Cayratia japonica
Family
Vitaceae
Synonyms
Vitis japonica Thunb., Cissus japonica Willd., Cissus obovata Lawson
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Lakum, charek merah, pokok riang hutan. |
| English | Sorrel vine. |
| Indonesia | Dudugan (Siberut). |
| Vietnam | V[as]c nh[aaj]t. |
Geographical Distributions
From Japan and southern China to Indo-China, Malesia and Australia; common in Peninsular Malaysia. Recently occurring as an adventive in Texas (United States).
Description
It is a rather small, usually evergreen climber, 2-4 m long stem ridged, often reddish when young, hairy mainly at nodes, tendrils 2-3-fid, usually smooth, small or absent tuber and large root system .
The leaves are pedate, usually 5-foliolate with 4-8 cm long stalk, central leaflet is broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped, 6-10 cm x 3-5.5 cm while lateral leaflets are egg-shaped, 3-7(-11) cm x 2-3.5 cm. The margins are serrate and both surfaces are hairy.
The inflorescence is arising at the axil, cymose corymbiform, primary branches 3, 6-12 cm x 3-4 cm and peduncle is 4-8 cm long. The flowers are small greenish-white to yellowish color.
The berry is subglobose, up to 1 cm in diametre, purplish-blue to black, sometimes white and 2-4-seeded.
Ecology / Cultivation
C. japonica occurs usually along rainforest margins, brushwood and village margins, from sea-level up to 1500 m altitude.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
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Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2). 1998, Unesco.
