Volume 4 > Part 2 > Year 1985 > Page 146 > Leguminosae-Mimosoideae > Neptunia

1. Neptunia oleracea Lour.wfo-0000165872

Fl. Cochinch.: 654. 1790; Benth. In Hooker, J. Bot. 4: 354. 1842; Trans. Linn. Soc. 30: 383. 1875; Bak. In Fl. Br. Ind. 2: 285. 1878; Prain in King, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 66 (2): 244. 1897; Gagnep. In Fl. Gén. I.-C. 2: 59. 1913; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 1: 653. 1923; Craib in Fl. Siam. Eu. 1: 655. 1928; Windler, Austral. J. Bot. 14: 401. 1966; Nielsen in Fl. C.L.V. 19: 27. Pl. 4, 7–13. 1981. Fig. 35: 7–13.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : A perennial, aquatic, floating or rooting herb; stems up to 1.5 m long, fistulose, terete, founing a spongy–fibrous indument between the nodes and adventive roots at the nodes after having been detached from the primary root system. Stipules 4–8 mm, obliquely cordate, apex acuminate. Leaves: petiole 2.–4 pm, glandless; rachis 3.5–8 cm, angled, glabrous; pinnae 2–3 pairs, 2.5–6.5 cm, winged, glandless, glabrous, leaflets 8–18 pairs per pinna, (3–)4–10 by 1.2–3 mm, asymmetrically oblong, glabrous or with faintly ciliate margins; base truncate; apex obtuse to broadly acute often mucronate; main vein prominulous, lateral veins inconspicuous. Inflorescence: peduncles 12–30 cm, with caducous bracts, head obovoid in bud, 30–50-flowered. Asexual flowers: Calyx 0.9–1.5 mm, cup-shaped, glabrous; lobes 0.3–0.5 mm, ovate, acute. Petals 2.2–3.5 mm, elliptical, acute; staminodes 7–16 mm, linear, acute. Bisexual flowers: Calyx 2–3 mm, campanulate, glabrous; lobes 0.4–0.7 mm, ovate, broadly acute. Petals 3–4.3 mm, elliptical; acute. Stamens 6–8.9 mm, eglandular. Ovary 1.2–2 mm, glabrous, stipitate. Pod 1.9–2.8 by 0.8–1 cm, broadly oblong, flat, dehiscent along both sutures; stipe longer than the persistent calyx. Seeds 4–8, 4–5.1 by 2.7–3.5 mm, ovoid, compressed.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Lamphun; CENTRAL: Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok), Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya; PENINSULAR: Songkhla.

Distribution : Tropics of both hemispheres (type from S Vietnam), also cultivated.

Ecology : In and around freshwater ponds, swamps and canals, at low altitudes up to ca 300 m.

Vernacular : Phak nong (ผักหนอง), phak la nong (ผักละหนอง)(Northern); phak krachet (ผักประเฉด), phak ru non (ผักรู้นอน)(Central); phak chit (ผักฉีด)(Peninsular).

Uses: Shoots used as vegetable.

Notes: Only recorded from a few localities in Thailand, but common all over the country, also in cultivation.