Cynoglossum hellwigii (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cynoglossum hellwigii Brand

Protologue: Fedde, Repert. 13: 546 (1915).

Cynoglossum javanicum auct. non Thunberg ex Lehm.

• Papua New Guinea: semongokina (Anji, Enga), dekemp (Mount Hagen, Western Highlands).

Endemic to New Guinea, and widespread there.

In Papua New Guinea, fresh leaves are tied onto ulcers until they heal. The plant is also used to adorn wigs.

An annual or biennial herb up to 100 cm tall, much branched, hirsute with retrorse hairs in the lower part of stems and antrorse hairs in the upper part; leaves elliptical to oblong or lanceolate, basal ones 12-15 cm × 3.5-5 cm, strigose with antrorse hairs; inflorescence much branched, cymes divaricate, ebracteate; corolla 2.5-3 mm long, white or pale blue; nutlets ovoid, 2-3 mm long, covered all over by glochids. C. helwigii occurs in open locations, e.g. in swampy grassland along rivers, at 1200-1300 m altitude.

247, 347.

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Ch.B. Lugt & R.H.M.J. Lemmens