''Glinus lotoides'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Molluginaceae The Molluginaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants recognized by several taxonomists. It was previously included in the larger family Aizoaceae. The APG III system of 2009 made no change in the status of the family as compared ...

known by the common names damascisa and lotus sweetjuice. It is native to Eurasia and Africa and it is known in many other places as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

Description

It is a prostrate to somewhat upright annual herb with a stem up to about 30 or 35 centimeters long and coated in feltlike whitish hairs. The oval or spade-shaped leaves are located in whorls about the stem. Each is a few millimeters to 3 centimeters long. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a tight cluster of five to ten small flowers. Each flower has five woolly

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s and no petals. The fruit is an oval capsule about four millimeters long.

Uses

This plant is found in seasonally inundated land and has many traditional uses in cultures across its large native range, as medicine and as food. Young leaves and stems of ''Glinus lotoides'' are used as a vegetable in some tropical countries.Stephen Facciola (1990). ''Plant species with leaves that have reportedly been eaten by people''

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
{{Authority control Molluginaceae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus