Munronia pinnata

Content

Description

Unbranched or sparsely branched shrublet to 65 cm tall. Bark finely fissured. Leaves imparipinnate, to 26 cm long; petiole 1.5–5.5 cm, ± terete, pubescent. Staminal tube free for apical 6–10 mm, simple hairy within (and sometimes without), margin with 10 entire appendages reflexed at anthesis; anthers yellow-brown, with short apical appendices. Ovary finely simple-hairy; style simple-hairy in proximal half, stylehead yellow-brown. Capsule c. 1–1.2 cm diam., depressed-globose, strongly 5-ribbed, sparsely stellate- hairy. Seeds brown.

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Lesser Sunda Is. (Bali present), Europe present, Flores present, Langkawi present, Solor present, Sumba present, Timor present, Tropical Asia from India, Sri Lanka and eastern Himalaya to Thailand and Malesia present

Tropical Asia from India, Sri Lanka and eastern Himalaya to Thailand and Malesia: Langkawi, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali, Sumba, Flores, Solor, Timor). Cultivated under glass in Europe

Uses

Munronia pinnata is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a substitute for chiretta (Swertia spp., Gentianaceae) in the treatment of fevers and dysentery; of all native plant drugs in Sri Lanka it commands the highest price and has been used in the treatment of leprosy and other skin diseases. The whole plant is uprooted and dried to give the commercial materia medica. Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees (Acanthaceae) is, in turn, used as a cheaper substitute for M. pinnata.

Citation

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