Thalia geniculata (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Vegetable
Spice / condiment
Medicinal
Ornamental
Forage / feed
Fibre
Food security

Thalia geniculata L.

Protologue: Sp.pl. 2: 1193 (1753).

Family: Marantaceae

Chromosome number: 2n = 18, 26

• Thalia welwitschii Ridl. (1887).

• Alligator flag, bent alligator flag, fire flag (En).

Thalia geniculata originates from America, where it occurs in the south-eastern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. Because of the lack of variation among the African populations, it is believed to have been introduced into tropical Africa, where it has widely naturalized and it is now distributed from Senegal eastward to Sudan and Ethiopia and southward to Angola and Zambia. Thalia geniculata has the widest distribution of all Marantaceae.

The leaves are widely used for thatching and packing. In Ghana they are also used for covering walls. The leaves are often used for wrapping food products, such as kola nuts and maize products, and to line food containers. In Gabon the rolled leaves are used as plugs for bottles and calabashes. In Sierra Leone the leaves are used as a bandage for circumcision wounds. The stems are used in basketry, for fencing and for making fish-traps, furniture, ladders and bridges. In Ghana they form the framework of walls to be daubed with mud. The split stems are plaited into mats.

The leaves are sometimes eaten in Burkina Faso. In Ghana Thalia geniculata is given as fodder to small ruminants. Ash from the burnt stem has been used for making salt. The plant is valued as a garden pond plant, especially the types with red petioles.

In traditional medicine in Senegal the roots and leaves are parts of preparations drunk and massaged in case of snakebite. In Côte d’Ivoire a maceration of the root is drunk and used in baths for the treatment of anaemia. In Ghana a root infusion is drunk for the treatment of asthma. In Benin unspecified plant parts are used for the treatment of malaria.

Information on production and international trade is not available. The leaves are often traded in local markets, e.g. in Benin.

The leaves give a specific aroma to the food wrapped in them. Investigations in Ghana have shown that Thalia geniculata stems are suitable as reinforcing bars in concrete.

A methanolic extract of the root has shown antiplasmodial activity against both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strains. The aerial parts were found to contain sitoindoside I, daucosterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol and geranylfarnesol. Geranylfarnesol, isolated from the aerial parts of the plant, showed significant antiprotozoal activity against Plasmodium falciparum and Leishmania donovani. The leaves contain rosmarinic acid.

Experiments in the United States have shown that wetland systems with Thalia geniculata have potential for recovering N and P from wastewater.

The leaves and stems of various other Marantaceae are used for similar purposes.

• Perennial, straggling herb up to 3.5 m tall, with short rhizome, tufts of leaves, and stems bearing an inflorescence and a single subtending leaf or sheath.
• Leaves imbricate; petiole sheathing at the base, basal sheath 20–40 cm long, uncalloused part of petiole 20–40 cm long, apical calloused part up to 2.5(–4) cm long, transition of the petiole into the midvein marked above by a depression at right angles to the midvein, green or occasionally red-purple, glabrous; blade subtriangular to ovate, rarely elliptical, oblong or sublinear, (12–)19–63 cm × (2–)4–26 cm, base rounded to subcordate, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous.
• Inflorescence a lax panicle up to 40 cm long; axis zig-zag, much branched, internodes 0.5–2 cm long; abaxial bracts 1–3.5 cm long, green or purplish, caducous, supporting a single cymule; cymule 2-flowered, backed by an adaxial bract, common peduncle absent.
• Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, purple, sessile or on pedicel up to 2 mm long; bracteole absent, sepals 3, free, equal, ovate to elliptical, 0.5–2 mm long; corolla 6–13 mm long, with short tube and 3 lobes; staminodes and stamen in 2 cycles, at the base forming a tube fused to the corolla tube, outer cycle consisting of 1 petaloid staminode with clawed base, inner cycle consisting of 1 stamen and 2 staminodes, of which 1 hooded with 2 linear appendages; ovary inferior, 1-locular, style helically twisted, stigma appendaged.
• Fruit an ellipsoid to subglobose capsule up to 12 mm × 7 mm, indehiscent, orange-red, reticulate when dry, with persistent calyx, with membranous pericarp, 1-seeded.
• Seed ellipsoid to subglobose, 5–10 mm × 3–6 mm, smooth, brownish to greyish or black, with conspicuous to rudimentary aril.

Thalia comprises about 7 species, distributed in tropical America, with 1 species also in tropical Africa. Typical for the genus are the hooded staminode with 2 appendages and the appendaged stigma. Also characteristic is the presence of air chambers in the leaf sheath, giving the sheath its distinctive spongy texture and providing adaptation to aquatic habitats.

Pollination is triggered by bees and hummingbirds, but self-pollination is also possible. Natural reproduction is by seed and via rhizomes. The seeds and rhizome pieces are dispersed by water. A gas-filled space between the seed and the fruit wall makes the fruit buoyant.

Thalia geniculata occurs in swamps, near pools and in other wet locations in forest, savanna and fallow land, from sea-level up to 1100 m altitude. It occurs as a weed, particularly in rice cultivation. It does not tolerate frost or salt water.

Thalia geniculata can be propagated by rhizome division or with seed. The 1000-seed weight is 50–80 g.

Thalia geniculata can be grown in moist soil or water up to 25 cm deep.

Before being used to wrap ‘lio’ (a fermented maize product) in Benin, the leaves are soaked in boiling water, after which they have a brown colour and are softer.

In view of its extremely wide distribution Thalia geniculata is not threatened with genetic erosion.

The leaves and stems of Thalia geniculata are widely used for thatching, packing and plaiting. The species seems not overexploited, but the plant may have potential for cultivation for local use, and research on propagation and management practices may be worthwhile. The antiplasmodial properties may warrant further investigation.

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Alvarez Cruz, N.S., 2011. Thalia geniculata L. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Brink, M. & Achigan-Dako, E.G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 31 May 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.