Trees & Plants

Nile cabbage

Kunhui

Pistia stratiotes L.

Common in lakes and water logged areas Widely cultivated as an aquatic ornamental plant. Leaves and roots are used in dysuria. Leaves mixed with rice and coconut milk are given in dysentery. Ash obtained from the plant has some application against ring worm. Th reat & damage: The

Details

§ 01

uses: Widely cultivated as an aquatic ornamental plant. Leaves and roots are used in dysuria. Leaves mixed with rice and coconut milk are given in dysentery. Ash obtained from the plant has some application against ring worm. Th reat & damage: The plant is a noxious weed of lakes, dams, ponds, irrigation channels and slow-moving waterways across the globe. It can cover water bodies and disrupt life of aquatic fauna and flora and make transport through water impossible. Management: The most effective method is physical removal of plants and disposing them judiciously. Chemical control using herbicides may contaminate water bodies. A leaf weevil and leaf moth are known to be effective as biocontrol agents.
family: Araceae
synonym: Limnonesis friedrichsthaliana Klotzsch
description: Aquatic floating herbs. Leaves × sessile, tufted, obovate, 2-10 1-4 cm, veins prominent, white, soft, pubescent. Spathe small, to 10 mm long, basal portion convoluted, upper portion expanded into is an ovate-acute limb, pale yellow; spadix with pistillate portion adnate to the spathe; female and male flowers separated by a disc- A like structure. Male flowers with 4-6 anthers be forming a synandrium; ovary 1-locular; ovules many, on parietal placentae. Berry small and ovoid.
native range: Probably South America
distribution: In the tropics and subtropics
english names: Nile cabbage · Water lettuce · Water bonnets
flowering fruiting: October- March
occurrence maldives: Common in lakes and water logged areas