Compilation
Plectranthus amboinicus

17 Images see all

Previous
Next

Name

Identification
Coleus amboinicus Lour. [family LAMIACEAE ] Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. [family LAMIACEAE ] Verified by E. Launert, Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. [family LAMIACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Somran Suddee, Coleus aromaticus Benth. [family LAMIACEAE ] Plectranthus aromaticus Roxb. [family LAMIACEAE ]
Related name
  • Plectranthus amboinicus
  • Coleus subfrutectosus
  • Coleus unrecorded
  • Plectranthus aromaticus
  • Plectranthus marrubioides
  • Coleus amboinicus
  • Plectranthus subfrutectosus
  • Coleus crassifolius
  • Plectranthus unguentarius
  • Coleus aromaticus

Flora

Entry for Plectranthus amboinicus [family LAMIACEAE]
Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Plectranthus amboinicus [family LAMIACEAE]
Common names
Coleus amboinicus Lour., Fl. Cochin. 372 (1790); Briq. in Naturl. PflFam. 4,3a: 359 (1897); Merrill in Addisonia 20: 11 (1937); Codd in Mitt. bot. StSamml., Munch. 10: 248 (1971); Compton, Fl. Swaziland 505 (1976). Majana amboinica (Lour.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2: 524 (1891). C. aromaticus Benth. in Wall., PI. As. Rar. 2: 15 (1831); Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 18: t.1520 (1832); Benth., Lab. 51 (1832); in DC, Prodr. 12: 72 (1848); Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 625 (1885); Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 3: 374 (1895). Plectranthus aromaticus Roxb., Hort. Beng. 45 (1814), nom. nud. P. aromaticus (Benth.) Roxb., Fl. Ind. edn 2,3: 22 (1832). Type: India, Patna, Buchanan-Hamilton (in Herb. Wallich, K, holo.!). C. crassifolius Benth. in Wall., PI. As. Rar. 2: 15 (1831); Lab. 52 (1832). Type: India, Wight (in Herb. Wallich, K, holo.!). C. amboinicus var. violaceus Giirke in Bot. Jb. 19: 210 (1894); Bak. in F.T.A. 5: 434 (1900); Hiern, Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. 1,4: 865 (1900). Type: Tanzania, Lake Chala, Volkens 321 (BM!; K!).
Information
Perennial, succulent, many-stemmed herb; stems decumbent, up to 1,5 m long, pubescent, with ascending inflorescences. Leaves petiolate; blade fleshy, drying thick-textured, broadly ovate to ovate-deltoid, 25-45 x 25-40 mm, densely pubescent, both surfaces with pale to brownish gland-dots, apex obtuse to rounded, base truncate to abruptly attenu­ate, margin finely crenate; petiole 4—10 mm long. Inflorescence slender, spike-like, 100—300 mm long; flowers in densely glomerate verticils spaced 10—30 mm apart; bracts persistent to flowering stage. Calyx 5—6 mm long in fruit, glandular-villous; uppermost tooth much larger than the rest, oblong to broadly oblong, abruptly apicu-late. Corolla lilac, mauve or whitish, 7—9 mm long; tube slightly bent about the mid­dle and expanding to the throat; upper lip 1,5—2 mm long, lower lip boat-shaped, 4 mm long. Stamens united at the base for 1—2 mm, 4—5 mm long.
Habitat
This was one of the plants taken by the early voyagers from Africa to the Far East and is now widely cultivated in the tropics of both hemispheres. The leaves are strongly and pleasantly aromatic and are used medicinally and for flavouring food, being known as Soup Mint, French Thyme, Spanish Thyme, Country Borage and Indian Mint. According to Trimen, I.e., it is employed as a medicine, especially for cattle, and a plant was always found growing in a little box suspended from the ox-carts.
Use
10. Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng., Syst. Veg. 2: 690 (1825), as 'Amboinensis'; Launert in Mitt. bot. StSamml., Munch. 7: 298 (1969); Ross, Fl. Natal 305 (1972); Codd in Bothalia 11: 388 (1975). Type: from Amboina, Moluccas (only a few scarcely recognizable fragments exist in BM, but the description is detailed and adequate; Launert, I.e., has designated a specimen from Siam, Kerr s.n. in BM, as being representative of the species).
Range
Occurs naturally from Kenya southwards to Angola in the west and, in the east, to Mozambique, Swaziland and northern Natal; at low altitudes in woodland or coastal bush, on rocky slopes and loamy or sandy flats. Map 77.

Related Materials