Homalomena
| Homalomena | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Araceae |
| Subfamily: | Aroideae |
| Tribe: | Homalomeneae |
| Genus: | Homalomena |
| Synonyms | |
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Homalomena is a genus of flowering plants within the family Araceae. Homalomena are primarily found in southern Asia and the southwestern Pacific, but there are a few species that are known to be indigenous to Latin America. Many Homalomena have a strong smell of anise. The name derives apparently from a mistranslated Malayan vernacular name, translated as homalos, meaning flat, and mene = moon.
The plants of this genus are clump-forming evergreen perennials with mainly heart-shaped or arrowheaded shaped leaves. The flowers are tiny and without petals, enclosed in a usually greenish spathe hidden by the leaves.
The Tamils knew of this plant for more than 3000 years. It is called merugu (Tamil: மெருகு ) and it is used for several purposes including curing stomach disorders, piles, flem etc. Several oils like kumaraguru enney; merugulli enney, merugu pachai enneyetc. are prepared to cure various type of diseases.
Some authors have proposed splitting the genus and moving all the neotropical species of Homalomena to Adelonema. At the present time (August 2014), Tropicos, The Plant List, and the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families have opted not to accept this change.
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Wikipedia