Heracleum rigens

Family: Apiaceae

What it is like

A large herb or small shrub. It has tuberous roots and keeps growing from year to year. It grows 1 m tall. The leaves are large and twice divided. The leaves have lobes and these vary in size becoming smaller towards the tip. There are teeth along the edge. The leaves are hairy. The flowers are large and in erect compound groups with stalks from the same point. The flowers have 5 oval petals. The fruit are 1 cm long by 0.5 cm wide. They are narrowly oval and flattened with 3 ridges.

An unresolved name in The Plant List. It is used in medicine.

Where it is found

It is a tropical plant. It grows in evergreen forests.

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, India

How it is used for food

Edible parts

Leaves, fruit

How it is grown

In southern India plants flower and fruit August to September.

Its other names

Local names

Chittelam, Kattu kothamalli, Rai kai

Synonyms

Heracleum courtallense Gamble; Heracleum sprengelianum Dalzell & A. Gibson; Pastinaca candolleana Wight & Arn.; Pastinaca ligusticifolia Wight & Arn.; Pastinaca rigens Wight; Tetrataenium rigens (Wall. ex DC.) Manden.;