ALIKBANGON
COMMELINA DIFFUSA Barm f.
Commelina nudiflora Linn.
Tradescantia cristata Naves
Local names: Alibangon (Tag.); bangar-an-lalaki (If.); gatiking (Bon.); katkatauang (Bon.); kitkitauang (Bon.); kohasi (Iv.); kalasi (Ilk.); kulkul-lasi (Ilk.).
Alikbangon is found throughout the Philippines in open grasslands, waste places etc. at low and medium altitudes. It is pantropic in distribution.
The plant is prostrate, spreading, and branched. The stems root at the nodes, with the ultimate branched ascending. The leaves are oblong lanceolate, 3 to 7 centimeters long, and 1 to 2 centimeters wide. The inflorescence is axillary, and peduncled. The flowers are cymose, enclosed in a complicate leaflike spathe, with free margins. The cymes are usually 2 in each spathe, and are few-flowered. The inner petals are larger, blue 6 to 7 millimeters long, and the outer ones much smaller, pale or nearly white.
According to Dalziel, in the Gold Coast the leaves, pounded with the seeds of Leea guineensis and Piper nigrum, are made into a poultice wrapped in a heated plantain leaf and applied for relief of swellings of groin. He also says that in Nigeria an eye lotion is made from it. Chopra adds that the bruised plant is applied to burns, itches, and boils.
Source:BPI