower	Heads are numerous, less than 1 centimeter across, and clustered on the branches of rounded corymbs. Involucral bracts are lanceolate.
Fruit Shape & Size	Achene is compressed and 4-angled, with the reddish pappus about 3 millimeters long, or much longer than the minute achene.
Plant Parts Used	Leaves, root, root bark
Other Facts	It is sometimes cultivated in gardens, probably not as an ornamental, but for its medicinal virtues. They are said to be poisonous to goats in Ghana.

Inflorescence

Inflorescence is a set of yellowish white capitulums organized in a corymbiform panicle within the axils of the leaves or at the end of the axes. Capitulums are about 10-12 mm in length and 5 to 6 mm in diameter. At the base is a campanulate involucre of bracts organized on 4 to 5 rows. Outer bracts are membranous and ovate along with obtuse apex and about 0.7 to 2 mm long. They are enclosed with a thinner tubercular pubescence. Internal bracts are linear to lanceolate, 2 to 5 mm long, glabrous. Basal bracts are persistent. Receptacle of the capitulum is convex.

Flower

Outside of the capitulum are abundant ligulate florets with a filiform ligule 1 mm long. Inside the capitulum of the flower there are tubular florets, along with a tube of 2.5 mm conquered by 5 lobes.

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Fruit

Fruit is an obovoid, flattened achene, nearly 1 mm long along with 3 to 4 longitudinal ridges with some fine glandular hairs at the top. Pappus consists of reddish or white bristles organized on 2 to 3 rows. Those from the outside are 1 mm long and from inside are 4 mm long.