Boerhavia chinensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Boerhavia chinensis (L.) Rottb.

Protologue: Pl. hort. univ. rar. prog. descr.: 4 (1773).

Synonyms

• Boerhavia repanda Willd. (1797),
• Boerhavia helenae Schult. (1822),
• Boerhavia chinensis Asch. & Schweinf. (1867),
• Commicarpus chinensis Heimerl (1934).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: karojep pager, ketek belangan (Madurese)
• Thailand: khee on khruea (northern, eastern)
• Vietnam: sâm nam.

Distribution

Throughout the Old World tropics; in Malesia only in Indonesia (eastern Java, Madura, Kangean Islands, Lesser Sunda Islands and Moluccas).

Uses

In Madura, the leaves are crushed and applied to scabies and itching body parts.

Observations

• An erect or rambling, sometimes climbing herb, 1(-4) m tall, puberulous-glabrescent.
• Leaves lanceolate to ovate, 2.5-4.5 cm × 1.5-4 cm, base obtuse to cordate, apex acute, margin deeply sinuate, petiole 1-3 cm long.
• Umbel 0.5-2 cm × 0.3-3.3 cm, 3-8-flowered, peduncle 2-6 cm long.
• Pedicel 2.5-14 mm long, each with caducous bracteole, perianth tubular-campanulate, 10-12 mm long, stamens 3-4, like style exserted for 4-5 mm.
• Anthocarp elongate, 7-8 mm long, 10-ribbed, with conspicuous sessile to stalked glands in the upper half.

B. chinensis occurs often in regions with a distinctly seasonal climate, in dry localities, hedges, brushwood, field margins and monsoon forest, on sandy clay and limestone soils, up to 700 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
• [407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [638] Mabberley, D.J., 1984. Pallas's buckthorn and two and a half centuries of neglected binomials. Taxon 33(3): 433—444.
• [745] Noba, K. & Ba, A.T., 1992. Réexamen de la systématique de 3 espèces du genre Boerhavia L. (Nyctaginaceae) [Re-examination of the systematics of 3 species of the genus Boerhavia L. (Nyctaginaceae)]. Webbia 46(2): 327—339.

Main genus page

• Boerhavia

Authors

• Slamet Sutanti Budi Rahayu