Ruta chalepensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ruta chalepensis L.

Protologue: Mantissa: 69 (1767).

Family: Rutaceae

Synonyms

• Ruta bracteosa DC. (1824).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: godong minggu (Javanese), daun inggu (Sundanese)
• Malaysia: aruda, sadal
• Vietnam: cửu lý hương.

Distribution

R. chalepensis is native to the Mediterranean region and the Canary islands. Used for medicinal and culinary purposes since ancient times it has been introduced in the Near East and India; in South-East Asia it is cultivated as a potplant in Malaysia, and occasionally in Vietnam and in Java for medicinal purposes.

Uses

See under genus.

Observations

• A perennial herb, woody at the base, 0.3-1.5 m tall.
• Leaves spirally arranged, 2-3-pinnatisect, obovate to oblong-obovate in outline, 4-15 cm × 2-9 cm, ultimate segments obovate-lanceolate about 5-30 mm × 1.5-6 mm, conspicuously glaucous, crenate, translucent glandular punctate, strong smelling, lower leaves more or less petiolate.
• Cyme, terminal or in the upper leaf axils, often combined into a corymb, bracts cordate-ovate, wider than the subtended branch, glabrous, rarely with a few minute glans above.
• Flowers 4(-5)-merous, sepals deltate-ovate, 3-4 mm × 2-3 mm, glabrous, petals oblong, 4-8 mm long, fringed with cilia not as long as the width of the petal.
• Capsule glabrous, segments acuminate.

In South-East Asia only known in cultivation.

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.
• [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
• [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.
• [309] Flora Europaea (various editors), 1964—1980. Volume 1—5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
• [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.
• [696] Morton, J.F., 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Middle America. Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, United States. 1420 pp.
• [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.
• [788] Pételot, A., 1952—1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
• [945] Small, E., 1997. Culinary herbs. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 710 pp.

Main genus page

• Ruta

Authors

• Rina R.P. Irwanto