Bulakan
Ipomoea nil · Japanese morning glory
- Names in the book
- Bulakan, Tag.; Kala-Danah, Indo-Eng.
- Used for
- Constipation
- Colours
- flowerblue, purple, pink
- Native range
- Tropical Americas
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Manila. Blooms in August.
- Family
- Convolvulaceae, filed in the book under Convolvulaceæ
- Printed as
- Ipomœa hederacea, Jacq. (I. nil, Roth.; Convolvulus nil, L. and Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 174 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Ipomoea nil is a species of Ipomoea morning glory known by several common names, including picotee morning glory, ivy morning glory, ivy-leaf morning glory, and Japanese morning glory (although it is not native to Japan). It is native to the tropical Americas, and has been introduced widely across the world.
Excerpt from “Ipomoea nil” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 31 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 4 provinces: Metropolitan Manila (5), Davao del Sur (2), Laguna (1), Negros Oriental (1).
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
This plant is not used as a medicine by the Filipinos, but is official in the Pharmacopœia of India from which we copy its indications and official preparations.
The seed is the part employed, its cathartic properties being much like those of jalap, though less energetic. An excellent substitute for the latter is 2 or 3 grams of kala-danah seeds in powder form, and no unpleasant effects attend its operation.
The official preparations are:
Extract of Kaladana.—Dose, 30–60 centigrams in pill.
[table omitted; see the source text]
Tincture of Kaladana.—Dose, 8–12 grams.
[table omitted; see the source text]
Compound Powder of Kaladana.—Dose, 3–3½ grams.
[table omitted; see the source text]
The last is an excellent substitute for the corresponding preparation of jalap.
Resin of Kaladana.—Dose, 30–50 centigrams. It is prepared like resin of jalap and is a safe and sure purgative. In mass it has a dark color, but is gray when powdered. The odor is rather unpleasant, the taste sweetish and then acrid, nauseous, persistent, exciting the saliva and irritating the fauces. It was introduced into practice by Dr. G. Vidie.
Botanical description
A twiner with round, downy stem. Leaves heart-shaped, 3-lobed, the middle one broad-lanceolate, the lateral ones rather rectangular with petioles of equal length with the leaves. Flowers large, rose color or pale blue, in axillary cymes of 2 or 3 flowers each. Calyx, 5 long, downy parts. Corolla bell-shaped, 5 faint lobes. Stamens 5, free, inserted in the corolla. Ovary free, 3 biovulate locules. Style simple. Stigma trilobed. Seed vessels globose with 3 locules each containing 2 seeds. Seeds convex on dorsum, 1/2 cm. broad by 1 cm. long, testa black.
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.
- Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties of Ipomoea nil (Linn.) Roth significantly alleviates cigarette smoke (CS)-induced acute lung injury via possibly inhibiting the NF-κB pathway
- Copigmentation and UPLC-ESI-MS/MS of anthocyanin in Ipomoea nil as potential source of food colorant
- Genome-Wide Analysis of Aquaporins in Japanese Morning Glory (Ipomoea nil)