Scientific Name
Scaevola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb.
Synonyms
Lobelia frutescens Mill., Scaevola billardieri Dieter., Scaevola chlorantha de Vriese, Scaevola koenigii Vahl, Scaevola lambertiana de Vriese, Scaevola latevaga Hance ex Walp, Scaevola leschenaultii A. DC., Scaevola macrocalyx de Vriese, Scaevola piliplena Miq., Scaevola plumerioides Nutt., Scaevola sericea Vahl [1]
Vernacular Name
| Malaysia | Butun laut (Borneo); ambong-ambong, buas-buas laut, akar pahit, merambong, pelambong [2][3] |
| English | Sea lettuce tree [2], beach berry, native cabbage [3] |
| India | Kwyae, tochonk, tuful [3] |
| Indonesia | Dudulan (Javanese); babakoan (Sundanese); subong-subong (Bengkulu) [2][3] |
| Thailand | Bong bong, rak thale (Peninsular); ho raa (Southeastern) [2][3] |
| Philippines | Boto, mosboron (Tagalog, Bisaya); bosboron (Tagalog, Bikol, Bisaya); agusuhin, balok-balok, bokabok, dudukduken, linog, linu, malmalukung, panabolong, tagustus [2][3] |
| Vietnam | H[ees]p, s[ow]n d[uw][ow]ng [2][3] |
| Papua New Guinea | Gavagava (Milne Bay); pahop (Manus Island) [2]; akajok, azeze, bosboron, dangarong, gasoc, gavagava, kamakamahiyawa, pahop [3] |
| Japan | Teriha-kusa-tobera, sukî [3] |
| Madagascar | Dingdingana [3] |
| Hawaii | Aupaka, huahekili, naupaka, kahakai, naupaka kai [3]. |
Geographical Distributions
Scaevola taccada is found from Madagascar eastward to Southeast Asia, throughout Malesia, tropical Australia, the Pacific Islands and Hawaii. It is cultivated and sparingly naturalised in the south-eastern United States. [2] S. taccada is a typical constituent of the Barringtonia formation. It is usually confined to the seashore, restricted to sandy beaches or rock and coral outcrops, occasionally found inland on Pacific atolls in sunny disturbed habitats and rock faces. It is capable of substantial growth and physiological responses, which are required in coastal habitats characterised by large temporal and spatial variations in substrate salinity and salt spray levels. Seaward expansion is limited by a combination of salt spray and substrate salinity. [2]Botanical Description
S. taccada is a member of the family Goodeniaceae. This is an erect spreading shrub or small tree up to 4(-7) m tall with cylindrical little branches. [2]
The leaves are arranged alternately and majority are crowded at the end of the branches. They are spoon-shaped to reverse egg-shaped size 12-26 cm x 5-10cm. The base is attenuate while apex is blunt to rounded. Their margin is entire, sinuate to dentate, herbaceous to just succulent, hairless to shortly densely covered with short soft hairs and sessile. There are no stipules. [2]
The inflorescence is arising from the axils, bearing a determinate inflorescence, laxly branches that size about 4 cm long are few-flowered supported by persistent bracts. The inflorescence stalk is 0.5-2 cm long. Flowers are 5-merous but irregular and size between 2-2.5 cm long. It’s scentless, white to pale yellow and supported by individual flower stalk that is 0.3-1.2 cm long, hairless to densely lying flat hairy. The sepal is united to the ovary with lobes linear to narrowly elliptical, 0.2-0.5 cm long, and persistent. The petal is hairless to hairy outside while densely hairy inside. Their tube is 0.5-1 cm long, lobe membranous, fringed towards the base, which is about 0.5 cm long. The 2-celled ovary is inferior the while style faintly hairy at base. [2]
The fruit is a fleshy drupe, 1-1.5 cm in diametre, faintly 2-lobed and ribbed. The fruit is pellucid-white when ripe, 2-seeded stone 0.8 cm x 0.6 cm.
The seedling germinates above the ground, with emergent, fleshy cotyledonsand elongated young stem.
Cultivation
No documentation
Chemical Constituent
No documentation
Plant Part Used
No documentation
Traditional Use
No documentation
Preclinical Data
No documentation
Clinical Data
No documentation
Poisonous Management
No documentation
Line Drawing
References
- The Plant List. Ver 1.1. Scaevola taccada (Gaertner) Roxb. [homepage on the Internet]. c2013. [updated 2012 Apr 18; cited 2015 Aug 14]. Available from : http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/tro-14600012
- Wardini TH. Scaevola taccada (Gaertner) Roxb.In: van Valkenburg JLCH, Bunyapraphatsara N, editors. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. Leiden, Netherlands, Backhuys Publisher, 2001; p. 491-493
- Quattrocchi U. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms, and etymology. Volume V R-Z. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press; 2012. p. 177.
