Merremia emarginata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Merremia emarginata (Burm.f.) Hallier f.

Protologue: Bot. Jahrb. 16(4-5): 552 (1893).

Family: Convolvulaceae

Synonyms

• Evolvulus emarginatus Burm.f. (1768),
• Ipomoea reniformis Choisy (1833).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: embun, pegagan utan (Javanese)
• Philippines: kupit-kupit (Iloko), bato-bato (Tagalog)
• Thailand: uek, sa uek klet hoi (central).

Distribution

Tropical Africa, Asia and Malesia.

Uses

In Indonesia, an infusion of the leaves added to lumps of sugar is a remedy for cough. In the Philippines, a decoction of the leaves and tops is sometimes used as a diuretic. In India, it is considered purgative, diuretic and alterative, and used in rheumatism and neuralgia. In India, the plant is eaten as a pot-herb.

Observations

• A perennial, prostrate herb, 30-75 cm long, sparsely hairy to glabrescent.
• Leaves kidney-shaped to broadly ovate, 0.5-3.5 cm × 0.7-3.5 cm, base cordate, lobes rounded, apex obtuse to slightly emarginate, margins entire to coarsely crenate, petiole 0.2-3.7 cm long.
• Flowers in a 1-few-flowered cyme, peduncle almost absent; flower-buds globular, pedicel 2-4 mm long, sepals subequal, obovate to orbicular, outer ones 2.5-3 mm long, obtuse with cucullate, mucronate apex, inner ones deeply emarginate, corolla tubular-campanulate, 5-9 mm long, yellow with a paler base, mid-petaline bands distinctly 5-veined, purplish, hairy inside, filaments hairy at base.
• Capsule subglobular, 5-6 mm in diameter, glabrous, brown-black, partly enclosed by sepals, base of style present.
• Seed 2.5 mm long, greyish brown, glabrous, dotted.

M. emarginata occurs in regions with a pronounced dry season, in open grasslands and fields, along railroads and waste places, on rather heavy soils, from sea-level up to 200 m altitude. The plant is sometimes confused with Centella asiatica (L.) Urb., which has the same habit.

Selected sources

• [215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [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.
• [570] Kumar, S., Bagchi, G.D. & Darokar, M.P., 1997. Antibacterial activity observed in the seeds of some coprophilous plants. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 35(3): 179—184.
• [786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.

Main genus page

• Merremia

Authors

• Muhammad Mansur