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Songotan (Pogostemon auricularius)

Dlium Songotan (Pogostemon auricularius)

Songotan (Pogostemon auricularius) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, a perennial shrub that grows upright, 30-80 cm high, simple or loose branched stems, weak, blunt 4 corners, hair spread, pink, has strong bolts and grows wild in the forest, tidal areas and roadsides.

P. auricularius has leaves oval or elliptical or ovoid, 4-6 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, cuneate base, pointed tip, serrated edges that are irregular except near the base, hairy, a bone in the middle and several veins that is pinnate. The petiole is 2-10 mm long and hairy.



The inflorescences consist of dense verticillasters, forming dense terminal spikes and 4-10 cm long. Narrow elliptical bracts and long ciliates. Subcampanulation petals, dotted outer glandular, 1.2-1.5 mm long, has 5 unequal teeth, triangles and cilia.

The petals are urn-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long and teeth often appear above the shoots. The crown has a size of 2-3.5 mm, a slender, protruding tube, 4 lobes, equal, blunt, pubescent and pale pink or white in color. Stamens 4 strands, subequal, filament length 3.5-4 mm, slender, upper half villi and purple.

The fruit consists of ellipsoid bean-shaped seeds, 0.6 mm long, 0.4 mm wide, smooth reticulate and brown in color. The seeds germinate epigeal, hypocotyl 1-2 mm and glandular. Triangular cotyledons, 2 mm long and blunt apex. Epicotyl hair and greenish to purplish in color.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Subfamily: Lamioideae
Tribe: Pogostemoneae
Genus: Pogostemon Desf. in Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 2: 154 (1815)
Species: Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk. in Tijdschr. Natuurl. Gesch. Physiol. 10: 127 (1843)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Dysophylla auricularia (L.) Blume in Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind.: 826 (1826)
Eusteralis auricularia (L.) M.R.Almeida in Fl. Maharashtra 4A: 146 (2003)
Mentha auricularia L. in Mant. Pl. 1: 81 (1767)
Mentha foetida Burm.f. in Fl. Indica: 126 (1768)

PUBLICATIONS

Bramley, G.L.C. & al. (eds.) in Ridley, H.N. (2022). Flora of the Malay Peninsula, ser. II, 9: 1-301. Authority of teh Government of the Straits Settlements.

Bramley, G.L.C. (2019). Flora Malesiana 23: 1-444. Noordhoff-Kolff N.V., Djakarta.

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Karthigeyan, K., Pandey, R.P. & Mao, A.A. (eds.) (2023). Flora of Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2: 1-689. Botanical Survey of India. Ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

Khanam, M. & Hassan, M.A. (2008). Lamiaceae. Flora of Bangladesh 58: 1-161. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka.

National Parks Board Singapore (2006). Vascular Plant Life Checklist Pulau Ubin www.nparks.gov.sg/nparks_cms/cms/cmsmgr/data/6/PlantChkList.xls.

Pandey, R.P. (2009). Floristic diversity of Ferrargunj forest area in South Andaman. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 33: 747-768.

Rajbhandari, K.R., Rai, S.K. & Chhetri, R. (2022). A Handbook of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 4: 1-522. Department of Plant Resources, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Yao, G., Deng, Y.F. & Ge, X.J. (2015). A taxonomic revision of Pogostemon (Lamiaceae) from China. Phytotaxa 200: 1-67.

VERNACULAR NAME

Aceh: Ke kucing
Assamese: Kachuti-bon, Pani-kula
Chinese (simplified): 水珍珠菜
Chinese (traditional): 水珍珠菜 - 毛水珍珠菜 - 耳葉刺蕊草
English: Songotan
Filipino: Buntot pusa
Indonesian: Songotan
Java: Songotan, Ketumpang
Kalimantan: Kambing kambing
Malaysia: Rumput ekor kuching, Kekucing

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
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