Cow-foot Leaf

Overview

P. umbellatum originates from Mexico and South America, and has been introduced and widely naturalized throughout the Old World tropics, including South-East Asia. The plant is often gathered from the wild for local use as a medicine and a food. The plant is sometimes cultivated in home gardens. 

Vernacular Names

Lemba (Malay), Phluu teen chaang (Thai), Attanari (India), Tai wan hu jiao (Chinese), Pariparoba (Brazillian), Kubamba (Philippines), Lân hoa (Vietnamese)

Agroecology

P. umbellatum occurs in evergreen forest undergrowth, swamp forest, on river banks, old rubber plantations, always in damp locations, from 150-2100 m altitude. The plant is flowering throughout the year when enough water is available.

Morphology

• Stems - numerous, succulent, ribbed, forming a dense clump, rooting at the nodes, main roots woody.
• Leaves - alternate, almost circular to reniform, 5-36(-40) cm × 4.5-37(-42) cm, base deeply cordate, apex shortly acuminate to rounded, margins entire or crenulate, fairly thin, glandular black punctate, sparsely to densely hairy on the veins above and underneath, veins palmate, 11-15, blade dark green above, greyish underneath; petiole 6.5-30 cm long, dilated and sheathing basally.
• Flowers - small, bisexual; floral bracts triangular to rounded, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, subpeltate, margins fimbriate, white, cream or yellow; perianth absent; stamens 2; ovary superior, 1-locular, stigmas 3.
• Fruits - drupe, obpyramidal, 3-angled, 0.6-1 mm × 0.4-0.6 mm, brownish.
• Seeds - globose, endosperm little, perisperm copious, embryo small.

Cultivation

• Propagated by seeds - The seeds show dormancy, which can be broken by direct sunlight.
• By division of suckers.

Chemical Constituents

B-pinene, a-pinene, E-nerolidol, B-caryophyllene, safrole, germacrene-D, ß-cadinene, o-cadinene, bicyclogermacrene, cardiac glycosides, saponins, tannins, and alkaloids.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• Plant is considered vulnerary, detergent, antiscorbutic, diuretic.
• The leaves are widely used as an antseptic, emollient, vermifuge, and vulnerary. The juice is taken as a diuretic, emmenagogue, and galactagogue.
• An infusion of young ground-up leaves is taken to treat severe colic.
• The aerial parts are commonly given to women to regulate menses and prevent abortion. 
• The crushed leaves are applied in the form of an enema to treat rectal prolapse.
• The leaves are used in massages for relieving migraine and other forms of headache, and are applied in a friction to relieve rheumatic pain. A decoction is used as a wash for feverish children, and is also applied on wounds and inflamed tumours. They are applied as a poultice on swellings, boils, and burns.
• The leaf juice is used as ear drops to remedy earache and as eye drops to remedy conjunctivitis.
• The fruits are chewed with betel leaves (Piper betle) to treat coughs.
• The root is considered diuretic, febrifuge and stimulant, and also to promote the flow of bile.
• A root decoction is used as a powerful digestive and as a treatment for dyspepsia, constipation, jaundice, malaria, urinary, and kidney problems, syphilis and gonorrhoea, leucorrhoea, menstrual problems and stomach-ache.
• The roots are macerated in alcohol and used to treat rheumatism.