Echites panduratus (common name: loroco[loˈɾoko]) is a climbing vine with edible flowers, widespread in El Salvador, Guatemala, and other countries in Central America as well as parts of Mexico.[1][2][3]The name "loroco" is used throughout Mesoamerica to refer to the species.[4]
Description
Echites panduratus is an herbaceous vine with oblong-elliptical to broadly ovate leaves 4–13 centimetres (1.6–5.1 in). long, 1.5–8 cm broad, inflorescences are generally somewhat shorter than the leaves, with 8–18 flowers, the pedicels 4–6 mm. long; bracts ovate, 1–2 millimetres (0.039–0.079 in) long; calyx lobes ovate, acute or obtuse, 2–3 mm. long; corolla white within, greenish outside.[4]
Range
Echites panduratus ranges from northeastern Mexico to Costa Rica.[1]
Uses
Echites panduratus is an important source of food in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The plant's buds and flowers are used for cooking in a variety of ways, including in pupusas.
^Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (2009). Flora Mesoamericana 4(1): 1-855. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.
^Morales, J.F. (2009). Estudios en las Apocynaceae neotropicales XXXIX: revisión de las Apocynoideae y Rauvolfioideae de Honduras. Anales del Jardin Botanico de Madrid 66: 217–262.
^ a bAzurdia, César; Loroco (Fernaldia pandurata, Apocynaceae), a Mesoamerican species in the process of domestication
S. Facciola (1990). Cornucopia. A source book of edible plants. Kampong.
León, J., H. Goldbach & J. Engels, 1979: Die genetischen Ressourcen der Kulturpflanzen Zentralamerikas., Int. Genbank CATIE/GTZ in Turrialba, Costa Rica, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica, 32 pp.
Morton, J. F., E. Alvarez & C. Quiñonez, 1990: Loroco, Fernaldia pandurata (Apocynaceae): a popular edible flower of Central America. Economic Botany 44, 301–310.
External links
Media related to Fernaldia pandurata at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Fernaldia pandurata at Wikimedia Commons