Lagenandra toxicaria

Lagenandra toxicaria Dalzell, Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 4: 289 1852. ;

Images
by Prashant Awale (Id by E S Santhosh Kumar) (Inserted by J.M.Garg) (For more photos & complete details, click
on the links)

 

 

Rhizomatous creeping procumbent or erect evergreen herbs; rhizome ca. 4 cm diameter. Leaves 30-40 x 10-15 cm, oblong-acuminate, venation pinnately parallel, venation involute ;petiole cylindrical ca. 40-48 cm long, 0.5-1.0 cm diameter, basally sheathing for ca. 8-10 cm. Inflorescence with a short peduncle of ca. 2 cm long. Spathe ca. 13-15 cm long, divisible into a basal tubular portion, a middle broad limb, and a terminal tapering caudate portion; light greenish pink or pinkish cream in colour, outer surface smooth; tube ca. 2 cm long, 1.2 cm diameter, purplish with darker vertical ridges inside; limb ca. 3 cm long, 1.5 cm diameter, slightly laterally compressed with closely and irregularly oriented, dark purplish, light-tipped densely fimbriate ridges; terminal caudation about 6 cm long. Spadix very small, ca. 1.8 cm long with basal pistillate portion followed by a slender barren interstice of ca. 3 mm long, a staminate portion, and terminating into a short barren appendix. Pistillate flowers ca. 70-80, closely oriented forming a subglobose or subcylindric mass, each flower ca. 2 mm high, 1 mm diameter, more or less truncate, muricate on outside on the upper half. Ovary unilocular with 4-7 orthotropous ovules, and unicellular placental hairs; stigma sessile, hexagonal with slightly raised central portion. Few small, white, clavate, olfactory bodies or neuter flowers present just above the pistillate portion around the base of the interstice and sometimes one or two on the interstice below the staminate portion. Staminate portion more or less conoidspherical and with ca. 175-200 sessile staminate flowers, each flower ca. 0.5 mm high, each theca with a short apical horn-like tube through which pollen grains liberate out. Spadix -appendix ca. 0.5 mm, broadly conical with apical tapering pointed tip by which the spadix is attached to the roof of the tube. Fruit a more or less fleshy capsule; dehiscence by 3-4 longitudinal splits from the base upwards at maturity. Seeds ca. 1.6 mm long, ovoid-ellipsoid, slightly bent, longitudinally ridged.

Flowering and fruiting: Throughout the year
Along streams
Southern Western Ghats (endemic)

(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi

 
Lagenandra toxicaria is an endemic species to the southwestern part of India. It is distributed from Goa, Maharastra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh (Cook 1996).
Lagenandra toxicaria is an aquatic herb, often abundant in marshes and streams usually submerged during the monsoon rains (Cook 1996).
The plant contains an acrid juice and it is used in ointments for itch. Also used in the treatment of kidney disorders, heart diseases and swellings. It also have insecticidal properties (Pullaiah 2006). Infusion of tuberous rootstock is used in tuberculosis. Decoction of tuberous root is used to check growth of old tumor is any body part (Swarnkar and Katewa 2008).

Citation: Rehel, S. & Kumar, B. 2013. Lagenandra toxicaria. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 September 2014.

 

 

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Seen this aquatic herb at a water stream.
Bot. name: Lagenandra ovata
Family: Araceae
Location:  Mattighatta Road near Devanahalli (Sirsi – Yana Road), North Karnataka.
Thanks to … for the ID

This is Lagenandra toxicaria Dalz not L. ovata (L.) Thw.