Cardiopteris (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cardiopteris Royle

Family: Cardiopteridaceae

Major species and synonyms

• Cardiopteris moluccana Blume.

• Cardiopteris quinqueloba (Hassk.) Hassk., synonyms: C. lobata R. Br., Peripterygium quinquelobum Hassk.

Vernacular names

C. moluccana:

• Indonesia: uge jabba (Ternate), uta lala (Ambon), mata-mata (Sulawesi)
• Philippines: tabolo (Bisaya), bangogan (Bicol), lila (Bukidnon)
• Papua New Guinea: gogomangeni (Wapi), kehunghe (Mekeo).

C. quinqueloba:

• Indonesia: saburung, ruru-ruruan (Sudanese), angin-anginan (Javanese)
• Malaysia: gamba puteh
• Laos: liinz lii, hviid
• Thailand: khaosankhang (southern), phaktaentae
• Vietnam: mai rùa, tì dực.

Distribution

C. quinqueloba occurs from western Bangladesh and Assam to Burma, Thailand, Indo-China and Yunnan, Malaysia and Indonesia. C. moluccana occurs in Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea.

Uses

Leaves have a cabbage taste and are eaten raw or cooked (slimy) as a vegetable. In Ternate a decoction of the stem of C. moluccana is also used medicinally against hepatitis.

Observations

• Climbing herbs with milky juice, up to 9 m long.
• Leaves spirally arranged, palmatinerved, long petiolate; in C. quinqueloba leaf-blade broadly ovate in outline, 3-5(-9)-lobed, membraneous, 4-17 cm × 3-16 cm; in C. moluccana leaf-blade entire, chartaceous, ovate-cordate, up to 24 cm × 22 cm.

On the edge of forest and thickets and in open places such as limestone outcrops. Mostly at low elevations but sometimes up to 1500 m altitude.

Selected sources

44, 91.