Lasia spinosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Lasia spinosa (L.) Thwaites

Family: Araceae

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: ngambing, sambeng (Java), sampi (West Java), gali-gali (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: geli-geli
• Laos: pak norm
• Thailand: phaknam
• Vietnam: rau mớp, mớp ráy gai.

Distribution

Tropical Asia, from India to New Guinea, including South-East Asia, occasionally cultivated.

Uses

After removing the prickles, young leaves and petioles are eaten cooked or fermented. In Indonesia a decoction of the roots is given to women after childbirth whereas in Thailand it is used for bathing the newborn baby.

Observations

• Large clump-forming, often stoloniferous, prickly herb, erect to decumbent, 0.5-2 m tall.
• Leaves long-petioled and very variable in shape, sagittate to hastate, large ones 35-65 cm × 5-30 cm, entire to deeply lobed, membranous to coriaceous, usually with prickles beneath.

In open swampy localities below 600 m altitude. Sometimes cultivated along fish ponds, and sold in local markets.

Selected sources

7, 38, 44, 49, 66.