Azolla imbricata

Azolla imbricata (Roxb. ex Griff.) Nakai; Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 39(463): 185 1925.

(Azolla imbricata (Roxb. ex Griff.) Nakai; Photo flowgrow.de and himadriaquatics.com)

Latin Name: Azolla imbricata (Roxb. ex Griff.) Nakai

Family & Genus: Azollaceae, Azolla

Synonym Name: Azolla imbricata var. imbricata; Azolla pinnata var. imbricata (Roxb. ex Griff.) Bonap.; Salvinia imbricata Roxb. ex Griff.

English Name: Mosquito Fern, Imbricate Mosquito Fren, Ferny Azolla, Water Velvet, Feathered Waterfern

Chinese Name: 满江红

Vietnamese Name: Bèo hoa dâu

Description: A small, free-floating, aquatic fern, triangular to trapezoidal in outline, about 2-4 cm × 1 cm, with branched, floating stem (rhizome) bearing roots and leaves. Roots solitary, growing from stem branching points, hanging down in the water, plumose, 1-5 cm long, with obliquely arranged groups of 3-6 root hairs. Leaves small, alternately in two rows, variably imbricate, sessile, bilobed with a dorsal lobe held above the water surface and a floating (resting on water surface) ventral lobe; dorsal lobe subelliptical, up to 1.5 mm × 1 mm, fleshy, chlorophyllous and photosynthetic, margin hyaline and (2-)3(-4) cells wide, apex obtuse, with 1-2-celled trichomes and papillae, inside on lower surface with a cavity containing mucilage and filaments of the blue-green alga Anabaena azollae , green but turning red under adverse environmental conditions; ventral lobe thin (one cell thick), flat, translucent, without chlorophyll, glabrous. Sporocarps borne in pairs or fours at base of branches (reduced ventral leaf lobe), initially covered by involucre of dorsal leaf lobe, each containing one megasporangium (containing a single megaspore) or many microsporangia (each containing 64 microspores). Spores trilete, of two kinds; megaspore bearing on the proximal side a columella, hair-like filaments and 9 apical massulae (called floats); microspores of one sporangium released as one mass (called a massula) which floats, its inner surface bearing 2-4 small, simple, spiniform trichomes without hooked apices; microspores germinate within the massula.

Ecological: Growing in ponds, ditches, and paddy fields.

Distribution: Distributed in East, South-central, Southwest China, Hebei. The medicinal materials are mainly produced in Sichuan, Guizhou.

Part Used: Medical part: roots and leaves. Chinese name: roots: Manjianghonggen. Leaves: Manjianghong.

Harvest & Processing: Roots: collected the entire plant in summer and autumn, cut down fibrous root and sun-dried. Leaves: collected in summer and autumn and sun-dried.

Chemistry:  

- Leaves contain lute-olinidin-5-glucoside, chlorogenic acid, aes-culetin, caffeic acid-3, 4-diglucoside and 6-(3-glucosylcaffeoyl)aes-culetin.

- Per 100 g (dry weight basis) A. pinnata contains approximately: protein 13-30 g, fat 4-6 g, carbohydrates 41-45 g, fibre 39 g, cellulose 5-15 g, hemicellulose 9-18 g, lignin 9-35 g, ash 10-24 g (ranges of the elements N 2-5%, P 0.1-1.6%, K 0.3-6%, Ca 0.4-1.7%, Mg 0.2-0.6%, S 0.2-0.7%, Si 0.1-3.5%, Na 0.1-1.3%, Cl 0.6-0.9%, Al 0.04-0.6%, Fe 0.04-0.6%, Mn 0.06-0.3%, Cu 0-0.03% and Zn 0.002-0.1%). The N, K and Si contents are reasonably high. Deficiencies in methionine, histidine and fibre make A. pinnata unfit to be the sole feed source for animals, but the amino acid composition compares well with reference protein sources and although the methionine content is low, the lysine content is more than twice that of maize. In the tropics 60-75% of the N will be released as ammonia within 6 weeks after the onset of mineralization in the soil in a flooded field without rice.

Properties & Actions: Root: pungent, bitter, cold. Leaves: pungent, cool. Root: moistening lung, checking cough. Leaf: relieving exterior syndrome, promoting eruption, removing wind-damp and detoxifying.

Indications & Usage: Root: cough due to tuberculosis. Leaves: common cold and cough, measles without adequate eruption, pain from rheumatism, difficulty in micturition, edema, cnidosis, skin itching, pyocutaneous disease, erysipelas, scalding and burns. Root: oral administration: decocting, 9-15g. Leaf: oral administration: decocting, 3-15g, megadose 30g. External: appropriate amount, prepared decoction for washing or hot iron; stir-heated and keep the property, powdered and mixed with oil for application. Not use in case of exterior deficiency and spontaneous sweating.

Examples:   

1. Rheumatalgia, perspiring to expel wind: 40 water velvet. Take 20 and pestle, bake hot, cover affected lesions while it is hot, prick with needles (sterilized) at lesions to discharge air. Pestle the rest 20 water velvet, cook in sweet and acid liquor and drink.

2. Measles not erupted sufficiently: water velvet 9g, corainder and cortex ailanthi 6g each. Decoct and drink, smear the residues on affected lesions.

3. Anemogenous paralysis and leprosy: water velvet and cocklebur 60g each. Stew with water and drink; then take an appropriate amount of the above drugs, stew in water and wash generally.

References

- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk

- efloras.org

- theplantlist.org

- uses.plantnet-project.org

- Nor Shaida Husna Zulkrnin, Nurul Nadiah Rozhan, Nik Raihan Nik Yusoff, Mohd Sukhairi Mat Rasat, Muhammad Iqbal Ahmad, Zulhazman Hamzah; Evaluation of Two Different Solvents for Azolla pinnata Extracts on Chemical Compositions and Larvicidal Activity against Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae); Journal of Chemistry, 2018

- Benedicta. Yayra. Fosu-MensahPaul L. G. VlekPaul L. G. VlekGünther ManskeGünther ManskeMichael MensahMichael Mensah; The Influenec of Azolla pinnata on Floodwater Chemistry, Grain Yield and Nitrogen Uptake of Rice in Dano, Southwestern Burkina Faso; Journal of Agricultural Science; Vol. 7, No. 8; 2015