Cryptocoryne cordata Griffith
Family
Araceae
Synonyms
Cryptocoryne siamensis Gagnep., Cryptocoryne blassii de Wit.
Vernacular Names
|
Malaysia |
Hati-hati paya, keladi paya (Peninsular). |
|
Thailand |
Waa nam (Surat Thani), u-bee kaling-ai (Malay, Narathiwat). |
Geographical Distributions
C. cordata occurs in southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia.
Description
C. cordata is a small, aquatic, perennial herb and with creeping rhizome which can grow up to 40 cm tall.
The leaves are arranged in a rosette, simple and entire, ovate to narrowly ovate, measuring 5-30 cm x 2.5-10 cm, rounded to cordate at base, acute at apex, with blistered surface, dark green above and often purplish below. The petiole is 15-40 cm long and with sheath at base.
The inflorescence is a spadix with a few female flowers in a single whorl and a few olfactory bodies at base, and also with numerous male flowers and a club-shaped appendix at apex. The female and male flowers are separated by a long, naked axis. The spadix is completely enclosed within a spathe up to 35 cm long, consisting of a swollen basal part (‘kettle’), a long-tubular middle part and a spreading, yellowish to purplish blade, which is up to 6 cm long. The entrance of the kettle is with a lateral flap, covering the male zone of the spadix. The flowers are unisexual and without perianth. The male flowers are with a single stamen while the female flowers are with connate, 1-celled ovaries with curved styles and large stigmas.
The fruit is a berry which connates into an ovoid, fleshy syncarp, dehiscing apically and many-seeded.
Ecology / Cultivation
C. cordata occurs in streams of forests.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
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Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3.
