Alugbati is commonly grown for its young shoots which make an excellent succulent, slightly mucilaginous vegetable, used as a pot herb in stews or soups, consumed boiled, fried in oil or sometimes as green salad. Its fruits seem to have been earlier used for dyeing purposes in China. The red fruit juice can be used as ink, cosmetic and for coloring foods. The young leaves can be used as laxative, the pulped leaves to poultice sores, red fruit juice as eye drops to treat conjunctivitis and the roots as rubafacient. The red forms are commonly planted as ornamentals and are, even becoming popular in Europe as a pot plant. (Aragones)