''Aerva javanica'', the kapok bush or desert cotton, is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

in the family

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

. It has a native distribution incorporating much of Africa (including Madagascar), and the south-west and south of Asia, and it has become adventitious in northern Australia.

Description

The plant is herbaceous, multi-stemmed and soft-wooded and bears broad leaves; it often has an erect habit and grows to a height of about . In Western Australia it tends to grow in sandy soils especially along drainage lines. It flowers between January and October. Diplospory, a type of

Agamospermy In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttin ...

, occurs during the development of female gametophyte in the ovule and hence reduction division does not take place in the Megaspore mother cell. The diploid

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

is unfertilized and forms the embryo. Hence daughter plants are exactly clones of the mother. The species uses carbon fixation. It is dioecious, meaning male and female flowers are produced on separate individuals.

Uses

This herb is deep rooted, and is used as soil binder in desert reclamation. It is used for fuel and for fodder for goats. In traditional medicine the seeds are believed to cure headaches. A gargle is made from the plant to try to treat toothache. The plant has naturalised in northern regions of Australia, as an alien introduction, and is cultivated and utilised by the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. The thick, white inflorescences have traditionally been harvested in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

for stuffing cushions and saddle pads.James P. Mandaville, ''Bedouin Ethnobotany - Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World'', University of Arizona Press 2011
p. 154
() Today, the soft fibres are still used as kapok for pillows. It is called Bilhangga in the languages of the

Yindjibarndi The Yindjibarndi are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They form the majority of Aboriginal people around Roebourne (the Millstream area). Their traditional lands lie around the Fortescue River. Langua ...

and

Ngarluma The Ngarluma are an Indigenous Australian people of the western Pilbara area of northwest Australia. They are coastal dwellers of the area around Roebourne and Karratha. Not including Millstream. Language The Ngarluma language belongs to the ...

people, the English term is Kapok Bush.

References

External links

Aerva javanica
Flowers in Israel {{Taxonbar, from=Q3695262 javanica Flora of Africa Flora of Western Asia Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Herbs Dioecious plants Taxa named by Nicolaas Laurens Burman