2198

8: Vegetables

Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merrill

Philipp. Bur. For. Bull. 1: 30 (1903).

EUPHORBIACEAE

2n = unknown

Clutia androgyna L. (1767), Sauropus albicans Blume (1825), Sauropus sumatranus Miq. (1860).

Star gooseberry (En). Indonesia: katuk, babing (Java), simani (Sumatra). Malaysia: cekur manis. Philippines: binahian (Tagalog). Cambodia: ngub. Laos: hvaan baanz. Thailand: phakwan-ban. Vietnam: rau ng[os]t, b[oof] ng[os]t.

The exact origin of Sauropus androgynus is unknown, but it occurs from India and Sri Lanka to southern China and Indo-China and throughout South-East Asia, mainly in cultivation, but also wild. It has not been reported from New Guinea.

The young shoots and stripped leaves, often together with the flowers and fruits, are consumed raw as well as cooked. When eaten raw, they have a strong characteristic odour and taste sweet. When cooked, they have a very agreeable, slightly acid flavour, and tend to retain a dark green colour and firm texture. In Malaysia, very young shoots without mature leaves are offered for sale as a delicacy. The small, white fruits are sometimes comfited into a sweetmeat.
In India, sauropus leaves are also used as a cattle and poultry feed. In traditional medicine, a decoction of the roots is used against fever and urinary problems. The leaves also have medicinal value: prepared as vegetable they are recommended for women after childbirth to stimulate milk production and recovery of the womb. Sauropus is often planted in home gardens as a living fence, serving as a source of vegetable and medicine. The leaves are also used for dyeing foodstuffs, in particular to transfer a green colour to pastry, rice and preserves. The green colour is obtained by rubbing and squeezing the leaves.

Sauropus is a common home garden plant but is also grown in commercial market gardens. No production statistics are available.

Sauropus is a very nutritious vegetable with a higher protein content than most other leafy vegetables. Per 100 g edible portion, it contains: water 79.8 g, protein 7.6 g, fat 1.8 g, carbohydrates 6.9 g, fibre 1.9 g, ash 2.0 g, vitamin A 10 000 IU, vitamin B₁ 0.23 mg, vitamin B₂ 0.15 mg, vitamin C 136 mg, Ca 234 mg, P 64 mg, Fe 3.1 mg. The energy value is 310 kJ/100 g.
It has been reported that consumption of leaves in great quantity may cause pain of the limbs.

An erect, glabrous, perennial, monoecious shrub which can reach a height of 3.5 m, but is kept much lower in cultivation. Branches terete and flaccid, lateral ones at first tetragonous, with many small short-petioled leaves and persistent stipules. Leaves biseriate, alternate, oblong to orbicular, 2—7.5 cm x 1—3 cm, entire, glaucous, above dark green, often with vague greyish spots, beneath light green. Inflorescence a dense, unbranched, axillary fascicle, first producing 1 or a few female flowers, afterwards several male ones; flowers without corolla, but with more or less intensely red-coloured persistent calyx; calyx of the male flower disciform, 6—10 mm in diameter; stamens 3, connate; calyx of the female flower 6-cleft more than halfway down, lobes 6—8 mm broad; stigma 3-branched, red, each branch bilobed. Fruit a globose to faintly 6-angular capsule, about 1.5 cm in diameter, white or purplish, dehiscing with 3 valves.
Sauropus has an awkward growth habit with long, upright main stems, and a weak tendency to branch. The short lateral branches superficially have the appearance of compound leaves. The shortly pedicelled discoid male flowers are characteristic for the species. Sauropus flowers year-round in Java and fruiting is usually abundant.

Sauropus is cultivated in Indonesia and Malaysia from sea-level up to 1300 m altitude, but is most abundant at low elevations. Wild it is common in evergreen forest, clearings, scrub, rocky or waste ground, and roadsides. It grows best in somewhat shady places. It tolerates heavy rainfall and heavy soils, but does best under conditions of good fertility and drainage.

Sauropus can be propagated from seeds, which are usually readily available from established plantings, but propagation from stem cuttings is easier and much more common. Somewhat woody cuttings, 20—40 cm long, are planted directly in the field or rooted in a nursery and transplanted one month later. In commercial plantings the distance is 30—40 cm x 30—40 cm. In home gardens, sauropus is usually grown as a hedge and planted closely in the row (10 cm). After establishment, it needs little care apart from pruning to stimulate the growth of new shoots and to maintain the height of the shrubs at about 1 m. It responds well to organic (10 t/ha) and nitrogenous (urea, 200 kg/ha) fertilizers. Diseases and pests are seldom a problem. The crop can be harvested for the first time about 4 months after planting. Subsequent harvests of shoots and leaves are at monthly intervals over a period of several years. After harvest, the shoots are bundled in small bunches and marketed soon, as they wilt rapidly.
The dried roots are often sold for manufacturing traditional medicines.

No germplasm collection and breeding are in progress.

Sauropus is one of the most valuable indigenous leafy vegetables in South-East Asia: it is nutritious (but there are some indications of possible antinutritional factors), and it is productive and easy to cultivate. Although grown locally in considerable acreages in commercial gardens, it has not received adequate research attention and very little new information has been generated during the last 50 years.

Airy Shaw, H.K., 1972. The Euphorbiaceae of Siam. Sauropus Bl. Kew Bulletin 26(2): 330-339.
Giri, J., Bhuvaneswari, V. & Rajeswari, D., 1984. Changes in the nutritive value of chekkurmenis at different stages of growth. Indian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics 21(11): 419-423.
Martin, F.W. & Ruberté, R.M., 1975. Edible leaves of the tropics. Antillian College Press, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, United States. pp. 35-37.
Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of 'Indische Groenten', 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. pp. 290-292.
Soedirdjoatmodjo, M.D.S., 1986. Bertanam sayur daun [Growing leafy vegetables]. Karya Bani, Jakarta, Indonesia. pp. 86-91.

M.H. van den Bergh

Van den Bergh, M.H., 1993. Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merrill. In: Siemonsma, J.S and Piluek, K (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 8: Vegetables. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea