Persicaria minor
| Persicaria minor | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Polygonaceae |
| Genus: | Persicaria |
| Species: | P. minor
|
| Binomial name | |
| Persicaria minor (Huds.) Opiz
| |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Polygonum minus Huds. | |
Persicaria minor is a herb species of the Polygonaceae family, with synonym Polygonum minus, and is also known by the common names small water-pepper, small smartweed, pygmy smartweed, spotted lady's thumb and kesum (Malay). This herb is native to Asia, but distributed widely in Europe and Australia.[2] It is used in South East Asian cooking.
Description
Persicaria minor is native to South East Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.[3] It grows wild in cooler highlands, but is also found in wet lowland areas near rivers, ditches, and canals. It is a creeping plant with slender stems, and grows upright to a height of 1 to 1.5 meters. The creeping stem is green with reddish tinge, is cylindrical in shape, and has short nodes about 9 mm apart. Its leaves are long and narrowly-tapering, alternately arranged, and green with short, reddish petioles. Its flowers are minute, pale violet, and are 12 to 15 cm long.[4]
Uses
Persicaria minor is an edible herb. In Malaysia and Singapore, the shoots and young leaves are eaten raw as part of salad (ulam); used as an aroma spice additive in peppery dishes such as laksa, nasi kerabu, asam pedas and tom yam; used as tea leaves; and used for topical applications.[5] Its oil has been used for aromatherapy and in treatments for dandruff.
In Malaysian traditional medicine, P. minor has been used in post-natal tonics and for treatment of digestion.[4]
Pharmacological studies on P. minor have indicated anti-oxidant, LDL oxidation, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activities,[6] digestive enhancing and anti-ulcer activities,[7] as well as cognitive enhancing activities.[8] Comparative studies have been carried out to analyse the metabolites not only in the plant's leaves, but also in its stem and roots.[9]
References
- ^ Tropicos, Persicaria minor (Huds.) Opix
- ^ "Persicaria minor (Huds.) Opiz". New England Wild Flower Society. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
- ^ Wan Hassan, W.E (2010). Ulam: Salad Herbs of Malaysia. Masbe. pp. 190–191. ISBN 9789834466404.
- ^ a b Samy, Joseph; Sugumaran, M.; Lee, Kate (2005). Herbs of Malaysia. Times Editions - Marshall Cavendish. pp. 198–199. ISBN 9833001793.
- ^ Kilham, Chris (2017-02-26). "South Asian herb dubbed 'smart weed'". FoxNews.com. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
- ^ Christapher, Parayil; Parasuraman, Subramani (2015). "Review on Polygonum minus. Huds, a commonly used food additive in Southeast Asia". Pharmacognosy Research. 7 (1): 1–6. PMC 4285636.
- ^ Qader, SW; Abdulla, MA (2012). "Pharmacological mechanisms underlying gastroprotective activities of the fractions obtained from Polygonum minus in Sprague Dawley rats". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 13 (2). doi:10.3390/ijms13021481. PMID 22408403.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ George, A; Ng, CP (2014). "In vitro and ex-vivo cellular antioxidant protection and cognitive enhancing effects of an extract of Polygonum minus Huds (Lineminus™) demonstrated in a Barnes Maze animal model for memory and learning". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 14: 161. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-161. PMID 24886679.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Ahmad, R; Baharum, SN (2014). "Volatile profiling of aromatic traditional medicinal plant, Polygonum minus in different tissues and its biological activities". Molecules. 19 (11). doi:10.3390/molecules191119220. PMID 25420073.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
External links
