Biophytum reinwardtii
Content
Description
Annual.
Leaves 6-11(-14)-jugate;
Sepals 2¼-4 by ½-1 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acute, in fruit 3-8-nerved, ½-⅔ as long as pedicel, ± as long as fruit, ± half as long as corolla.
Petals 6-8 by 1-2 mm, elliptic- to oblanceolate, apex rounded to emarginate, base yellow, above with red to purplish veins.
Ovary 0.5-1 by ⅓-½ mm, glabrous;
Fruit 2-3 by 2-2½ mm apically puberulous and minutely septate-glandular-hairy on the ribs.
Seeds 1-3 per cell, c. 1 by ½ mm, transversely ridged and tubercled.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present), Boku present, E. New Guinea present, Makassar present, SW. Celebes present, Tropical SE. Asia present
Tropical SE. Asia, in Malesia: Malay Peninsula, Java (common), SW. Celebes (Makassar, a. 1918, one collection), and E. New Guinea (Boku, BAILEY, l.c.).
Uses
Cultivated as medicine, used against smallpox and rashes ('sakit inja') (EDELING s.n.) and in India against fever (HOHENACKER 144).
Notes
The restricted distribution might point to an early introduction, but it was in BLUME'S and JUNGHUHN'S time already a common plant in Java.
Citation
EDGEW. & HOOK.f. 1874 – In: Fl. Br. Ind.: 437
KNUTH 1930 – In: Pfl. R.: 395
BACK. & BAKH.f. 1963 – In: Fl. Java: 247
KLOTZSCH 1952 – In: Reinwardtia: 477
STEEN. 1950 – In: Bull. Jard. Bot. Btzg: 453
Miq. 1859 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 134
Ridl. 1922 – In: Fl. Mal. Pen.: 331
VELDK. 1970 – In: Fl. Thail.: 19