Orthosiphon rubicundus

(D.Don) Benth.

Lamiaceae

+ Synonyms

Lumnitzera rubicunda (D.Don) Spreng.

Lumnitzera virgata (D.Don) Spreng.

Ocimum buchananii Baker

Ocimum mollissimum Wall. ex Hook.f.

Ocimum rubicundum Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Ocimum tuberosum Roxb.

Ocimum virgatum Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Orthosiphon atacorensis A.Chev.

Orthosiphon buchananii (Baker) M.R.Ashby

Orthosiphon coloratus Vatke

Orthosiphon pascuensis G.Taylor

Orthosiphon roseus Briq.

Orthosiphon rufinervis G.Taylor

Orthosiphon salagensis Baker

Orthosiphon shirensis Baker

Orthosiphon stuhlmannii Gürke

Orthosiphon virgatus (D.Don) Benth.

Orthosiphon xylorrhizus Briq.

Plectranthus mollissimus Wall. ex Benth.

Plectranthus rubicundus D.Don

Plectranthus tuberosus Roxb. ex Benth.

Plectranthus virgatus D.Don

Common Name:

Flowering stem
Photograph by: Dinesh Valke

General Information

Orthosiphon rubicundus is a herbaceous perennial plant growing 25 - 60cm tall from a woody rootstock that can be tuberous.
The plant is gathered from the wild for the starch contained in its roots, which is used locally. It is sometimes cultivated for its starch containing tubers in tropical Africa[

317

Title: Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
Author
Website: http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
Year: 0
ISBN
Description: Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa, through Asia to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.

Habitat

Savannah woodland in Africa[

332

Title: The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa.
Publication
Author: Burkil. H. M.
Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew.
Year: 1985 - 2004
ISBN
Description: Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.50 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

An edible starch is obtained from the tubers[

Title: Dictionary of Economic Plants.
Publication
Author: Uphof. J. C. Th.
Publisher: Weinheim
Year: 1959
ISBN: -
Description: An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

Medicinal

The plant has medicinal uses[

317

Title: Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
Author
Website: http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
Year: 0
ISBN
Description: Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.

Other Uses

The powdered up plant is used as a dusting-powder for babies[

332

Title: The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa.
Publication
Author: Burkil. H. M.
Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew.
Year: 1985 - 2004
ISBN
Description: Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/

Propagation

Seed -

Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-11-22. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Orthosiphon+rubicundus>

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