Joint weed

Persicaria barbata (L.) H.Hara

Polygonaceae

Location in our garden

Principal

Synonym

Persicaria barbata var. hirtella (Meisn.) M.A.Hassan

Persicaria kotoshoensis (Ohki) Sasaki

Persicaria omerostroma (Ohki) Sasaki

 

Habitus

Herbaceous. Perennial herb, slightly hairy plant, growing to a height of 40 to 80 m

Part Used

  • Seeds
  • The Whole Plant
  • Rhizome

Growing Requirements

  • Full Sunshine

Habitat

  • Riverbanks

Overview

Its native range is Arabian Peninsula, tropical and subtropical Asia. Also occurs in Africa, India, Malaya, Bangladesh, Thailand, and in many other countries in South-East Asia. The plant is sometimes gathered from the wild and used locally as a food and medicine.

Vernacular Names

Subsuban (Philippines), Mao liao (Chinese), Tebok seludang (Malaysia), Konde malle (India), Kating he (Cambodia).

Agroecology

Often found along rivers and ditches in soggy sunny localities, from sea-level up to 1200 m altitude. Succeeds in an ordinary garden soil but prefers a moisture retentive not too fertile soil in sun or part shade.

 

Morphology

  • Stems - stem slender, robust, erect or semi-procumbent, stems creeping to ascending to erect, hairy upwards or throughout, loosely branched, 40-80 cm tall.
  • Leaves - elliptic to lanceolate 10 to 15 cm long, glabrous or almost glabrous above, with appressed hairs on the lower surface, petiole short, apex acuminate, often with a brown blotch, appressed pubescent on either surface, at least on the veins, base acute, rarely rounded or cordate.
  • Flowers - pedicellate in fascicles of 1–3 flowers, 2—3.3 mm long and without glands, white, greenish white or pink, not accrescent after anthesis, stamens 6—7, styles
  • Fuits - nutlet trigonous, 1.7 mm long, smooth and shiny, black, usually with the faces concave.

Cultivation

  • By seeds - sow in situ.
  • By division - very easy, larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. It is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade until they are well established before planting them out

Chemical Constituents

Sitosterone, viscozulenic acid, acetophenone, flavanones, terpenoids, sterols, mucilage, glycosides, alkaloids, steroidal saponins.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

  • Considered anti-ulcer, wound healing, antimicrobial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative properties, astringent and cooling.
  • Study evaluated a leaf extract for antioxidant activity.
  • Seeds are antiemetic, purgative, stimulant properties and can be used to relieve colic pain, for treatment of dysentery and cholera, in Malabar and Canara, seeds are also used to relieve colic pains.
  • In northern India, the dried rhizome is employed as an astringent and cooling medicine.
  • In China, decoction of leaves and stems used to wash wounds and ulcers.
  • Sap of pounded leaves applied to wounds is considered an effective cicatrizant.
  • Roots are used as astringent.
  • Paste of roots is used for treatment of scabies.
  • The plant juice is used as anthelmintic, diuretic, carminative and also can be used for itchiness.
  • Shoots extracts can be used for washing ulcer wounds.

Part Used

Reference Sources

  1. Do, N.T., 2001. Persicaria barbata (L.) H. Hara. In: van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea.
  2. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:694917-1 diakses tanggal 25 November 2021