WorldFloraDB - Limnocharis flava

Characteristics

Leaf-blades ovate to broad elliptic or suborbic-ular, inrolled when young, with blunt, rounded or even emarginate base, acutely tapering into the petiole, apex rounded or emarginate, light-green, at the underside of the tip with a purple-margined, active hydathode, 6-28 by 4½-20 cm; main nerves 9-13 and a marginal one; secondary nerves very numerous, parallel, nearly perpendicular to the midrib, reticulations dense, very fine; petiole thick, triangular, 20-65 cm. Peduncles 1-4, axillary, flattened at the base, higher triangular, 20-90 cm. Umbels 2-15-flowered, sometimes with 1-2 leaves between the flowers. Bracts roundish to broad elliptic, the (largest) outer 1.5-2 by 1-1.5 cm, lengthwise fine parallel-nerved. Pedicels 2-7 cm. Sepals green, obtuse, 1¾-2.5 by 1-1.5 cm. Petals pale-yellow, with darker base, broad-ovate to orbicular, lengthwise folded in bud, apex rounded, 2-3 by 1-2 cm. Fruitlets enclosed by the calyx, forming a rounded whole c. 1.5-2 cm diam. Seeds with thin, transverse ridges, brown or black-brown 1 mm long.

More

Petiole trigonous, 20-65 cm, stout; leaf blade 6-28 × 4.5-20 cm, veins 9-13, transverse veins numerous, parallel, base obtuse or subcordate, apex obtuse or retuse. Scapes upper trigonous, 20-90 cm; umbels 2-15-flowered; bracts green, orbic-ular to broadly elliptic, 1.5-2 × 1-1.5 cm. Pedicels 2-7 cm. Petals yellowish but blackish toward base, broadly ovate to orbicular, 2-3 × 1-2 cm, apex rounded. Stamens shorter than petals; filaments green. Carpels yellowish green. Fruit cluster 1.5-2 cm in diam.; follicles suborbicular. Seeds brown. Fl. Mar-Apr.

Leaves basal, narrowly lanceolate to ovate, attenuate or cordate at the base, 1-2 dm. long, somewhat shorter than the peti-oles. Flowering scapes somewhat shorter than the petioles; umbels bearing 3-15 mediocre yellow flowers; pedicels stout, 2-4 cm. long; sepals greenish or yellowish, about 1 cm. long, accrescent and enveloping the fruiting head; petals somewhat surpassing the sepals.

A herb which grows in water. The leaves form tufts. They are oval and 15-18 cm long by 12 cm wide. The leaf stalk is angular and 30 cm long. The flower head in at the end of the shoot and has a long flower stalk. There is a sheath like a membrane near the base. There are 5-10 flowers together. They are yellow.

Life form

perennial

Growth form

herb

Growth support

free-standing

Foliage retention

evergreen

Sexuality

hermaphrodite

Pollination

-

Spread

-

Mature width (meter)

-

Mature height (meter)

0.6

Root system

-

Rooting depth (meter)

-

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

-

Fruiting months

-

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

-

Environment

Shallow swamps, ditches, pools, and specially common on wet rice-paddies, always it seems in more or less stagnant fresh water, most abundant below 700 m, but found up to 1300 m1; fl. fr. Jan.-Dec.Apparently an escape from the Botanic Gardens, Bogor, where the species was recorded in 1866 to be cultivated; for the first time mentioned 'as a newly introduced alien' in 1870 by Edeling ( Edeling Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. 31 1870 297 ) from the banks of the river Tjiliwung near Djakarta, which same river flows also through the Botanic Gardens, Bogor.2 Soon afterwards becoming gradually a common rice-paddy plant in the environs of Bogor and now spread all over West Malaysia. In Siam it has been introduced about 40 years ago ( Burkill Dict. 1935 1347 ) and in Ceylon about 1930 ( Senaratna Trop. Agric. 94 1940 362 ).

More

A tropical plant. It grows in wet places in tropical countries. It grows in swamps. It is found in ditches and rice fields. It needs water less than 15-20 cm deep. It is best in full sun. In Java it grows up to 1,200 m above sea level. In Yunnan.

In or at the edge of water. Shallow swamps, ditches, pools and wet rice fields, occurring usually in stagnant fresh water.

Light
Soil humidity
Soil texture
Soil acidity	-
Soil nutriment	-
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Uses. In West Java juvenile specimens represent one of the commonest estimated vegetables. Ochse recommends to plant it in places where rice does not grow well. He states that it could replace spinach or endive. In many places the excellent edible qualities of the plant are yet unknown. In the Toba Lands (N. Sumatra) used as fodder for pigs (Heyne).Its occurrence would indicate a fertile soil.

More

The young leaves and flowers are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. They are also pickled. The leaf and flower stalks are blanched and steamed.

Uses	animal food environmental use fodder food green manure
Edible	flowers leaves stems
Therapeutic use	-
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed or by division of the rhizome.

Mode	seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-