Commelinaceae FAMILY

Murdannia keisak

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Murdannia keisak is an annual to perennial plant with a fibrous rootstock. The branched, succulent stems are up to 40cm long, sometimes erect, though more commonly creeping to ascending or floating on the surface of water[ 270 Title Flora of N. America Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine. It is grown as an ornamental aquatic plant. Murdannia keisak is a common weed of rice in parts of Asia, spreading both by seed and by fragments of the stem which can root freely, especially in water and wet soils. The plant has spread to many areas, both by seed as a contaminant of rice and also as by seed and vegetatively as an escape from cultivation as an ornamental. It is listed as highly invasive in N. America.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeE. Asia - Russian Far East, eastern China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos

HabitatRoadside ditches and swales, margins of lakes, creeks, rivers, swamps, bogs, swamp forest, and other aquatic habitats, often growing in water[ 270 Title Flora of N. America Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses. ]. Shallow water, littoral areas and wet ground, often found as a weed of rice fields