Struchium sparganophora (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Struchium sparganophora (L.) O. Kuntze

Family: Compositae

Synonyms

• Ethulia sparganophora L.,
• Sparganophorus sparganophora (L.) Jeffrey,
• Sparganophorus vaillantii Cranz.

Vernacular names

• Portebandeau (Fr)
• Indonesia: awa lanaru, pacar hutang (Java).

Distribution

Originated in tropical America; introduced and widely naturalized elsewhere and now pantropical.

Uses

Ploughed in as green manure in rice fields. It is eaten by cattle. In Africa, the leaves are eaten as a vegetable.

Observations

• Herb up to 80 cm tall.
• Leaves alternate, subsessile or shortly petioled, elliptical or oblong-obovate, 5-16 cm long, sub-entire to shallowly crenate-serrate, glandular.
• Inflorescence an axillary, sessile head, 1-8 together, small, many-flowered, semi-globose.
• Flowers all tubular; corolla white or pale violet; anthers sagittate.
• Pappus an irregularly dentate cup.

S. sparganophora is a frequent weed of slightly shaded, moist sites, roadsides, river banks, and waste places, up to 700 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. 647, 641, 761 pp.
• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd Edition. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.
• Jeffrey, C., 1990. The Vernonieae in East tropical Africa. Notes on Compositae: 5. Kew Bulletin 43: 195-277.
• Koster, J.T., 1935. The Compositae of the Malay archipelago. 1. Vernonieae and Eupatorieae. Blumea 1: 351-536.
• Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaflicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of cultivated agricultural and horticultural plants (without ornamentals)]. Schultze-Motel, J. et al., editors 2nd edition, 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen