Crateva (PROSEA)
Introduction |
Crateva L.
- Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 444 (1753); Gen. pl. ed. 5: 203 (1754).
- Family: Capparaceae
- Chromosome number: x= 13; C. magna, C. religiosa: 2n= 26
Major species
- Crateva magna (Lour.) DC.,
- C. religiosa J.G. Forster.
Vernacular names
- Malaysia: dala.
Origin and geographic distribution
Crateva is a small genus of about 6 species with a pantropical distribution, but does not occur in Australia and New Caledonia. The 3 Indo-Malesian species are extending from India and Sri Lanka, and southern China, southern Japan, Taiwan, through South-East Asia to Tahiti.
Uses
In India, Thailand and Malesia, the juice from the bitter stem or root bark, or sometimes the leaves, of both C. magna and C. religiosa is used in decoction to stimulate the appetite or as a digestive, as a laxative against colic and as a febrifuge. In India, the root bark is used to treat urolithiasis, and in Thailand the wood is used for this purpose. The fresh leaves are rubefacient, and are applied as a tonic and skin-irritant against high fever.
In India, woodsmoke of C. magna is used to treat ulceration of the nose, and the stem bark is used to heal wounds. In Thailand, the pickled flower is eaten as a digestive. An infusion of the flowers of C. religiosa is used for relieving sore throat, the fruits are used as antipyretic and a decoction of the stem bark is used against hiccup, and for the treatment of haemorrhoids. In the Solomon Islands, liquid from the bark macerated with water is used for treating constipation, and heated leaves are applied as a remedy for earache. In India, the flower is considered astringent and cholagogue. The crushed leaves are applied as a paste for swelling of the feet and for a burning sensation in the soles of the feet. The bark and the leaves are pounded and applied as a poultice against rheumatism, also in Indo-China. In Taiwan, a decoction of the leaves and stem is used for dysentery, headache and stomach-ache. In the Philippines, the leaves are said to be useful for treating irregular menstruation.
Crateva is widely cultivated for ornamental purposes and occasionally introduced. The wood of Crateva is used to make household utensils. The wood of C. magna is used in India for making drums, but also match sticks. The bark is used to wash clothes while the wood-chips are made into a moderately strong and poorly water resistant hardboard. In India and Polynesia, C. religiosa is planted around temples for religious purposes. In India and Thailand, the young leaves and flowers of both species are cooked or pickled as a vegetable, and the flowers can also be roasted. Young leaves are fed to sheep and goats. In Thailand and Kalimantan, the fruit is used as fish bait.
Production and international trade
Crateva is only used locally for medicinal purposes and does not enter the international market.
Properties
The alkaloids cadabicine and cadabicine diacetate were isolated from the stem bark of C. magna. Other components include several triterpenes, e.g. lupeol, lupeol linoleate, friedelin and betulinic acid, the fatty acid ceryl alcohol and the steroid diosgenin (present in bark collected in March, absent in bark collected in August-September). The fruits of C. magna contain the fatty acids ceryl alcohol and triacontanol, and the isothiocyanate derivative glucocapparin (= methyl glucosinolate). Furthermore, the stem and root bark of C. religiosa are also known to contain lupeol.
Lupeol and lupeol linoleate, isolated from C. magna, were tested for their anti-inflammatory activity in an adjuvant-induced arthritis model in rats, and exhibited about 40% and 60% reduction in hind paw swelling, respectively. The loss of body weight was reduced and the spleen weight increased.
The oral LD50 dose of lupeol in rats is more than 2 g/kg. In another test, hyperoxaluria-induced male Wistar rats, with increased levels of urinary enzymes indicating renal tissue damage, were given 25 mg/kg of lupeol per day. This significantly reduced the renal excretion of oxalate and reduced the extent of renal tubular damage, as a result of a decrease in the urinary enzymes, thus minimizing the deposition of stone-forming constituents in the kidney. It also reduced inflammation and other damage in the bladder and kidneys.
Adulterations and substitutes
A mustard plaster is used as a substitute for a poultice of Crateva leaves as a rubefacient.
Description
- Small to medium-sized trees.
- Leaves spirally arranged, 3-foliolate, petiole long, sometimes at the top bearing gland-like appendages on the upper surface; stipules small, caducous; leaflets subsessile, lateral ones asymmetrical at base, sometimes with more or less distinct pellucid dots.
- Inflorescence a terminal corymb, either with arrested growth or developing into a leafy twig with lateral flowers.
- Flowers pedicelled, sustained by bracts, opening early, floral parts not persistent; bracts stipulate; sepals 4, equal, ovate-spathulate, green; petals 4, subequal, unguiculate, ovate to rhomboid, with narrowed base, first white, later cream-coloured, the lower pair tending to take a horizontal position; stamens (8-)12-30, filaments at the base connate with the long gynophore, filiform, spreading; gynophore as long as the stamens, in fruit gynophore and pedicel woody and often thickened; ovary 1-locular, stigma conspicuous, flat, soon after anthesis obsolete.
- Fruit a large berry, loculed, with tough, sometimes papillate skin.
- Seed densely packed, embedded in pulp, horseshoe-shaped, smooth or crested, 1 cotyledon larger, curved around the other.
Growth and development
Crateva starts flowering after 6 years. C. religiosa can be found flowering and fruiting throughout the year, while C. magna flowers irregularly.
Other botanical information
A frequently occurring orthographic variation of Crateva is Crataeva. In part of the flowers of Crateva, the gynophore is shed shortly before anthesis, leaving a scar. In some species only the apical flowers remain bisexual. Few flowers set fruit. The Indo-Malesian species all show considerable variation in the size of the floral parts, the size and form of the fruit and in the sculpture of the seed.
Ecology
Crateva occurs mostly in periodically inundated lowland forest near rivers, below 700 m altitude. In dry regions they are shortly deciduous, the flowers then appearing with the flush. The fruits of Crateva in the wild are probably dispersed by water.
Propagation and planting
Crateva is propagated by seed. Shoot apices from 40-year-old C. magna trees were cultured on Murashige & Skoog medium supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.8% agar and various concentrations of growth hormones. Best somatic embryogenesis occurred after 6 weeks in media supplemented with 1-2 mg 2,4-D/l, and retained their capacity for up to 5 months. Reducing the concentration of growth hormone, root differentiation was induced instead.
Diseases and pests
No serious diseases and pests are known for Crateva.
Handling after harvest
The parts of Crateva that are harvested are either used fresh, or dried for later use, especially the wood.
Genetic resources and breeding
Although Crateva species are rather scarce in their natural habitat, they are widely cultivated as ornamentals. The parts used are likely to be harvested from planted trees, and overcollection is therefore not a threat to genetic erosion, although the disappearance of the natural habitats certainly is. No breeding programmes are known to exist for Crateva.
Prospects
Lupeol and lupeol linoleate in Crateva display interesting activities on the inflammatory process in vivo, together with significant effects on renal oxalate excretion and renal tubular damage. Therefore the anti-inflammatory and anti-urolithiatic properties of these compounds merit further research.
Literature
- Geetha, T. & Varalakshmi, P., 1998. Anti-inflammatory activity of lupeol and lupeol linoleate in adjuvant-induced arthritis. Fitoterapia 69(1): 13-19.
- Inamdar, J.A., Nataraj, M., Mohan, J.S.S. & Subramanian, R.B., 1990. Somatic embryogenesis from callus cultures of Crataeva nurvala Buch.-Ham. Phytomorphology 40(3-4): 319-322.
- Jacobs, M., 1960. Crateva. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (Editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 6. Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing, Groningen, the Netherlands. pp. 63-69.
- Malini, M.M., Baskar, R. & Varalakshmi, P., 1995. Effect of lupeol, a pentacyclic triterpene, on urinary enzymes in hyperoxaluric rats. Japanese Journal of Medical Science and Biology 48(5-6): 211-220.
- Upadhye, A. & Kumbhojkar, M.S., 1996. Ethnobotany of genus Crateva L. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 20(3): 663-664.
- van Steenis, C.G.G.J., 1976. Addenda, corrigenda et emendanda. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (Editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 7. Noordhoff-Kolff N.V., Djakarta, Indonesia. p. 822.
Selection of species
Authors
- G.H. Schmelzer