Talinum portulacifolium
Talinum portulacifolium (Forssk.) Asch.
Family : Portulacaceae
Common Name : ബദലച്ചീര (Mal)
करी पत्ता(Hin)
Ceylon Spinach, (Eng)
IUCN status : Least concern (LC)
Ceylon Spinach is an erect, stout, fleshy herb, 0.5-1 m tall. Sepals are only 2, about 5-7 mm long, needle-pointed. Petals are 5 or rarely more, pink, obovate, up to 1 cm long. Stamens are 15-40, style is longer than the stamens, with a 3-parted stigm. Flower stalk is about 8-11 mm long, bracts narrow, 4-6 mm long. Flowers are borne in 2-5-branched, raceme-like clusters 3-20 cm long. Leaves are elliptic to obovate, 5-15 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide, tip pointed to tapering.
Erect semi-succulent, glabrous herbs to 1 m tall; rootstock tuberous. Leaves subsessile, alternate, 4-8 x 1.5-3 cm, obovate or oblanceolate, base cuneate, apex obtuse or rounded. Inflorescence terminal, paniculate. Flowers 1.5-2 cm across; pedicels to 1.2 cm long; bracts 2-4 mm long, linear. Sepals 2, 4-6 x 2-3 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Petals 5, pink, 8-10 x 4-5 mm, obovate. Stamens many; filaments unequal. Ovary c. 2 mm long, globose, 1-loculed; styles 3-armed. Capsules 4-6 mm across, globose; seeds ovoid, black, striate.
Uses
Leaves and young stems - raw or cookedThe leaves are used in the treatment of eye diseasesThe root is used in the treatment of coughs and gonorrhoea.The plant is credited with aphrodisiac properties
Distribution
Pantropical
Flowering & Fruiting :
February-August