Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family   

   MH441 : Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott

Plant Category : Herbs

Melghat's Flora's Serial No. :

Synonym : Arum viviparum Roxb. Caladium viviparum (Roxb.) Nees Colocasia vivipara (Roxb.) Thwaites Remusatia formosana Hayata

Plant Common Name : Hitchhiker Elephant Ear • Kannada: kadu gadde, marakesu • Konkani: rukhalum • Malayalam: marachembu • Marathi: lalkand, rukhalu • Sanskrit: laksmana

Plant Family : Araceae

Description : Epiphytic or lithophytic herbs with erect bulbiferous slender shoots. Leaves 20-30 cm across, ovate, apex acute, base cordate, glossy above; nerves prominent; petiole to 40 cm long. Inflorescence solitary, on erect, terminal peduncle, covered with large cataphylls; spathes obovate to rhomboid, spreading, yellowish white; tube short, 5 cm long, ellipsoid, limb to 10 x 7 cm, acute; spadix 5 cm long. Female flowers many, ovary globose, 1-celled; ovules many, parietal, stigma 3-lobed, globose. Male flowers many, on clavate above part of the spadix; stamens 6, united. Tuber depressed globose, 2-4 × 3.5-5 cm; stolons erect, simple, stout; bulbils ellipsoid, 0.5-2.5 mm, stout; bristles to 1.5 mm, stout. Cataphylls 4 or more, brownish, broad, concealing peduncle, ca. 15 × 3 cm. Petiole 19-42 cm, proximal 1/4 sheathing; leaf blade glossy on both sides, pale green abaxially, green adaxially, oblong-ovate or lanceolate, 11-33 × 7-19.5 cm, sinus 1.5-3 cm; intramarginal vein indistinct. Flowering before leaves develop. Peduncle 6-12 cm. Spathe tube green outside, 3-5 × 1.3-2 cm; limb initially erect, later reflexed, yellow inside, obovate, 5.3-11.5 × 2.5-9 cm, narrowed to base, apex acute, apiculate. Spadix: female zone 1.7-2 cm × 7-9 mm, with 3 or 4 whorls of sterile ovaries at apex and 1 or 2 whorls at base; sterile zone 1.1-2.5 cm, slender, tapering distally; male zone yellowish, clavate, cylindric, 1.5-2.2 cm × 4-7 mm. Fl. Apr-Sep. 2n = 28, 42.

Plant Location in Melghat : around Makhala plateau and Bhoot Khora

Medicinal Use / Activity : The tubers are poisonous. They are used externally to treat mastitis, traumatic injuries, abscesses, and swellings. The plant is used in folk medicine to cure inflammation, arthritis, to dispel worms and germs for disinfecting genito-urinary tract and for promoting conception, also used as an analgesic.

Plant's Phytochemicals : COMPOUNDS:

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (0):

Plant's Current Status : Rare

Plant's Cross Database Reference : 259142

Reference : http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=3&taxon_id=200027313 - https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/262839 - http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Hitchhiker%20Elephant%20Ear.html

Reference : ~ Asha D; "Phytochemical evaluation and anti-oxidant activity of Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott., an edible genus of Araceae"; J Ecosyst Ecogr (2012); 2(4): 95 PMID :

Kingdom : Plantae - Plants
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class : Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass :
Order : Alismatales
Family : Araceae
Genus : Remusatia
Species : Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott

Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott