Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson

Suweg (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is an upright herb up to 1-5 meters tall of the Araceae family, native to Southeast Asia, growing in forests of Malaysia, the Philippines, and India. Its tuber is processed into bread flour in the Philippines and cake flour in Java, besides being eaten as a vegetable and kolak dessert. Suweg is traditionally believed to be an antidote for animal stings and to speed up wound healing.

Suweg is a plant that grows in regions up to elevations of 900 m above sea level. This plant can grow in dry soil with high humus content, sandy and loamy soil with a pH of 6-7.5.

• Root fibrous, dirty white.
• Tuber fairly large in size, round-shaped, brown skin with a reddish-white interior.
• Stem soft, cylindrical, tuberous, green.
• Leaves single, palmate, flat edges, pointed tip, lobed base, green.
• Flowers compound, bisexual, head-shaped, length ± 7.5 cm. Bright to almost dark color like reddish-purple.
• Fruit round, 1 cm in diameter.
• Seeds round, red in color.

Propagated through offset separation or cutting offset shoots scattered on the tuber surface at 18 months of age. The plant can be planted in a 60 x 60 x 60 cm hole, with a planting distance of 90 x 90 cm.

Saponin, flavonoid, polyphenol, oxalic acid, coumarin, steroid, betulinic acid, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol palmitate, lupeol, triacontane, amino acids, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and carotene.

Wound healer, maintains stamina, antidote especially for animal stings or venomous snake bites, maintains bone and tooth strength, free radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory, stops bleeding from wounds, heals boils and skin disease.

• Prepare suweg tuber, then clean the tuber of dirt and soil then peel and wash with clean water. Cut the tuber into pieces then soak using lime water or salt for approximately 1 hour until the sap on the tuber disappears.
• Once clean, dry the tuber in the sun or oven at 50°C for 18 hours.
• Pound or blend the dried tuber then sift to obtain fine flour of 60 mesh size.
• Store in a clean, airtight container.

No information found. Further research needed.