Quassia amara (PROSEA)

From Pl@ntUse
Jump to navigation Jump to search
File:Logo PROSEA.png
Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction
List of species


Quassia amara L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. ed. 2, 1: 553 (1762).
Family: Simaroubaceae

Vernacular names

  • Quassia wood, Surinam quassia wood (En)
  • Indonesia: genteng peujit, ki congcorang (Sundanese)
  • Philippines: corales, kuasia (Tagalog)
  • Thailand: prathat yai, prathat cheen, ping
  • Vietnam: lá lau, thằn lằn.

Distribution

Native in northern Brazil, cultivated in Malesia and locally naturalized.

Uses

Throughout South-East Asia the wood extract is valued as a bitter tonic, febrifuge and stomachic. It promotes gastric, intestinal, hepatic and renal secretions. In Central and South America a decoction of the wood is employed in dyspepsia, dysentery, diarrhoea, flatulence and gonorrhoea. A decoction is sometimes employed as enema to get rid of threadworms. In Costa Rica a decoction is used in the control of diabetes mellitus.

Observations

  • A shrub or small tree, 2-3(-6) m tall.
  • Leaves imparipinnate with (1-3)-5 leaflets, petiole winged, 5-16 cm long, rachis winged and conspicuously articulated, leaflets obovate-oblong, almost sessile.
  • Inflorescence an often branched raceme, 10-25 cm long.
  • Flowers bisexual, calyx patent, 7-8 mm long, bright red, petals 5, oblong, about 3-4 cm × 0.5 cm, remaining mostly tight together, bright red outside, white inside, stamens and style protruding.
  • Fruit an aggregate of up to 5 drupes, elliptical-obovate, 8-15 mm long, purplish black, attached to a fleshy red receptacle.

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.
  • [121] Blaschek, W., Hänsel, R., Keller, K., Reichling, J., Rimpler, H. & Schneider, G. (Editors), 1998. Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis. Folgeband 3: Drogen L—Z [Hagers handbook of the practice of pharmacology. Suppl. 3: drugs L—Z]. 5th Edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 858 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.
  • [241] de Padua, L.S., Lugod, G.C. & Pancho, J.V., 1977—1983. Handbook on Philippine medicinal plants. 4 volumes. Documentation and Information Section, Office of the Director of Research, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the Philippines.
  • [291] Evans, D.A. & Raj, R.K., 1991. Larvicidal efficacy of quassin against Culex quinquefasciatus. Indian Journal of Medical Research Section A, Infectious Diseases 93: 324—327.
  • [304] Fernando, E.S., Gadek, P.A. & Quinn, C.J., 1995. Simaroubaceae, an artificial construct: evidence from rbcL sequence variation. American Journal of Botany 82(1): 92—103.
  • [380] Gutierrez, H.G., 1980—1982. An illustrated manual of Philippine materia medica. 2 volumes. Natural Research Council of the Philippines, Tagig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Vol. 1 (1980) pp. 1—234, Vol. 2 (1982) pp. 235—485.
  • [407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
  • [415] Hohn, H., Hopli, H.U. & Graf, B, 1996. Quassia und Neem: exotische Insektizide im Obstbau [Quassia and neem: exotic insecticides in fruit culture]. Obst- und Weinbau 132(3): 62—63.
  • [647] Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of agricultural and horticultural plants in cultivation (without ornamentals)]. Schultze-Motel, J. et al. (Editors). 2nd Edition. 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.
  • [696] Morton, J.F., 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Middle America. Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, United States. 1420 pp.
  • [746] Nooteboom, H.P., 1962. Simaroubaceae. In: van Steenis C.G.G.J. (Editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 6. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. pp. 193—226.
  • [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.
  • [839] Reynolds, J.E.F. (Editor), 1996. Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia. 31th Edition. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, London, United Kingdom. 2739 pp.
  • [861] Samuelsson, G. (Editor), 1992. Drugs of natural origin, a textbook of pharmacognosy. Swedish Pharmaceutical Press, Stockholm, Sweden. 320 pp.
  • [868] 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.
  • [885] Scragg, A.H., Ashton, S., Steward, R.D. & Allan, E.J., 1990. Growth of and quassin accumulation by cultures of Quassia amara. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 23(3): 165—169.
  • [894] Sengonca, C.& Brüggen, K.U., 1991. Untersuchungen über die Wirkung wässriger Extrakte aus Quassia amara (L.) auf Getreideblattläuse [The influence of aquaeous extracts of Quassia amara (L.) on cereal aphids]. Journal of Applied Entomology 112(2): 211—215.

Main genus page

Authors

  • H.C. Ong
Retrieved from "https://plantuse.plantnet.org/en/index.php?title=Quassia_amara_(PROSEA)&oldid=335258"