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Accession Data:

Mapania caudata Kuk.

sect. Pandanophyllum
Common Name: Mapania caudata
Family: Cyperaceae Juss.

Country of Origin: Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Habitat: Moist soil in deep shade of rainforest

Description: Moderately robust, rhizomatous; rhizome 1-5 mm diam. Cataphylls ovate to lanceolate, 0.2-4.5 x 0.1-0.2 cm rounded to acute. Culms several, erect or arching, lateral, 3-8.5 cm x 0.4-1.4 mm, +/- terete, glabrous, greenish. Leaves basal, up to 57 cm long; leaf-blade linear to linear-oblong, 16-30 x 0.7-2 cm, apex abruptly narrowed, obtuse, long-cuspidate, base gradually narrowed into pseudopetiole, coriaceous, very dark green often with metallic blue sheen, distinctly paler beneath, 3-nerved, secondary nerves indistinct to distinct, flat in cross-section, strongly septate-nodulose when dry, margins entire to serrulate; pseudopetiole 2-11 x 0.3-0.5 cm; sheath narrowly lanceolate, 1-6 x 0.5-0.8(- 1.2) cm, apex very gradually narrowed, sometimes indistinct from leaf-blade, coriaceous, brownish. Involucral bracts several, glumaceous, ovate to lanceolate, 0.4-1 x 0.2-0.5 cm, basal bract longest, acute to subobtuse, somewhat spreading in mature inflorescence, coriaceous, brownish, glabrous, nerves distinct. Inflorescence terminal, composed of 1 spike; spike elliptic to obovate with maturity, 0.9-1.4 x 0.3-0.5 cm, obtuse, mid-brown; spicoid bracts lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 6.7-8.5 x 1.6-2.2 mm, subobtuse, somewhat coriaceous, midbrown, glabrous, nerves indistinct to distinct; floral bract<; 6, free, lowest 2 bracts linear, 6.5-8.7 x 0.7 mm, acute, mid-brown, keel wingless, hispid, upper bract linear, 6.7-8.7 x 0.5 mm, flat to slightly keeled, glabrous; staminate flowers 3 per spicoid, anthers linear, 4 mm long, filaments up to 10 mm long; stigma branches 3; style up to 5 mm long. Fruit ellipsoid, sometimes obscurely trigonous, 3. 7-6 x 2-2.4 mm, apex apiculate, base stipitate; exocarp succulent, thin, dull mid- to dark brown, costae absent.¹

Uses: crushed roots are taken with black cumin for helminthiasis in bangladesh

Culture: "From our experience it needs stony medium and extra humidity under low light level. Adding a little limestone seems beneficial." ²

Accession Data:

Accession # 201000059
Source: Chad Husby

Provenance:

specimen collected in peninsular Malaysia.

Accession Date: 04-15-2010
Bench: 3111 - EVO: Equisetum & Cycads
- Currently: active - new growth
- Qty: 1 confirmed on 02-21-2023

Classification:

Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
SubClass: commelinids
Order: Poales
SubOrder:
Family: Cyperaceae
SubFamily: Mapanioideae
Tribe: Hypolytreae
SubTribe:

References (internal):

Iridescent Plants
Plants used in EEB 2244 - General Ecology

EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: Borneo / Malaya

References (external):

Mapania caudata at eMonocot: Cyperaceae. Accessed 18 May 2015.
Mapania caudata at Siam Green Culture website. Accessed 18 May 2015.
The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Last accessed on Wednesday, June 01, 2016.
WCSP (2016). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Last accessed on Wednesday, June 01, 2016.
Strout G, Russell SD, Pulsifer DP, Erten S, Lakhtakia A, Lee DW.
Silica nanoparticles aid in structural leaf coloration in the Malaysian tropical rainforest understorey herb Mapania caudata.
Ann Bot. 2013 Oct;112(6):1141-8. doi: 10.1093/aob/mct172. Last accessed on Wednesday, September 27, 2017.
Image #00 (cropped) & #01 (original): Blue iridescence in the leaves of Mapania caudata, close-up, Tasik Kenyir, Trengganu, Malaysia copyright Patrick Blanc. Last accessed on Wednesday, September 27, 2017.

data regenerated on Tue, 10 Oct 2023 14:06:44 -0400 [bcm v4.0]