Sansaw-sansawan
Cissampelos pareira · Velvetleaf
- Names in the book
- Sansawsansawan, Tag.; Chinchaochinchauan, Sp.-Fil.
- Colours
- flowergreenish-yellowfruitorange, red
- Native range
- Tropics worldwide
- Family
- Menispermaceae, filed in the book under Menispermaceæ
- Printed as
- Cissampelos Pareira, L.
- Sources
- Page 26 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Cissampelos pareira (velvetleaf) is a species of flowering plant in the family Menispermaceae.
Excerpt from “Cissampelos pareira” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 197 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 17 provinces, most often Sorsogon (3), Davao Oriental (2), Isabela (2), Metropolitan Manila (2), Occidental Mindoro (2), Quezon (2), Batangas (1), Bulacan (1), and 9 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
Although this plant formerly bore the Portuguese name of Pareira brava, the U. S. P. and B. P. recognize now under this title only the root of Chondrodendron tomentosum. It is diuretic and tonic and apparently exercises an astringent and sedative action upon the mucous membrane of the genito-urinary organs. The root is used in acute and chronic cystitis.
In Brazil it is used as a diaphoretic and as such is employed in cases of venomous snake bites. It is also used there as an emmenagogue and diuretic, in intermittent fevers, dropsy and suppression of the lochia in women recently confined.
It is official in the Pharmacopœia of India.
[table omitted; see the source text]
Dose.—30–100 grams.
Boil 15 minutes; filter and add enough water to bring the total bulk up to 600 cc.
[table omitted; see the source text]
Dose
5–1 gram.
Digest the powder for 24 hours in 500 cc. water, pour the mixture into a filter and add water gradually until the percolate amounts to 5 liters. Evaporate the percolate in a water-bath to the consistency of a pill mass.
Fluid Extract.—This is prepared in the same manner as the extract and is allowed to remain in the bath until reduced in bulk to 400 grams. It is then removed and 100 grams of alcohol (36°) are added.
1.75–7 cc.
Chemical Composition.—Flückiger has isolated a bitter principle analogous to berberin; also buxine and paracine, which latter received the name pelosine from Wiggers in 1839. The former chemist proposed the name buxine for all these analogous principles. Pelosine or buxine is precipitated by a concentrated solution of HCl, by sal ammoniac, by potassium nitrate and potassium iodide. He also discovered a neutral substance, deyamitin, which crystallizes in microscopic tablets; sulphuric acid added to these gives a pretty dark blue color which changes to green.
Botanical description
A climbing shrub with cylindrical woody stem, with leaves simple, alternate, entire, petiolate, ovoid, broad at the base. The inferior surface of the leaf is pubescent, especially in the intervals between the ribs. Flowers diœcious, small, racemose. Calyx of 12 sepals arranged in 3 whorls, the inner ones broad and petaloid. Corolla of 6 petals arranged in 2 whorls. Stamens sterile or rudimentary in the pistillate flower, the staminate flower bearing 6; anthers innate, 2-celled. Drupes oval, 2 or 3 cm. long, black, closely resembling a grape seed.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Bisbenzylisoquinolines from Cissampelos pareira L. as antimalarial agents: Molecular docking, pharmacokinetics analysis, and molecular dynamic simulation studies
- Anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential of Cissampelos pareira L. identified by connectivity map-based analysis and in vitro studies
- Cytotoxic Polyhydroxylated Oleanane Triterpenoids from Cissampelos pareira var. hirsuta