Chapter 2 Description of the Plants 2.1 Basel/a rubra, Linn Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Caryophyllales Family: Basellaceae Genus: Basella Species: rubra (the red variety) Botanical Name: Basella rubra, Linn Basella rubra Linn, is a glabrous herb with fleshy twinning stems often tinged with red (Kanjilal and Bor, 1940). Leaves alternate, petioled, broadly ovate to orbicular, entire, base often cordate, shining. 2-7 in diameter, narrowed into the petioles. Spikes - 1-6 in., axillary, peduncled, simple or branched; flowers - spicale, sessible, 2-sexual, red in cymose clusters. Fruit of the utricle size of a small pea included within the fleshy perianth which is shining black with reddish juice (Hooker, 1999). Seed - white, erect, subglobose, testa crustaceous, albumen scanty, embryo piano-spiral, cotyledons large thin involute (Shrivastava, 1989) 9
*. *% * HP 2.1(a) 2.1 (b) Figure 2.1(a,b): Snapshots of Basel/a ajmsou, Linn i n
2.2 Basel/a alba, Linn Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Caryophyllales Family: Basellaceae Genus: Basella Species: alba (the white variety) Botanical Name: Basella alba, Linn A perennial, creeping or climbing herb, 2-10 m long. Stems angular, green, glabrous, multibranched, fleshy or thin; leaves entire, broad-ovate to cordate or orbicular, 5-18 cm in diameter, glossy, succulent; flowers in lax, axillary, peduncled spikes with white to green fleshy perianth; utricles depressed-globose, shallowly lobed, 4-7 mm x 5-10 mm, white or greenish white, turning dark violet or black, containing a violet juice (Indian Medicinal Plants Growers' Consortium) Basella alba will grow in full sun to partial shade and prefer a rich moist soil mix.. The soil should be slightly acid with a ph of 6.5-6.1. The plants are well watered and allowed to dry slightly before watering again. The plants may be fertilized monthly with a balanced fertilizer diluted to Vi the strength recommended on the label. In containers, the plants can get out of hand fairly fast; with the vines cut back twice a year. During the winter months, fertilizer is withheld and watering is reduced but not to the point of causing leaf dieback. 11
It is a glabrous annual, or short-lived perennial, succulent scrambling twiner, a polymorphic Afro-asian plant. The leaves of the plant are slightly laxative and have been used in SE Asia for treating constipation in children and pregnant women, and also for cases of urticaria Figure 2.2: Snapshots of Basella ~i'\^x>mxi 12
Morphological characters of Basella alba L. (considering synonymous to Basella rubra) are described by Sharma (1961) Gamble (1967), Kirtikar and Basu (1980), Hooker (1978), Matthew (1983) and Warrier et ai, (1994). All these treatises, Basella alba and Basella rubra are treated as synonyms and describe the color of the flowers as white or red. Henry et ai, (1987) treated them as same species but of different varieties. According to them the green variety is Basella alba var. alba and purple variety is Basella alba var. rubra (Kannan, 1999) After germination of the seed, growth of the creeping or climbing stem is fast and lateral branches are soon formed. Ceylon spinach sends out runners over the soil which develop new roots at the nodes, thus growing on indefinitely. Harvesting the young tips stimulates branching. Leaves on lateral branches are smaller than those on runners, and with plant senescence leaf size decreases. Flowering starts about 6 weeks after sowing. The flowers are self-pollinated. The fruits ripen in about 1 month. Basella alba is often cultivated as an annual, but with adequate care it persists for over one year in cultivation. The difference between the white variety and the red variety is that the plant of the red variety is purple colour and its flower is reddish in colour but the white variety plant is green in colour and the flower is white in colour. 13