| Platostoma | |
|---|---|
| |
| Platostoma africanum | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Lamiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Nepetoideae |
| Tribe: | Ocimeae |
| Genus: | Platostoma P.Beauv. (1818) |
| Species[1] | |
|
51; see text | |
| Synonyms[1][2] | |
| |
Platostoma is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described as a genus in 1818. It is native to tropical parts of Africa, southern Asia, Papuasia, and Australia.[2] Mesona[3][4] and Acrocephalus has been known as its synonyms.
A widely consumed species in this genus is Platostoma palustre (synonyms Mesona chinensis, M. elegans, and M. procumbens),[5] or xiancao (仙草) in Mandarin, sian-chháu (仙草) in Taiwanese, leung fun cho (涼粉草) in Cantonese, sương sáo in Vietnamese, and cincau in Indonesian and Malay. It is eaten as a snack in drinks, or set as a gel and served as a grass jelly.
In Indonesia the Platostoma palustre leaf is used to make a black jelly; there is also an instant powder variety available.
- ^ a b Platostoma P.Beauv. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
- ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2012). World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants. CRC Press. p. 2489. ISBN 978-1-4200-8044-5.
See Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië 838. 1826 and Taiwania 43(1):38–58. 1998.
- ^ Don, George (1838). General History of the Dichlamydeous Plantus. London. p. 675.
from μέσος, mesos, middle; so called because the genus was supposed by the author to be intermediate between Ocimum and Scutellaria.
- ^ Flora of China