Sunday 26 June 2016

Pokok Kacang Tanduk / Buffalo Nuts / Water Caltop plant / Trapa Bicornis

(Buffalo Nut/Water Caltrop)

(View of the Buffalo Nut)

(Water Caltrop's leaves)

(Buffalo Nut ready to be harvested)

(Buffalo Nut)

SCIENTIFIC NAME/ NAMA SAINS:  
Trapa bicornis

FAMILY NAME/NAMA FAMILI
Trapacaea

COMMON NAME/ NAMA BIASA
  • Water caltrop.
  • Bat Nut
  • Goat Head
  • Bull Nut
  • Buffalo Nut
  • Ling nut( Língjiǎo)
  • Ling Kok
  • Ling kio
  • Singhada
  • Pani-phal
  • Shingoda
  • Singhara
  • Kacang Tanduk

ORIGIN/NEGARA ASAL
Asia and Africa

DESCRIPTION
  • Floating annual aquatic plants
  • Growing in slow moving or stagnant water 
  • Roman soldiers threw into the paths of horses to injure their feet
  • Cultivated in China and India for at least 3,000 years for the edible seeds

STEM
  • Submerged stem reaches 12 to 15 feet (3.6 to 4.5 meters) in length, 
  • Anchored into the mud by very fine roots. 

LEAVES
  • It has two types of leaves, finely divided feather-like submerged leaves borne along the length of the stem, and undivided floating leaves borne in a rosette at the water's surface. 
  • The floating leaves have saw-tooth edges and are ovoid or triangular in shape, 2–3cm long, on inflated petioles 5–9 cm long, which provide added buoyancy for the leafy portion. 

FLOWERS
  • Four-petalled white flowers
  • insect pollinated.
SEEDS
  • Edible
  • seeds can remain viable for up to 12 years
  • although most will germinate within the first two years. 
  • Called Ling Nut in China and it is considered a lucky food to eat
  • The fruit is a nut with four 0.5 in (1cm),
  • barbed spines

PROPAGATION
  • The plant spreads by the rosettes 
  • fruits detaching from the stem

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