Publication: Lingnaam Agric. Rev. 2: 40 1924
Description
It is a perennial suffrutex, 0.3-1(-2) m tall , with taproot or root-tuber. This plant can be easily confused with Abelmoschus moschatus.
Rootstock (caudex): Fleshy, radish-shaped, to 5 cm thick.
Stems: Solid, up to 30 cm tall with one year or perennial herbeceous branchles, scabrous to densely pubescent, up to 2 meters long.
Leaves: Extremely variable in shape and size, nearly sagittate. the basal large the upper linear-lanceolate (but also ovate, ovate-hastate, or palmately 3-5-lobed or -parted, lobes broadly ovate or broadly lanceolate) 3-10 cm cm long, sparsely long hirsute; margin serrate or lobed; apex obtuse. Petiole 4-8 cm long.
Flowers:Solitary, axillary 4-5 cm in diameter; corolla with 5 petals ranging from white, pale yellow to dark pink..
Fruit: Capsule ellipsoid, about 3 × 2 cm, spiny.
Seeds: Reniform, glandularly reticulately striate.
Origin and Habitat
Eastern Asia (China, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam) and Northern Australia into the Pacific.
Altitude: From near sea level to an elevation of about 450 m.
Habitat: Open Pinus forests, hills, grassy slopes, wastelands, open and disturbed areas. Naturalized in gardens, plantations, rice fields, and clearings, and also occurring along trails and on the edges of forest.
Cultivation and Propagation
It prefer full sun to part sun but, should be protected from excessive heat and sun in summer. Regular to very abundant water in summer. Needs deeper pot and excellent drainage to accommodate the tap root.
Propagation: Seed or cuttings.
Uses:
Gardening: Sometimes Abelmoschus sagittifolius is cultivated as a odd caudicifom, but is not all that common, a bit of a specialist plant. When it is potted up, the plant can be progressively raised over the ground so that root-tuber can be seen and is especially cultivated for it looks. When the ”caudex” shape of the raised roots is adequately in evidence this plant very nice.
Traditional uses: Its rhizome is used as medicine. It can be eaten for a long time and won’t cause posion and harmful effect. It may stimulates and awakes the brain, nourishes and builds up strength, and may also be used to treat neurasthenia, dizziness, the pain in waist and lower extremities, the stomach ache, the diarrhea and so on.