Skip to main content

Sanguinaria (Alternanthera ficoidea)

Dlium Sanguinaria (Alternanthera ficoidea)

Sanguinaria (Alternanthera ficoidea) is a species of plant in the Amaranthaceae, a flowering shrub, growing vertically and horizontally, with branches and forming dense tufts, cylindrical stems and white hairs, green or red in color, single root at the bottom.

A. ficoidea has oval or oval-round or narrow leaves, 1-6 cm long, 0.5-3 cm wide, fine-haired when young but later smooth, often variegated with bright red or brownish red or yellow or green or white and petiole 1-4 mm.







Sessile flowers, 3 outer and veined tepals, glossy white or yellowish, filaments united at the base into a very short cup.

The fruit is very similar to the inflorescence consisting of dense bracts interspersed with pale hairs. Fruit 1 mm, enclosed in perianth segments and persistent bracts. The seeds are disc-shaped, 1 mm in diameter and brown in color.

This species grows in full sun to partial shade, is flood resistant and drought tolerant. Prefers organic-rich, consistently moist and well-drained soil.

Plants contain tannins, saponins, phytol, carotenoids, xanthophills and polyphenols. Often used to remove kidney stones, inflammation of the uterus and ovaries, stop bleeding and hair tonic. This plant is mixed with other herbs to treat hepatitis, chest congestion, bronchitis, asthma and other lung problems. This species has potential as an antiviral agent. The leaves are sometimes eaten as a vegetable.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Subfamily: Gomphrenoideae
Genus: Alternanthera Forssk. in Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 28 (1775)
Species: Alternanthera ficoidea (L.) P.Beauv. in Fl. Oware 2: 66 (1818)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Achyranthes ficoidea (L.) Lam. in Encycl. 1: 548 (1785)
Alternanthera polygonoides var. ficoidea (L.) M.Gómez in Anales Inst. Segunda Enseñ. 2: 313 (1896)
Bucholzia ficoidea (L.) Mart. in Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. Bras. 2: 52 (1826)
Gomphrena ficoidea L. in Sp. Pl.: 225 (1753)
Steiremis ficoidea (L.) Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 3: 41 (1837)
Telanthera ficoidea (L.) Moq. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 13(2): 363 (1849)
Illecebrum ficoideum (L.) L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 300 (1762)
Paronychia ficoidea (L.) Desf. in Tabl. École Bot.: 44 (1804)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Alternanthera brachiata Moq. (1849)
Alternanthera diffusa (Mart.) Schacht in Lehrb. Anat. Physiol. Gew. 2: 259 (1859)
Alternanthera ficoidea var. brachiata (Moq.) Uline & W.L.Bray in Bot. Gaz. 20: 435 (1895)
Alternanthera ficoidea var. diffusa (Mart.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 539 (1891)
Alternanthera ficoidea var. erecta (Mart.) Pedersen in Darwiniana 14: 434 (1967)
Alternanthera ficoidea var. radicans (Mart.) Pedersen (1967)
Alternanthera polygonoides var. diffusa (Mart.) Hicken in Chlor. Plat. Argent.: 95 (1910)
Alternanthera polygonoides var. glabrescens Gris in Fl. Brit. W. I.: 67 (1859)
Alternanthera polygonoides var. radicans (Mart.) M.Gómez (1896)
Alternanthera tenella Colla in Mem. Reale Accad. Sci. Torino 23: 131 (1829)
Alternanthera triandra Steud. in Nomencl. Bot. 1: 33 (1821)
Bucholzia brachiata Schrad. ex Seub. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 5(1): 173 (1875)
Bucholzia diffusa Mart. (1826)
Bucholzia polygonoides var. diffusa Mart. (1826)
Bucholzia polygonoides var. erecta Mart. (1826)
Bucholzia polygonoides var. radicans Mart. (1826)
Telanthera polygonoides var. brachiata Moq. 364 (1849)
Telanthera polygonoides var. diffusa (Mart.) Moq. (1849)
Telanthera polygonoides var. radicans (Mart.) Moq. (1849)
Illecebrum tenellum (Colla) Moq. (1849)
Paronychia tenella (Colla) Desf. in Tabl. École Bot., ed. 3: 407 (1829)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of
vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

Barooah, C. & Ahmed, I. (2014). Plant diversity of Assam. A checklist of
Angiosperms and Gymnosperms: 1-599. Assam science technology and environment council, India.

Bayón, N.D., Giuliano, D.A. & Bahima, J.V. (2022). Revisión taxonómica de las especies de Alternanthera (Amaranthaceae) del cono sur (Argentina, sur de Brasil,
Chile, Paraguay y uruguay) y Bolivia. Annals from the Missouri Botanical Garden 107: 160-249. MBG press.

Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 529. MIM, Deurne.

Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera, C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2020). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 4(1): 1-904. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Lekhak, M.M. & Yadav, S.R. (2012). Herbacious vegetation of threatened high altitude lateritic plateau ecosystems of Western Ghats, southwestern Maharashtra, India. Rheedea 22: 39-61.

Lê, T.C. (2003). Danh lục các loài thực vật Việt Nam 2: 1-1203. Hà Nội : Nhà xuất bản Nông nghiệp.

Pedersen, T.M. (2016). Flora del Paraguay 46: 1-258. Editions des Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la ville de Genève.

Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.

Sánchez-del Pino, I., Espadas, C. & Pool, R. (2013). Taxonomy and richness of nine genera of Amaranthaceae s.s. (Caryophyllales) in the Yucatan peninsula biotic province. Phytotaxa 107: 1-74.

Zuloaga, F.O. & Belgrano, M.J. (eds.) (2020). Flora Argentina. Flora vascular de la República Argentina 19(1): 1-378. INTA, IMBIV & IBODA.

Zuloaga, F.O., Morrone, O. , Belgrano, M.J., Marticorena, C. & Marchesi, E. (eds.) (2008). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur. Monographs in
Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 107: 1-3348. Missouri Botanical Garden.

VERNACULAR NAME

Bengali: নান্থি শাক Nanthi shak, পালটে কেশুত Palte keshut, সালতে কেশুত Salte keshut
Chinese (simplified): 绿苋草
Chinese (traditional): 毛蓮子草
Dutch: Spitse Kruisbladmelde, Tengere Kruisbladmelde
English: Sanguinaria, Joseph's coat, Parrot leaf
Finnish: loistokaijalehti
French: Alternanthère ficoïde
Gujarati: Velro gorakh
Hindi: रेशमकथा Reshamkatha, रेशम कथा Resham Katha
Hungarian: Karcsú Papagájlevél
Indonesia: Sanggaria, Kriminil, Krokot hijau
Japanese: モヨウビユ
Java: Songgorio, Sanggaria, Kecicak abang
Kannada: Matsyakshi
Lithuanian: Gležnoji alstė
Malayalam: Ponnaankanni
Marathi: Kusal
Portuguese: Quebra-panela, espinafre-do-mato, manjerico
Russian: Альтернантера фикусовидная
Sanskrit: Matsyakshi
Sunda: Jukut jatinangor
Swedish: Papegojblad
Taiwan: 毛蓮子草
Tamil: சீமை பொன்னாங்கண்ணி Seemai ponnankanni
Telugu: Adavi punnaganti aalamu
Thai: พักเพชรแดง phakpet daeng, พรหมมีแดง phrommi daeng, พักเป็ตฝรั่ง phakpet farang
Tulu: Meenamkanni

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

Popular Posts

Kunu buti (Mesosphaerum suaveolens)

Kunu buti ( Mesosphaerum suaveolens ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect, herbaceous annual, growing up to 1.5 meters tall. Its cylindrical, rough, brown or green stem is hairy and white. It grows on forest floors, bushes, agricultural fields, and roadsides. Its roots are fibrous and brownish-yellow. M. suaveolens has single, opposite leaves, stalks 2-5 cm long and hairy. The leaf blades are green, hairy, oval, with pointed tips, blunt bases, serrated edges, up to 6 cm long, up to 5 cm wide, and pinnate veins. The flowers are compound, axillary, in clusters, perfect, and bisexual. The petals are attached, forming a tube, each tip elongated like a spine, soft, 3-10 mm long, and green. The corolla is attached, asymmetrically detached, 1-2 cm long, and purple. The fruit is single, hard, capsule-shaped, hairy on the surface, and green or brown in color. The seeds are round, small and blackish brown in color. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphyl...
Read more

Asian foxtail (Uraria crinita)

Asian foxtail or cat's tail bean ( Uraria crinita ) is a species of plant in Fabaceae, a perennial, upright shrub with woody stems at least at the base, up to 2 meters high in forests, agricultural land, waterways, used as a medicinal herb, green manure and sometimes planted in the garden as an ornamental plant. U. crinita has elongated leaves, rounded base, pointed tip, a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, rough surface, dark green with white spots. Petiole short or less than 0.5 cm and brownish red. Compound flower in spike shape, purple and white triangular crown. Long flower stalk, erect, 15-20 cm long and only at the end of the flower. The crown slowly falls off and leaves behind a stalk that is shaped like coir or light yellow pads. Asian foxtail grows in dry grasslands, open forests, trash cans, roadsides, sandy areas and sometimes in deciduous forests, elevations of 0-1500 meters and does not grow in waterlogged places. The different parts are often used in t...
Read more

Brazilian vervain (Verbena brasiliensis)

Brazilian vervain ( Verbena brasiliensis ) is a species of plant in the Verbenaceae, an annual shrub with erect stems, up to 1 meter high, triangular or semi-spherical in shape with sharp corners, green, white-haired, lower branches in an opposite arrangement, branches above grows in an irregular formation. V. brasiliensis has elongated leaves, up to 20 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, sharp tip, deeply serrated or flat margins, dark green in color, a main vein in the middle and whitish in color, several minor veins laterally, rough and stiff surface. Inflorescences in panicles at the end of a long stalk up to 5 cm long. The flower petals are 3 mm long, 5 lobed and tubular in shape. The corolla is formed from fused petals and spreads open at the tip, only slightly longer than the calyx. Flowers have reproductive organs of both sexes. Superior and bicarpellary ovaries. The fruit is a schizocarp or dried fruit that splits when ripe. Wrapped in petals. Nutlets are triangular in cross-sec...
Read more