TROPICAL PLANT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Leea macrophylla, Large-leaved Leea, Hathikana

Leea macrophylla

Large-leaved Leea, Hathikana
Family: Vitaceae    (Formerly:Leeaceae)
Origin: Indochina, India
Large shrub 5-10 ft tallFull sunModerate waterRegular waterEdible plantSpice or herb plantEthnomedical plant.
Plants marked as ethnomedical and/or described as medicinal, are not offered as medicine but rather as ornamentals or plant collectibles.
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Large-leaved Leea is a very rare plant. It is native to India and cultivated in E. Asia - southwest China, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. This plant has impressive large tropical leaves. Hathikana, literally meaning having elephant ears. The plant has switchy branches and perennial tuberous roots. Leaves are ovate-cordate, conspicuously large - lower leaves up to 25" in diameter. The large leaves lend it many of its common names. Tiny greenish white flowers in corymbose cymes. Berries are depressed-globose, black. Flowering: July-September.

The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine, and dye. It is planted in Sri Lanka for its medicinal use. Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

Grow in filtered light.


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Link to this plant:
https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/leea_macrophylla.htm