Daun gatal or West Indian woodnettle (Laportea aestuans) is a species of plant in Urticaceae, an annual shrub, erect stems, 1-3 meters high and the whole plant is tightly covered with hairs up to 1 mm long, contains beneficial fibers and the leaves are harvested from nature for traditional medicinal purposes.
L. aestuans has erect stems, straight, cylindrical, green, filled with white hairs. The leaves grow opposite and have long stalks, cylindrical and green. Leaf blade heart-shaped or broad oblong, base flat, pointed tip, margin serrated, many veins and pinnate, wavy surface, upper side green, underside silvery.
The flowers grow in panicles in the axils of the leaves. West Indian woodnettle grows in forests, farmlands, wastelands, open places with lots of sunshine in tropical climates.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Urticaceae
Tribe: Urticeae
Genus: Laportea Gaudich. in Voy. Uranie: 498 (1830)
Species: Laportea aestuans (L.) Chew in Gard. Bull. Singapore 21: 200 (1965)
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS
Fleurya aestuans (L.) Gaudich. in Voy. Uranie: 497 (1830)
Fleurya aestuans var. linnaeana Wedd. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 16(1): 72 (1869)
Urtica aestuans L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 1396 (1763)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS
Fleurya aestuans var. glandulosa (Wedd.) Wedd. in Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. 9: 112 (1856)
Fleurya aestuans var. petiolata (Decne.) Wedd. (1869)
Fleurya aestuans var. racemosa (Burm. ex Wedd.) Wedd. (1869)
Fleurya aestuans var. tuberculata (Andersson) Wedd. (1869)
Fleurya caravellana (Schrank) Wedd. in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3, 18: 204 (1852)
Fleurya cordata Gaudich. (1830)
Fleurya corylifolia Gaudich. (1830)
Fleurya cymosa (Hassk.) Wedd. (1856)
Fleurya glandulosa Wedd. (1852)
Fleurya ingrata Miq. in H.Zollinger, Syst. Verz. Ind. Archip. 2: 103 (1854)
Fleurya lurida Blume in Mus. Bot. 2: xxi (1856)
Fleurya perrieri Leandri in Ann. Mus. Colon. Marseille, sér. 6, 7-8: 16 (1950)
Fleurya petiolata Decne. in Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 3: 490 (1834)
Fleurya racemosa Gaudich. (1830)
Fleuryopsis petiolata (Decne.) Opiz in Lotos 3: 240 (1853)
Laportea bathiei Leandri in Fl. Madagasc. 56: 10 (1965)
Laportea glandulosa (Wedd.) V.C.Lima in Prog. Resum. Soc. Bot. Brasil 36: 362 (1985)
Urera gaudichaudiana Hensl. in Ann. Nat. Hist. 1: 341 (1838)
Urtica caravellana Schrank in Pl. Rar. Hort. Monac.: t. 82 (1821)
Urtica corylifolia Juss. ex Poir. in Encycl., Suppl. 4: 226 (1816)
Urtica cymosa Hassk. in Pl. Jav. Rar.: 200 (1848)
Urtica divaricata Forssk. in Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 160 (1775)
Urtica divergens G.Mey. in Prim. Fl. Esseq.: 264 (1818)
Urtica hirsuta Vahl in Symb. Bot. 1: 77 (1790)
Urtica latifolia Rich. in Actes Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris 1: 113 (1792)
Urtica nemorosa Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 2: 42 (1817)
Urtica petiolata Steud. in Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2. 2: 735 (1841)
Urtica racemosa Burm. ex Wedd. (1856)
Urtica schimperiana Hochst. ex Steud. in Flora 33: 259 (1850)
Urtica tuberculata Andersson in Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Handl. 1853: 159 (1855)
PUBLICATIONS
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VERNACULAR NAME
Chinese (simplified): 火焰桑叶麻
Chinese (traditional): 火焰桑葉麻
English: West Indian woodnettle
French: Laportée brûlante, Zèbe brûlante, Ortie brûlante, Zouti rouge
Indonesian: Daun gatal, Jelatang kayu
Portuguese: Urtiga-vermelha
Spanish: Pica pica
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