Morphological characteristic of Labisia pumila benth
2007
Rozilawati, S. | Abdullah, N.A.P. | Jaafar, H.Z.E. | Sinniah, U.R. | Othman, R. | Rahmat A. | Khalid, K., Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor (Malaysia). Dept. of Crop Science
Labisia pumila (Myrsainaceae), popularly known as 'Kacip Fatimah', has been used by many generations of Malay woman to induce and facilitate childbirth as well as post-partum medicine (Burkill, 1935). Today, this species is one of the most important species in the herbal and pharmaceutical industries. There are three varieties of this species, var. alata, var. pumila and var. lanceolata. Species identification is made difficult by the lack of differences in the leaves and petiole particularly between var. alata and var. pumila. Identification can be done by studying their morphological characteristics focusing on their vegetative and flower structures. Materials for this study were collected from 4 different places namely Ulu Langat, Rawang, Kota Tinggi and Sungai Pelepah. Three variety of Labisia pumila has been examined. The species is Labisia pumila var. pumila, Labisia pumila var. alata and Labisia pumila var. lanceolata. Vegetative structures include leaf length and width, stem, root and fruit, and floral characteristics observed were petal, sepal, lip, anther and ovary. The Labisia pumila is a small herbaceous under shrub that roots from the stem. The whole leaf is about 10-35 cm long and 4-8 cm wide finely toothed with numerous veins. Flowers are very small, generally white or pink, in spine like panicle or small clusters. The fruit are about 5mm in diameter and red in colour when ripe.
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