Gmelina philippensis (PROSEA)
Introduction |
Gmelina philippensis Cham.
- Protologue: Linnaea 7: 109 (1832).
Synonyms
- Gmelina asiatica sensu Blanco (1837),
- Gmelina hystrix Schult. ex Kurz (1871),
- Gmelina asiatica L. var. philippinensis (Cham.) Bakh. (1921).
Vernacular names
- Malaysia: bulangan duri (Peninsular)
- Philippines: alipung (Tagalog), bosel-bosel (Iloko), tulongan (Pinay Bisaya)
- Thailand: khaang maeo (central, peninsular), khaao che (general), so maeo (northern)
- Vietnam: tu hú philippin, tu hú lá bắc tím.
Distribution
From India eastward to Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and Indo-China, southward to Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Widely cultivated as an ornamental throughout the tropics.
Uses
In the Philippines, juice of the fruit is applied to eczema of the feet. It is further mentioned as a leech repellent. In Peninsular Malaysia, the fruit pounded with lime is applied as a poultice to the throat as a remedy for coughs. In Indo-China, the juice of the roots is used as a purgative and in treating fatigue. The extract of the roots is used internally as a stimulant, resolvent, and in treating diseases of the joints and nerves. Likewise an extract of the leaves is employed externally.
Observations
- An evergreen, moderately sized, straggling or scandent shrub or tree up to 7 m tall, usually spiny, bark yellowish, ultimate branches divaricate, drooping or subscandent.
- Leaves mostly anisophyllous, ovate or elliptical to obovate, entire or distantly toothed to slightly few-lobed, 1.5-10 cm × 1.5-6 cm, base cuneate, apex obtuse, subacute or cuneate, glabrous and shiny above, pale and often glaucous below.
- Raceme terminal, 10-20 cm long, bracts large, foliaceous, conspicuous, green, yellow, purple or red.
- Flowers pendulous, calyx with 2-4 glands outside, corolla inflated upwards, 4.5-5.5 cm long, yellow, moderately densely pubescent or glabrous.
- Drupe obovoid, about 1.2 cm long, yellow.
G. philippensis is found in thickets in secondary forest at low and medium altitudes.
Selected sources
- [74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
- [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
- [207] Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 774 pp.
- [788] Pételot, A., 1952—1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
- [810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
Main genus page
Authors
- R.C.K. Chung