ALISMAL. - WATER-PLANTAINS
Scientific Description:
Glabrous, perennial, aquatic herbs with acrid juice. Stock thick, without stolons. Leaves aerial, floating or submerged, in a basal rosette, simple. Inflorescence an emergent, erect, ± pyramidal panicle composed of compound whorls, in small plants sometimes reduced to a racemose umbel. Flowers hermaphrodite. Sepals green, persistent; petals exceeding sepals, white, pink or lilac, fugacious. Stamens 6. Carpels numerous in a single whorl, free; styles abaxial. Achenes laterally compressed, with adaxial ridges and a short abaxial beak.
Reference:
Uotila P (1984). Alisma L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 8: 6.
Public Description:
Alisma is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as “water-plantains”, and native to water habitats around the world (nearly worldwide). There are approximately 11 species in the world and 3 species (3 taxa) in Türkiye. The dried rhizomes of the plants have been commonly used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases associated with the kidney, bladder, and urinary tract. It is also used today in North America and Europe. Modern scientific researches show that these plants do act as a mild diuretic. In several studies, Alisma extracts were also shown to reduce artificially induced swelling in the paws of rats. Studies using human subjects have not been done, but test tube and animal studies do seem to indicate that there is a scientific basis for some of the traditional uses of Alisma. There are also some indications that Alisma does have a mild antibacterial effect, however, evidences in humans are anecdotal and by observation rather than by controlled trials.
References:
Anonymous 1 (2015). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alisma, Accessed date: 19.12.2015.
Anonymous 2 (2015). http://www.altmd.com/Articles/Alisma--Encyclopedia-of-Alternative-Medicine, Accessed date: 19.12.2015.
Anonymous 3 (2015). http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-280510, Accessed date: 19.12.2015.
Ekim T (2012). Alisma L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 20.
