Glinus lotoides — Details

Lotus Sweetjuice learn more about names for this taxon

Overview

Comprehensive Description

Description

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More or less prostrate annual or perennial herb with spreading rosette-forming stems. Leaves opposite, alternate or appearing whorled, elliptic, obovate or spathulate, up to 37 mm long, hairy but never densely so to almost hairless; margin entire. Flowers in clusters at the nodes, greenish-white, sometimes tinged pink, stamens numerous. Fruit a capsule c. 6 mm long.

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Distribution

Distribution in Egypt

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Nile region, oases, Mediterranean region, eastern desert, Gebel Elba and Sinai.

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Global Distribution

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Tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.

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Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka; N and tropical Africa, S to SE Asia, S Europe, tropical America, Oceania].

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introduced; Ark., Calif., Kans., La., Mo., Okla., Tex.; Mexico; West Indies; South America; Eurasia; Africa; Australia.

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Worldwide distribution

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Widespread in the Paleotropics and subtropics

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National Distribution

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United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

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Distribution: Most tropical parts of the world; Ceylon, Africa, India, W. Pakistan etc.

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Localities documented in Tropicos sources

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Glinus lotoides L.:
Argentina (South America)
Philippines (Asia)
Sri Lanka (Asia)
United States (North America)
China (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Gleason, H. A. 1968. The Choripetalous Dicotyledoneae. vol. 2. 655 pp. In H. A. Gleason Ill. Fl. N. U.S. (ed. 3). New York Botanical Garden, New York. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1704
Molfino, J. F. 1925. Flora Faner. adv. Arg. Anales Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires 34: 89–119. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/43864
Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston. 1970. Man. Vasc. Pl. Texas i–xv, 1–1881. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1493
Great Plains Flora Association. 1986. Fl. Great Plains i–vii, 1–1392. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/637
Fernald, M. 1950. Manual (ed. 8) i–lxiv, 1–1632. American Book Co., New York. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1327
Hickman, J. C. 1993. Jepson Man.: Higher Pl. Calif. i–xvii, 1–1400. University of California Press, Berkeley. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/40453
Munz, P. A. & D. D. Keck. 1959. Cal. Fl. 1–1681. University of California Press, Berkeley. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1717
Godfrey, R. K. & J. W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic Wetland Pl. S.E. U.S. Dicot. 933 pp. Univ. Georgia Press, Athens. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1711
Flora of China Editorial Committee. 2003. Fl. China 5: 1–506. Science Press & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing & St. Louis. http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1024907

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Physical Description

Morphology

Description

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Annual procumbent herb up to 40 cm long, with stellate woolly parts. Leaves sub-verticillate, 0.6-2.0 cm long, 0.5-1.8 cm broad, orbiculate or more or less cuneate, often mucronate; petiole 2-8 mm long. Flowers in axillary clusters of 5(-6), sub-sessile; pedicel up to 1.5 mm long. Sepals 4-4.5mm long, up to 7 mm in fruit, persistent, ovate to ovate-oblong, apiculate, imbricate. Fertile stamens 12; filaments 2-3.5 mm long, unequal, persistent; anthers less than 1 mm long, bilobed. Ovary c. 2 mm long, ovoid. Stigmas 5 (4), linear, c. 1 mm long, persistent. Capsule sub-globose or oblong, c. 6 mm long, membranous, enclosed in the sepals. Seeds many, less than 1 mm long, tuberculate, strophiolate, with a curved linear appendage c. 3/4 the size of the seed.

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Description

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Herbs sturdy, densely stellate tomentose. Stems decumbent, 10-40 cm, much branched. Petiole very short; basal leaves in a rosette, drying soon; upper leaves verticillate or opposite, obovate to oblong-spatulate, 6-24 × 5-15 mm, base attenuate, decurrent, margin entire, apex obtuse, rounded, or acute. Flowers several, in groups, sessile or subsessile. Tepals elliptic or oblong, 4-6(-10) mm. Stamens usually 3-15, free. Ovary ovoid, 5-loculed; styles 5, free, linear, short, curved outward. Capsule ovoid, ca. as long as persistent tepals, 5-valved. Seeds numerous, chestnut-brown, reniform, granulose; strophiole scrotiform, ca. 2/3 as long as seed or longer. Fl. and fr. spring-summer. 2n = 36.

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Description

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Stems 0.5-3.5 dm. Leaves whor-led; petiole 1-7 mm; blade obovate or orbiculate to broadly spatulate, 5-25 × 0.4-17 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly rounded to acute. Flowers in clusters of 3-15; sepals lanceolate, 3.5-4.1 × 0.4-2 mm, stellate-pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially, apex rounded to acute or slightly mucronate; stamens 3-5. Capsules ellipsoid, 3.6-4.5 × 1.8-2 mm. Seeds 10-25 per locule, orange-brown, 0.4-0.6 × 0.3-0.4 mm, papillate, somewhat glossy or dull; papillae sometimes black. 2n = 36.

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Diagnostic Description

Synonym

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Mollugo hirta Thunberg; M. lotoides (Linnaeus) Kuntze.

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Synonym

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Glinus dictamnoides Burman f.; Mollugo glinus A. Richard; M. hirta Thunberg

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Ecology

Habitat

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Nile and canal banks, moist ground.

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Moist soils, river bottoms, lake margins, marshes, waste places; 0-1300m.

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Open sands, riversides, cultivated fields, waste places; sea level to 500 m.

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Life History and Behavior

Cyclicity

Flowering/Fruiting

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Flowering late summer-fall.

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Flower/Fruit

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Fl. Per.: Febr.-April.

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Life Expectancy

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Annual.

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Molecular Biology and Genetics

Molecular Biology

Barcode data: Glinus lotoides

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The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

No available public DNA sequences.

Download FASTA File

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Statistics of barcoding coverage: Glinus lotoides

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Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 5
Specimens with Barcodes: 13
Species With Barcodes: 1

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Conservation

Conservation Status

National NatureServe Conservation Status

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United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

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NatureServe Conservation Status

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Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

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Wikipedia

Glinus lotoides

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Glinus lotoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Molluginaceae known by the common names damascisa and lotus sweetjuice. It is native to Eurasia and Africa and it is known in many other places as an introduced species. It is a prostrate to somewhat upright annual herb with a stem up to about 30 or 35 centimeters long and coated in feltlike whitish hairs. The oval or spade-shaped leaves are located in whorls about the stem. Each is a few millimeters to 3 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a tight cluster of five to ten small flowers. Each flower has five woolly sepals and no petals. The fruit is an oval capsule about four millimeters long.

Uses

This plant is found in seasonally inundated land and has many traditional uses in cultures across its large native range, as medicine and as food. Young leaves and stems of Glinus lotoides are used as a vegetable in some tropical countries.^[1]

References

^ Stephen Facciola (1990). Plant species with leaves that have reportedly been eaten by people

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Notes

Comments

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Glinus lotoides is native to Eurasia and Africa and has become widespread in tropical, subtropical, and warm-temperate areas worldwide. Several varieties have been described, but their delimitations are unclear and need further investigation. The vernacular name "damascisa" is applied to this species, as well as several other plants, which are used in Africa for treatment of diabetes and skin ailments (A. El-Hamidi et al. 1967). In India, the species is used as treatment for diarrhea, boils, and abdominal diseases, as well as weakness in children (K. R. Kirtikar and B. D. Basu 1935). Antihelmintic properties are reported for G. lotoides from several African studies (B. Abegaz and B. Tecle 1980; G. Broberg 1980).

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The tender shoots can be eaten as a pot herb. Also used in medicine and as fodder for goats.

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