Acmella paniculata

Acmella paniculata is a member of the Asteraceae family and the most widely distributed of the 2 Acmella species native to Thailand. The taste recorded in Thai accounts of this species is not bitterness but a pungent sensation. Much Thai phytochemical and ethnobotanical literature recorded uses of this group under the names Acmella oleracea or Spilanthes acmella; according to a taxonomic reassessment, nearly 80% of those records may have referred to the native A. paniculata.

In Karen and Lawa villages in Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand, this plant is eaten as a wild leafy vegetable. Its aerial parts are eaten raw with chili paste or cooked, and Karen people chew the roots to treat toothache, as recorded in the survey's species table (Table 1). The local names were recorded as Hor te mi in Karen and Tu plei in Lawa. This survey covered Karen and Lawa villages in Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai Province, and did not confirm use by other ethnic groups or in other provinces. The survey is an ethnobotanical inventory accompanied by nutritional analysis of wild leafy vegetables, and chewing for toothache is a record in the use column of that table.

An ethnobotanical review summarizes its use in Lawa and Thai Yuan communities as a flavoring added to spicy vegetable soup, contributing a pungent flavor and citrus, spicy, and earthy aromas. Here, too, the taste descriptor is pungency rather than bitterness. The underlying primary record is not identified in the review, and taxonomic uncertainty about the species identification itself also remains relevant.