“Genjer” Yellow Velvetleaf used as indigenous vegetable in Indonesia

Achmad Yozar Perkasa,Spiros Petropoulos

doi:10.30616/ajb.710777

Abstract

Indigenous vegetables are native to or originating from a particular region or ecosystem. Indigenous vegetables may have evolved from foreign plants introduced to the region from another geographical area over a long period of time. Limnocharis flava (L.) Buch. (sawah lettuce, velvet leaf) had an enormous impact on agriculture and food systems all over the world especially has been identified as exotic weed invasion. This plant appears in the aquatic environment and included in the Limnocharitaceae family. Yellow Velvetleaf (L. flava) has been utilised in Indonesia as vegetable and animal feed. Processing of this plants is done by steaming, boiling, and stirfrying. Young leaves with petioles and young, unopened inflorescences are eaten as a vegetable in Indonesia, especially in West Java region.

Highlights

1500 to 2000 plant species have been used as vegetables; for Southeast Asia, the number is close to 1000 species (Siemonsma and Piluek, 1994)
Indigenous vegetables have become popular in recent Indonesian diet, but agronomic studies on these crops are limited (Santosa et al, 2015)
Indigenous vegetables are native to or originating from a particular region or ecosystem. They may have evolved from foreign plants introduced to the region from another geographical area over a long period of time

Summary

Introduction

1500 to 2000 plant species have been used as vegetables; for Southeast Asia, the number is close to 1000 species (Siemonsma and Piluek, 1994). Indigenous vegetables are mainly planted in home gardens, or used by a small group of people in a limited geographical area (Engle and Faustino, 2007). In some cases, these plants naturalized and evolved in the new environment; such as Limnocharis flava (L.) Buch. (sawah lettuce, velvet leaf) brought from Central America to Southeast Asia (Siemonsma and Piluek, 1994) as part of the great transmigration of plants that followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, which had an enormous impact on agriculture and food systems all over the world This plant appears in the aquatic environment and included in the family Limnocharitaceae. The aim of this paper is to give information about the ethnobotany and the importance of Genjer in Indonesia as an indigenous vegetable

Description and classification

History of introduction and spread

Uses and Agronomy