Cosmos caudatus

King's salad
Cosmos caudatus[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Compositae
Genus: Cosmos
Species: C. caudatus
Binomial name
Cosmos caudatus
Kunth
Synonyms[2]

Cosmos caudatus is an annual plant in Cosmos genus, bearing purple, pink, or white ray florets. It is native to Latin America (from Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil to Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico),[3] and the West Indies, though naturalized in tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and Australia.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

Cosmos caudatus is edible and its common names include ulam raja, literally meaning "the King's salad".[10] It was brought by the Spaniards from Latin America, via the Philippines, to the rest of Southeast Asia.[10] Ulam, a Malay word used to describe a preparation that combines food, medicine and beauty is the widely popular Malay herbal salad. As a Malaysian delight, it is served throughout the country from major hotels for tourists to buffet lunches or dinners for the locals.[11]

Description

Ulam Raja is an annual plant growing up 2 m in height. The leaves are soft and pungent while the stem is light green with a purplish hue and succulent. As night falls the leaves fold to close the terminal buds as the plant literally sleeps. The flowers can be found solitary or in a loose clusters and are produced on a single stalk on auxiliary heads.[12]

Gastronomy

In Indonesian cuisine and Malay cuisine the leaves of this plant are used for salad.

Urap and pecel, both are type of Indonesian salad. Both are different in dressing, one with cooked grated coconut and spicy peanut sauce

References

  1. ↑ illustration circa 1880 from Francisco Manuel Blanco (O.S.A.) - Flora de Filipinas [...] Gran edicion
  2. ↑ Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  3. ↑ Melchert, Thomas E. 1990. Phytologia 69(3): 200-215 description, discussion, photographs, line drawings, distribution map
  4. ↑ Funk, V. A., P. E. Berry, S. Alexander, T. H. Hollowell & C. L. Kelloff. 2007. Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 55: 1–584
  5. ↑ Jørgensen, P. M. & S. León-Yánez. (eds.) 1999. Cat. Vasc. Pl. Ecuador. Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75: i–viii, 1–1181
  6. ↑ Humbert, H. 1923. Les Composées de Madagascar. Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne de Normandie 25: 1–335.
  7. ↑ Sousa Sánchez, M. & E. F. Cabrera Cano. 1983. Flora de Quintana Roo. Listados Florísticos de México 2: 1–100
  8. ↑ López Vargas, A. 1995. Estudio de Vegetación de las Partes Sud y Sudoeste de las Provincias Mizque y Campero --- Cochabamba i–vi, 1–152. Tesis Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba
  9. ↑ Foster, R. C. 1958. A catalogue of the ferns and flowering plants of Bolivia. Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University 184: 1–223
  10. 1 2 Bodeker, G. (2009). Health and Beauty from the Rainforest: Malaysian Traditions of Ramuan. Kuala Lumpur: Didier Millet. ISBN 978-981-4217-91-0
  11. ↑ Nasi ulam recipe
  12. ↑ Hassan, Dr. W. E. (2006). Healing Herbs of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur: Federal Land Development Agency. ISBN 978-983-99544-2-5

External links

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