Eceng

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Eceng, eceng paddy or wewehan is a kind of water plants that used to be weeds in rice field area. The scientific name is Monochoria vaginalis. This plant has different names in every region in Indonesia.

you pepper or the corpuk is Monochoria vaginalis designation in the Batak area; Betawi people call it ecèng rice; the Sundanese call it ecèng leutik or ecèng lĕmbut; the Javanese call him wéwéhan, wéwéyan, bĕngok; the Balinese call it wéwéhan, biah-biah; the Lombok people call mĕmadèng, mĕmarèng, the Makassarese call it balang and the Bugis call it balĕmpalĕng. In Minahasa the name is tumpng.

Although the famous wewehan as a weed, this plant also has benefits for human life. The wewehan leaves can be used for cooking into vegetables. Rumphius reported that the balang (he wrote this as balla balla) in Makassar in the past was eaten as a vegetable, raw or cooked; while Heyne noted that in Bogor eceng leutik eaten only after steamed first. The wewehan leaves contain fiber which is good for digestion.

Eceng root can be used to treat stomach disease, liver, shortness of breath and toothache; while the leaves are for fever medicine. The finely ground leaves of wewehan can be used for abdominal pain medication. All parts of the plant can also be used for animal feed. Extracts of eceng-eceng have been studied can be used as a snail pest killer (Pomaceae canaliculata L.) which often damage rice plants in rice fields. The dried wewehan rods can be utilized to make various handicrafts.