Ruby leaf (Alternanthera brasiliana)

Bayam ungu or ruby leaf (Alternanthera brasiliana) is a plant species in Amaranthaceae, herbaceous, chronic and extensive, growing up to 3 meters tall, shedding leaves in the dry season, has a good adaptation for many latitudes, flowering at any time of the year and pompom-shaped.

A. brasiliana has fibrous and strong roots. The stem is tubular, woody, slender and straight, the branches are paired and form a trident, red or green or purple depending on the cultivar and the buds have fine hair that will fall out as they mature.

Paired leaves, oval shaped, blunt base, sharp tip, 1-10 cm long, 0.7-5 cm wide, a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, the upper surface is red or purple or blackish green and the lower surface is red or maroon.

Flowers are white in small clusters, have stems of 3-10 cm, 7-20 mm in the top leaf branches. Brown fruit, 1.5-2 mm long, contains a seed which is generally hidden in an older part of the flower.

Ruby leaves grow wild in full sun on moist soil and are well drained in secondary forests, roadside and abandoned lands. Widely used as an ornamental plant with many cultivars. These are often harvested for antiviral and anti-diarrhea agents.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Subfamily: Gomphrenoideae
Genus: Alternanthera
Species: Alternanthera brasiliana

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Sengon laut or Molucca albizia ( Falcataria moluccana ) is a species of wood-producing trees in Fabaceae, claimed to have the fastest growth in the world with the addition of a height of 7 m/year, producing white light wood for light construction, packing crates, particle boards and blockboards. F. moluccana has a height of 40 m and a diameter of 100 cm or more, the main stem is generally straight and cylindrical with clear bole up to 20 m. The bark is gray or whitish, smooth or slightly warted with a line of lenticels. Shady canopy, umbrella-shaped and tenuous. Young twigs have sides and hair. Double pinnate compound leaves, small minor leaves, easily fall out with one or more glands on the stem and length 23-30 cm. Leaf fins number 6-20 pairs, each containing 6-26 pairs of elliptical or elongated minor leaves with a very tilted, pointed tip, 0.6-1.8x0.5 cm. Small flowers, yellowish white, hairy, androgynous, collected in branched panicles, 10-25 cm long and located in the arm...

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