Paederia foetida L.
Family
Rubiaceae
Synonyms
Paederia tomentosa Blume, Paederia chinensis Hance , Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merr.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Akar sekentut, daun kentut, kesimbukan |
| English | Chinese moon creeper, Chinese fevervine, kings tonic |
| Indonesia | Sembukan (Javanese), kahitutan (Sundanese), bintaos (Madurese) |
| Philippines | Kantutai (Tagalog), bangogan (Bikol), mabolok (Pampangan) |
| Cambodia | Vear phnom |
| Laos | Kua mak ton sua |
| Thailand | Kon, choh-ka-thue mue (northern), yaan phaahom (peninsular) |
| Vietnam | D[aa]y m[ow] l[oo]ng, d[aa]y m[ow] tr[of]n, m[ow] tam th[eer] |
Geographical Distributions
P. foetida is found from North-East India to Chinaand Japan, moving southwards to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. It has been introduced into North America (North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana), Hawaii, Christmas Islands, Mauritius and Reunion as an ornamental and escaped.
Description
It is a slender, perennial herb. Its stinking and twining branches are 1.5-7 m long. The young stems are purplish- or reddish-brown, almost hairless to densely hairy. The old stems are yellowish-brown to greyish in colour, and it is smooth and shiny. The leaf form is simple, broadly egg-shaped and elliptical-oblong to linear, with sizes about 2-21 cm x 0.7-9 cm. The leaf base is heart-shaped, rounded or sometimes hastate, while the apex is acute to acuminate. The whitish to golden yellow-brown surface is hairless to variably hairy.. The petiole size is 0.5-6(-9) cm long. Stipules are present ininterpetiolar, rounded or ovate to triangular form in sizes ranging between 1.5-5mm x 2-3 mm. It is usually entire, hairless or hairy. The inflorescence consists of a terminal or axillary cymose panicle that is extremely variable. It grows from widely branched paniculate over 1 m long to rather reduced size, normally 10 cm long. The bracts are either leaf-like or small and linear, with few to numerous flowers, often in lax coiled cymes with peduncle that is 2-30 mm long. The flowers are bisexual, usually 5-merous; in dirty pink or lilac or purplish colour. The corolla lobes are pinkish to whitish on the inside while the throat is dark purple. The sepal is bell-shaped, with 5 normally smooth triangular-lobed with sizes up to 1 mm x 0.6 mm. The petal is cylindrical to bell-shaped, and sizes 5-17 mm x 2-5 mm. The throat and the inside of the long tube are densely hairy with 5 oblong to triangular lobes and sizes between 1-3 mm x 1.5-3 mm. The margins are wavy and flexed. It has 5 stamens that are inserted in the middle of the tube which includes 2-2.5 mm long anthers. The 2-celled and 2-ovuled ovary is inferior with a small disk and 4-15 mm long style. The stigmas joined the style up to 2 mm of its length. The 2 stigma branches are thread-like and irregularly twisted. The (sub) spherical fruit is a drupe at 4-6 mm in diametre. The fruit walls are thin, dry and brittle. It is crowned by the persistent sepals, shiny pale brown to yellowish-or reddish-brown in colour. The 2 semi-orbicular or semi-ellipsoidal kernels are flat on one side and convex or compressed on the other. It is normally slightly smaller than the fruit, without conspicuous wings, black in colour and often conspicuously covered with needle-shaped crystals. The seedling is germinated above the ground, with cotyledons broadly rounded. The veins are prominent while the first pair of leaves form is elliptical and apex is acuminate.
Ecology / Cultivation
P. foetida occurs commonly as a ruderal in thickets and woodland, but is also found along forest edges, in secondary evergreen to deciduous forest and clearings in primary forest. It also grows in montane vegetation up to 3000 m altitude, on steep, forested slopes, or on sandy or rocky sea coasts. (1)
Line Drawing / Photograph
Read More
1) Safety
References
-
View Abstract: Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2). 1998, Unesco.
