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Stachyphrynium placentarium is a tropical Asian rhizomatous plant in the prayer-plant family, grown for its large leaves, which are used to wrap food such as bánh chưng. It needs warm, humid, shaded conditions and moist soil.
Stachyphrynium placentarium is a species of flowering plant in the family Marantaceae. Its basionym was Phyllodes placentaria Lour. and was subsequently placed as various species in the genus Phrynium. No subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life.
The species is widespread throughout Asia and is native to Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, South-Central and Southeast China, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sumatra, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam.
The leaves of this species, lá dong, are notably used throughout Việt Nam as a wrapping for food items: especially bánh chưng (the glutinous rice cake consumed at Tết) and bánh tẻ. Species in the similar genus Phrynium, including P. pubinerve (dong gân lông) may also be used for this purpose.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Stachyphrynium placentarium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
