ABOUT 'COLOCASIA ESCULENTA' PLANT
Hemidesmus indicus
FAMILY:- ASCLEPIADACEAE
BOTANICAL NAME:- Hemidesmus indicus
VERNACULAR NAMES :
SINHALA : Iramusu
TAMIL : Arakkam,Aritinviyachi
ENGLISH : Sarsaparilla
DESCRIPTION :
Perennial, semi-shrubby twiner with a woody rootstock and numerous, very long, prostrate or ascending, whip-like stems, slightly twining cylindrical, thickened at nodes.
LEAVES:- Simple, opposite, exstipulate, very variable from oblong-oval to linear, 3.7-6.5 cm long, 3.5-8 mm broad.
FLOWERS:- Regular, bisexual on very short pedicels crowded in axillary cymes.
FRUITS:- distinct, divaricated follicles, linear, falcate, terete, smooth, 10-12.5 cm long, dehiscing along the ventral suture; Seeds, oblong with long coma (Jayaweera, 1981).
CENTRE OF ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION :
Grows in the northern parts of India extending eastwards as far as Bengal and Sikkim and south- wards to Travancore and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka it is very common in the low-country up to 800 m feet or higher,in grassy places (Jayaweera, 1981).
EDIBLE PARTS : The leaves.
FOOD USE: The infusion of tender leaves is drunk as a beverage, and leaves extracted are added for preparing porridge. It is used to prepare tonics and sherbets.
NUTRITIONAL AND THERAPEUTIC VALUE:
Moisture - 92.1 g,
Energy - 26 Kcal,
Proteins -2 g,
Fats -0.7 g,
Carbohydrates -2.9 g,
Calcium - 73 mg,
Phosphorus - 21 mg,
Fe - 10.9 mg,
Carotene - 5.586 meg,
Thiamine - 30 meg,
Riboflavin - 260 meg,
Niacin - 0.5 mg,
Vitamin C -28 mg (Perera et at., 1979).
The root of this plant contains a volatile oil and hemidesmine. The root is a substitute for sarsaparilla. It is used in treating loss of appetite, fever skin diseases, leucorrhoea and inflammation of urinary passages. The plant is used in the preparation of snakebite cures.
