Holarrhena pubescens (PROSEA)

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Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

File:Holarrhena pubescens MC.tif

1, tree habit; 2, flowering twig; 3, opened flower; 4, fruit; 5, seed (Iskak Syamsudin)

Holarrhena pubescens Wallich ex G. Don

Protologue: Gen. hist. 4: 78 (1837).

Synonyms

• Holarrhena antidysenterica (L.) Wallich ex A.DC. (1844),
• Holarrhena malaccensis Wight (1848),
• Holarrhena macrocarpa (Hassk.) Villar (1880).

Vernacular names

• Holarrhena (En).
• Ecorce de conessie (Fr)
• Cambodia: khleng kong, tuk das khla
• Laos: mouk nhai²
• Thailand: mok thung (northern), mok yai (central), so-thue (Karen-Mae Hong Son)
• Vietnam: mộc hoa trắng, hồ liên lá to.

Distribution

Tropical Africa, India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China (Yunnan) and Thailand.

Uses

The most important medicinal application of this species is for amoebic dysentery, for which especially the bark and occasionally also the seeds are used. The wood is used for small implements and as fuel wood, and the tree is also planted for its ornamental value.

Observations

• A shrub to medium-sized tree up to 18 m tall, bole up to 25 cm in diameter, bark surface rough and corky, longitudinally fissured, pale to dark grey.
• Leaves ovate to elliptical or narrowly so, 1.7-19.5 cm × 1.3-11 cm, apex acute to acuminate, with 5-25 pairs of lateral veins, papery when dry, petiole up to 12 mm long.
• Corolla tube 9-19 mm long, the lobes 10-24(-30) mm long.
• Fruit carpels pendulous, 20-37.5 cm × 2-9 mm.

H. pubescens is found in open places in evergreen rain forest, mixed deciduous forest, bamboo forest, scrub woodland and savanna, at 0-1500 m altitude. It is often found gregarious, on clay, laterite or sand, but also on rocky outcrops.

Selected sources

• [138] Begum, S., Usmani, S.B., Siddiqui, B.S. & Siddiqui, S., 1994. Alkaloids from the bark of Holarrhena pubescens. Phytochemistry 36(6): 1537-1541.
• [149] Bhutani, K.K., Ali, M., Sharma, S.R., Vaid, R.M., Gupta, D.K., 1988. Three new steroidal alkaloids from the bark of Holarrhena antidysenterica. Phytochemistry 27(3): 925-928.
• [150] Bhutani, K.K., Vaid, R.M., Ali, M., Kapoor, R., Soodan, S.R. & Kumar, D., 1990. Steroidal alkaloids from Holarrhena antidysenterica. Phytochemistry 29(3): 969-972.
• [158] Bisset, N.G., 1958. The occurrence of alkaloids in the Apocynaceae. Annales Bogorienses 3(1): 105-236.
• [161] Bisset, N.G., 1981. Phytochemistry of Holarrhena R. Br. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 81-2: 37.
• [202] 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.
• [239] Chaturvedi, G.N. & Singh, K.P., 1983. Side effects of a traditional indigenous drug - kutaja, Holarrhena antidysenterica. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 27(3): 355-356.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [318] Datta, K. & Datta, S.K., 1984. Auxin induced clonal multiplication of Holarrhena antidysenterica by tissue culture. Journal of Tree Sciences 3(1-2): 45-52.
• [330] de Kruif, A.P.M., 1981. A revision of Holarrhena R. Br. (Apocynaceae). Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 81-2: 1-36.
• [364] Doan Thi Nhu, Do Huy Bich, Pham Kim Man, Nguyen Thuong Thuc, Bui Xuan Chuong & Pham Duy Mai (Editors), 1993. Les plants médicinales au Vietnam. Livre 2. Médicine traditionelle et pharmacopée [The medicinal plants of Vietnam. Volume 2. Traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia]. Agence de coopération Culturelle et Technique, Paris, France. 189 pp.
• [402] Evans, W.C. (Editor), 1989. Trease and Evans' pharmacognosy. 13th Edition. Baillière Tindall, London, United Kingdom. 832 pp.
• [480] Ghorpade, B.R. & Patil, S.P., 1989. Bionomics of Glyphodes laticostalis Guenee as one of the most important pests of forest plantations in the Konkan region of Maharashtra State (India). Indian Journal of Forestry 129(3): 241-242.
• [675] Jayaswal, S.B., 1977. Wrightia tomentosa, a substitute for Holarrhena antidysenterica. Indian Journal of Pharmacy 39(2): 37-39.
• [689] Jolly, C.I. & Mechery, N.R., 1996. Comparative pharmacognostical, physicochemical and antibacterial studies on seeds of Holarrhena antidysenterica Wall and Wrightia tinctoria R. Br. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 58(2): 51-54.
• [725] Khan, P.S.H., 1987. Comparative seed structure of medicinally important Holarrhena antidysenterica (Roth.) A.DC. and its adulterant, Wrightia tinctoria R.Br (Apocynaceae). International Journal of Crude Drug Research 25(2): 81-86.
• [741] Kirtikar, K.R. & Basu, B.D., 1935. Indian medicinal plants. 2nd Edition, edited by Blatter, E., Caius, J.F. & Mhaskar, K.S. L.H. Basu, Allahabad, India. 4 volumes xxxvii + 2793 pp.
• [904] Marimuthu, S., Subramanian, R.B., Kothari, I.L. & Inamdar, J.A., 1989. Laticiferous taxa as a source of energy and hydrocarbon. Economic Botany 43(2): 255-261.
• [1035] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• [1109] Panda, A.K., Bisaria, V.S. & Mishra, S., 1992. Alkaloid production by plant cell cultures of Holarrhena antidysenterica. II. Effect of precursor feeding and cultivation. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 39(10): 1052-1057.
• [1110] Panda, A.K., Bisaria, V.S., Mishra, S. & Bhojwani, S.S., 1991. Cell culture of Holarrhena antidysenterica: growth and alkaloid production. Phytochemistry 30(3): 833-836.
• [1111] Panda, A.K., Mishra, S.& Bisaria, V.S., 1992. Alkaloid production by plant cell suspension culture of Holarrhena antidysenterica. I. Effect of major nutrients. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 39(10): 1043-1051.
• [1113] Panigrahi, G., 1987. Echites antidysenterica (L.) Roxb. ex Fleming and Holarrhena antidysenterica (L.) Wall., validly published synonyms of Wallida antidysenterica. Taxon 36: 464-467.
• [1128] 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.
• [1227] Ridley, H.N., 1922-1925. The flora of the Malay Peninsula. 5 volumes. Government of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. L. Reeve & Co, London, United Kingdom.
• [1277] Samuelsson, G. (Editor), 1992. Drugs of natural origin, a textbook of pharmacognosy. Swedish Pharmaceutical Press, Stockholm, Sweden. 320 pp.
• [1287] Saralamp, P., Temsiririrkkul, R., Chuakul, W., Riewpaiboon, A., Prathanturarug, S., Suthisisang, C. & Pongcharoensuk, P. (Editors), 1996. Medicinal plants in the Siri Ruckhachati Garden. 2nd Edition. Siambooks and Publications Co., Bangkok, Thailand. 263 pp.
• [1348] Siddiqui, B.S., Usmani, S.B., Begum, S. & Siddiqui, S., 1993. Steroidal alkaloids and an androstane derivative from the bark of Holarrhena pubescens. Phytochemistry 33(4): 925-928.
• [1349] Siddiqui, B.S., Usmani, S.B., Begum, S. & Siddiqui, S., 1994. Steroidal constituents of Holarrhena pubescens. Journal of Natural Products (Lloydia) 57(1): 27-31.
• [1352] Siddiqui, S. & Shamsuddin, B.A., 1989. Isolation and structure of holarrifine, a new alkaloid from the bark of Holarrhena antidysenterica. Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research 32(1): 1-3.
• [1380] Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.
• [1478] Troup, R.S., 1921. Silviculture of Indian trees. 3 volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.
• [1538] Wahi, S.P., Wahi, A.K., Khosa, R.L. & Sharma, M., 1977. A simple method of distinguishing Holarrhena antidysenterica from its adulterant, Wrightia tomentosa. Indian Journal of Pharmacy 39(1): 25.

Main genus page

• Holarrhena (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Wongsatit Chuakul, Noppamas Soonthornchareonnon & Promjit Saralamp