Merremia hederacea (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Merremia hederacea (Burm.f.) Hallier f.

Protologue: Bot. Jahrb. 18 (1-2): 118 (1894).

Family: Convolvulaceae

Synonyms

• Evolvulus hederaceus Burm.f. (1768).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: lawatan (Javanese), tatapajan (Sundanese), kelemibiet (West Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: ulan pelandok
• Thailand: cha uek, ma uek (eastern), thao sa uek (central)
• Vietnam: bìm hoa vàng.

Distribution

Tropical Africa, Mascarene Islands, tropical Asia, from the Himalayas southwards to Sri Lanka, and eastwards to Burma (Myanmar), southern China, Indo-China and Thailand, and southwards throughout Malesia to northern Australia.

Uses

In Peninsular Malaysia, a poultice of the leaves, together with turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) and broken rice, is used to heal cracks in the hands and feet. It is a good fodder for cattle.

Observations

• An annual, twining or prostrate, slender herb, 1-2 m long, glabrous to sparsely hirsute.
• Leaves ovate in outline, 1.5-5 cm × 1.2-4 cm, base broadly cordate, apex obtuse and mucronulate, margin entire or crenate to shallowly or deeply 3-lobed, petiole 0.5-6 cm long.
• Flowers few to several, first ramification dichasial, subsequent ones often monochasial, peduncle 1-10 cm long, bracts narrow-obovate, 3 mm long, caducous; flower-buds oblong, pedicel 2-4 mm long, sepals concave, broadly obovate to spathulate, 4-5 mm long, broadly notched at the apex, mucronulate, corolla campanulate, 6-10(-12) mm long, outside glabrous, inside with long hairs, yellow, base of filaments hairy.
• Capsule broadly conical to depressed-globular, 5-6 mm high, wrinkled.
• Seed 2.5 mm long, pubescent or nearly glabrous.

M. hederacea occurs in thickets, open grasslands, and on sandbanks, from sea-level up to 250 m altitude. Two forms can be distinguished: f. pubescens Ooststr., with shortly pubescent seeds, and f. barbata Ooststr., with seeds having reddish-brown long hairs on the hilum and margins when ripe.

Selected sources

• [134] Burkill, H.M., 1985—2000. The useful plants of West tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. 5 volumes. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Vol. 1 (1985), Families A—D, 960 pp.; Vol. 2 (1994), Families E—I, 636 pp.; Vol. 3 (1995), Families J—L, 857 pp.; Vol. 4 (1997), Families M—R, 969 pp; Vol. 5 (2000), Families S—Z, 686 pp.
• [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.
• [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