Murdannia keisak is perhaps not distinct from Murdannia triquetra. This complex is widely distributed from India to Japan (and recently recorded in E North America). The two taxa are extremely similar in habit and other qualitative characters, but size of sepals, shape and size of capsule, and number and shape of seeds show differences correlated with geographic distribution[].

Common Name:

General Information

Murdannia keisak is an annual to perennial plant with a fibrous rootstock. The branched, succulent stems are up to 40cm long, sometimes erect, though more commonly creeping to ascending or floating on the surface of water[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine. It is grown as an ornamental aquatic plant.
Murdannia keisak is a common weed of rice in parts of Asia, spreading both by seed and by fragments of the stem which can root freely, especially in water and wet soils. The plant has spread to many areas, both by seed as a contaminant of rice and also as by seed and vegetatively as an escape from cultivation as an ornamental. It is listed as highly invasive in N. America.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

E. Asia - Russian Far East, eastern China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos

Habitat

Roadside ditches and swales, margins of lakes, creeks, rivers, swamps, bogs, swamp forest, and other aquatic habitats, often growing in water[]. Shallow water, littoral areas and wet ground, often found as a weed of rice fields

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Annual/Perennial
Height	0.20 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

Extracts of the plant are used in the treatment of hyperproliferative skin problems such as common warts or psoriasis[].

Plant extracts have been shown to downregulate Smad2 protein. Treatment strongly inhibits a variety of hKF pathological responses, including hyperplastic growth, collagen production and migration; it does not cause DNA damage. This suggests that identification of the active compound in the extraxt is important for the development of potential novel therapeutics for the treatment of keloids[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -