Eupatorium chinense (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Eupatorium chinense L.

Family: Compositae

Synonyms

• Buphthalmum oleraceum Lour.,
• Eupatorium japonicum Thunb. ex Murray.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: teklan gede (Sundanese)

• Philippines: apanang-gubat (Tagalog)

• Vietnam: tổ ma, yên bạch

Distribution

Indo-China, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and the Philippines. Introduced and also cultivated elsewhere, e.g. in Indonesia.

Uses

In Indo-China the leaves are used for seasoning food. In Indonesia and elsewhere the fragrant leaves are used to perfume hair and clothes. In Indo-China it is often planted as an ornamental hedge. In China the whole plant is used medicinally as a diuretic and anthelmintic.

Observations

• Small rhizomatous shrub, up to 2 m tall.
• Leaves opposite, oblong-lanceolate, 8-13 cm long, usually trilobed, serrate, glossy green; petiole 0.5-1 cm long.
• Inflorescence a head, numerous fragrant flower heads arranged into a terminal corymb; involucral bracts 7-8 mm long.
• Corolla 4-6 mm long, purplish; pappus 5-6 mm long.
• Fruit an achene, about 3 mm long.

E. chinense occurs in moist grassland along rivers. Propagation is mainly by pieces of rhizome. E. chinense is poorly known and needs better investigation.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).

• Danser, B.H., 1927. Die Polygonaceen Niederlaendisch-Ostindiens [The Polygonaceae of the Dutch East Indies]. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Série 3, 8(2-3): 117-259.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's‑Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).

• Iwatsuki, K. et al. (Editors), 1995. Flora of Japan. Various volumes. Kodansha, Tokyo, Japan.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen