1. Introduction
Thailand is endowed with a great diversity of indigenous medicinal plant species, and the Thais have a long tradition of using medicinal herbs and plants in folklore medicine. However, many of the
claimed curative properties have not been scien- tifically proven (Mahidol, 1996). Among the plants, Piper sarmentosum Roxb. (syn: Piper ros- tratum Roxb.), a terrestrial herb of the piperaceae family, 1–2 feet high, jointed at the nodes, with thin, dark green and ovate leaves, has been known locally as ‘Cha-plu’ and is widely dis- tributed throughout Thailand (Suvatti, 1978). In* Corresponding author
0378-8741/98/$19.00 © 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII S0378-8741(98)00025-7
W. Ridtitid et al.
Journal of Ethnopharmacology