Limnophila rugosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Limnophila rugosa (Roth) Merrill

Protologue: Interpr. Herb. amboin.: 466 (1917).

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Synonyms

• Herpestis rugosa Roth (1821),
• Limnophila roxburghii auct., non G. Don.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: hades (Sundanese), selaseh ayer (Moluccas), selaseh banyu (Javanese)
• Philippines: kalaoo (Bicol), tala (Tagalog), tara-tara (Iloko)
• Papua New Guinea: kraino (Wapi, Morok), poikehkeh (Orne, Walwali)
• Thailand: phak kachom (central), om kop (northern)
• Vietnam: hồi nước, quế dất

Distribution

India, Nepal, Indo-China, Thailand, southern China and the Ryukyu Islands, throughout South-East Asia to Fiji and Samoa.

Uses

The leaves and tender stems smell of anise and are eaten as a condiment raw or cooked. The herb is also used to perfume hair. In Peninsular Malaysia a decoction and a steam bath of the leaves serve to cure itching eyes. In Thailand, the leaves are used as an antipyretic. A decoction of a mixture of L. rugosa and Ocimum basilicum L. is drunk against mild gonorrhoea and impotence.

Observations

• Erect, semi-aquatic, fragrant, annual herb, up to 50 cm tall; stem simple or branched, glabrous to hirsute, rooting from the lower nodes.
• Leaves decussate; petiole 0.5-3 cm long; blade ovate-lanceolate to ovate-elliptical, 2-12 cm × 1-5 cm, base decurrent into petiole, margin crenate, scabrid above, hirsute or scabrid on major veins beneath, densely punctate.
• Flowers usually solitary, axillary, but axillary pedunculate clusters with up to 7 sessile flowers occur too, the clusters subtended by 2 small leaves; peduncle up to 3.5 cm long; calyx tubular, irregularly but deeply 5-lobed, 6-11 mm long; corolla tubular, 5-lobed, bilabiate, up to 16 mm long, blue, with a yellow spot in the throat, pilose externally; stamens 4, didynamous, inside the corolla; pistil with filiform style and bilobed stigma.
• Fruit a capsule, broadly compressed ovoid, up to 6.5 mm × 3 mm, septicidally 4-valved, pale brown.
• Seed small, irregularly angular, numerous, shiny black.

L. rugosa occurs in moist locations along streams, pools and rice fields, from sea-level up to 1500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Brown, W.H., 1941-1943. Useful plants of the Philippines. 3 volumes. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Technical Bulletin 10. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. 1610 pp. (reprint, 1951-1957).

• 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.).

• Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam] (various editors), 1960- . Vol. 1-24. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanérogamie, Paris, France.

• [311] Flora of Thailand (various editors), 1970—. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand.

• 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.).

• Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of "Indische groenten", 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1016 pp.

• Philcox, D., 1970. A taxonomic revision of the genus Limnophila R. Br. (Scrophulariaceae). Kew Bulletin 24: 101-170.

• [810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.

• Smitinand, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors), 1970- . Flora of Thailand. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand.

Main genus page

• Limnophila

Authors

• P.C.M. Jansen
• G.H. Schmelzer