Polygala paniculata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Polygala paniculata L.

Protologue: Syst. Nat. ed. 10: 1154 (1759).

Family: Polygalaceae

Polygala paniculata L. - 1, plant habit; 2, flower, dorsal side; 3, flower, ventral side; 4, pistil with asymmetrical stigma; 5, opened corolla showing filaments; 6, capsule; 7, seed

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: jukut rindik, sasapuan, katumpang lemah (Sundanese)
• Vietnam: dầu nóng.

Distribution

Native to tropical America, from Mexico to Brazil; in the 17th Century introduced into central tropical Africa, Indo-Australia and the Pacific Islands, including South-East Asia, and now abundantly naturalized.

Uses

A sweetened infusion of the aerial parts is a remedy for gonorrhoea and lumbago, and the pulverized leaves may be applied to wounds.

Observations

• An annual, erect, much-branched, glandulous herb, up to 50 cm tall.
• Leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 5-20 mm × 1-4 mm, apex acute, lower leaves in pseudo-whorls.
• Raceme axillary or terminal, 5-12 cm long, bracts and bracteoles early caducous.
• Flowers 1.5-2 mm long, sepals lanceolate, obtuse, wings weakly 3-veined, upper petals lanceolate, whitish, often purple-tinged, keel not auriculate, with 2 bundles of about 6 appendages, filaments connate except for the uppermost part, ovary orbicular, style straight, subapically curved and widened in an asymmetrical, wide cup, upper side with a hair tuft, inner side with a stigmatic lobe.
• Capsule a little longer than the wings, elliptical, 2 mm long, notched, not winged.
• Seed oblong, micropilar side with a deeply 2-fid aril, black, hairy.

P. paniculata occurs in waste places, plantations and fields, on different soils, avoiding dry areas, often abundant, from sea-level up to 2250 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 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.
• [385] Hamburger, M., Gupta, M. & Hostettmann, K., 1985. Coumarins from Polygala paniculata. Planta Medica 51(3): 215—217.
• [951] Soerjani, M., Kostermans, A.J.G.H. & Tjitrosoepomo, G. (Editors), 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Balai Pustaka, Jakarta, Indonesia. 716 pp.

Main genus page

• Polygala

Authors

• Rina R.P. Irwanto