| 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.  | 
| Synonyms[1] | |
  | |
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.[1] Mesona[2][3] 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),[4] 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.
Species
There are about 44-46 accepted species as below[1][5]:
- Platostoma africanum P.Beauv — tropical Africa, southern India, Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia
 - Platostoma annamense (G.Taylor) A.J.Paton — Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia
 - Platostoma axillaris (Benth.) A.J.Paton — Assam
 - Platostoma becquerelii Suddee & A.J.Paton — Cambodia
 - Platostoma borzianum (Chiov.) ined.. — Ethiopia
 - Platostoma calcaratum (Hemsl.) A.J.Paton — southern China, northern Indochina
 - Platostoma cambodgense Suddee & A.J.Paton — Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos
 - Platostoma clausum (Merr.) A.J.Paton — Culion Island in Philippines
 - Platostoma cochinchinense (Lour.) A.J.Paton — southern China, Indochina, Java, Sumatra
 - Platostoma coeruleum (R.E.Fr.) A.J.Paton — Angola, Zambia
 - Platostoma coloratum (D.Don) A.J.Paton — Yunnan, eastern Himalayas, northern Indochina
 - Platostoma denticulatum Robyns — central Africa from Cameroon east to Tanzania and south to Angola
 - Platostoma dilungense (Lisowski & Mielcarek) A.J.Paton — Zaïre, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi
 - Platostoma elongatum (Benth.) A.J.Paton — Sri Lanka, southern India
 - Platostoma fastigiatum A.J.Paton & Hedge — Madagascar
 - Platostoma fimbriatum A.J.Paton — Thailand
 - Platostoma gabonense A.J.Paton — Cameroon, Gabon, Tanzania
 - Platostoma glomerulatum A.J.Paton & Hedge — Madagascar
 - Platostoma grandiflorum Suddee & A.J.Paton — eastern Indochina
 - Platostoma helenae (Buscal. & Muschl.) ined.. — Mozambique
 - Platostoma hildebrandtii (Vatke) A.J.Paton & Hedge — Kenya, Tanzania
 - Platostoma hispidum (L.) A.J.Paton — Southeast Asia, southern China, Assam, New Guinea
 - Platostoma intermedium A.J.Paton — Thailand
 - Platostoma kerrii Suddee & A.J.Paton — Thailand, Cambodia
 - Platostoma lanceolatum (Chermsir. ex Murata) A.J.Paton — Thailand
 - Platostoma laxiflorum A.J.Paton & Hedge — Madagascar
 - Platostoma leptochilon Robyns — Zaïre
 - Platostoma longicorne (F.Muell.) A.J.Paton — Queensland, New Guinea
 - Platostoma madagascariense (Benth.) A.J.Paton & Hedge — Madagascar
 - Platostoma mekongense Suddee — Thailand
 - Platostoma menthoides (L.) A.J.Paton — Sri Lanka, southern India
 - Platostoma montanum (Robyns) A.J.Paton — Zaïre, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi
 - Platostoma ocimoides (G.Taylor) A.J.Paton — Thailand, Cambodia
 - Platostoma palniense (Mukerjee) A.J.Paton — southern India
 - Platostoma palustre (Blume) A.J.Paton — Southeast Asia, southern China, Assam, Bangladesh, New Guinea
 - Platostoma rotundifolium (Briq.) A.J.Paton — tropical and southern Africa
 - Platostoma rubrum Suddee & A.J.Paton — Thailand, Laos
 - Platostoma siamense (Murata) A.J.Paton — Thailand
 - Platostoma stoloniferum (G.Taylor) A.J.Paton — Thailand, Laos
 - Platostoma strictum (Hiern) A.J.Paton — Zaïre, Angola, Zambia, Malawi
 - Platostoma taylorii Suddee & A.J.Paton — Thailand, Cambodia
 - Platostoma tectum A.J.Paton — Thailand, Cambodia, Laos
 - Platostoma tenellum (Benth.) A.J.Paton & Hedge — Madagascar
 - Platostoma thymifolium (Benth.) A.J.Paton & Hedge — Madagascar
 - Platostoma tridechii Suddee — Thailand
 - Platostoma verbenifolium (Watt ex Mukerjee) A.J.Paton — Assam, Bangladesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Myanmar
 
References
- 1 2 3 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
 - ↑ Platostoma P.Beauv.. In: The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ [2015-7-18].
 
External links
 Media related to Platostoma at Wikimedia Commons
 Data related to Platostoma at Wikispecies
