 Botany
Malatungau is a spreading shrub growing to a height of 2 meters. Twigs and flower stalks are rough with small, triangular, upward pointing scales. Leaves are broadly lanceolate, 7 to 12 centimeters long, slightly rough and hairy on both surfaces. Flowers are 4 to 7 centimeters across, clustered, and mauve purple. Calyx is closely set with short, chaffy, silky or silvery scales. Fruit is ovoid, about 6 millimeters wide and pulpy within.
Distribution
- In thickets and secondary forests at low and medium altitudes in Zambales, Nueva Viscaya, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Bataan, and Cavite Provinces in Luzon; in Mindoro; in Sibuyan; and in Negros.
- Domesticated in Baguio as an ornamental.
- Also occurs in India to Indo-China and through Malaya to New Guinea, Australia, and Madagascar.
Constituents
- Study reports the extraction of three classes of compounds – triterpenoids, glycolipids and flavonoids from the leaves and flowers.
- Study of ethyl acetate extract yielded naringenin, kaempferol and kaempferol-3-O-d-glucoside.
- Study of leaves with white petals yielded flavonoids quercetin 1 and quercitrin 2.
- Phytochemical analysis of various parts have yielded flavonoids, flavan-3-ols, triterpenes, tannins, anthocyanins, saponins, steroids, glycosides, and phenolics.
- n-hexane extract yielded a-amyrin, patriscabatrine and auranamide, ethyl acetate extract gave quercetin and quercitrin, and methanol extract gave quercitrin and kaempferol-3-O-(2",6"-di-O-p-trans-coumaroyl)glucoside.
Properties
Seeds are thinly coated with red flesh which stain the mouth when eaten.
Considered astringent, sedative, digestive, antiflatulent.
Parts used
Leaves, roots, flowers, young shoots.
Uses
Culinary
- Fruit flesh is rather sweet, slightly astringent.
- Seeds are thinly coated with red flesh, staining the mouth when they are eaten.
- In Java, sour leaves, when young, eaten with other foods.
Folkloric
- In Southeast Asian folklore medicine, leaves, shoots, bark, seeds, and roots are used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, cuts and wounds, toothache, stomachache.
- Leaves are chewed up, pounded, and applied as poultice to cuts or wounds; also, squeezed to apply the juice to stop bleeding.
- Young leaves are eaten to treat diarrhea; premature leaves are consumed raw to cure dysentery.
- Roots are used as mouthwash to relieve toothache or to treat epilepsy.
- Shoots are ingested to treat puerperal infections, high blood pressure and diabetes.
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Decoction of leaves and young shoots given for diarrhea, alone or with mangosteen bark or fruit husks.
- Boiled young shoots, alone or with extract of mangosteen husks are mixed with sambong leaves for same purpose.
- As a bath, for flatulence, acidity, and tenderness of the legs.
- Shoots taken internally for puerperal infections.
- Juice from roots applied to lessen the soreness associated with thrush in children.
- Powdered leaves used as astringent for dysentery.
- Juice of leaves and roots used as a digestive aid.
- Flowers used as a nervous sedative and for hemorrhoidal bleeding.
- Leaves and flowers used as astringent in leucorrhea and chronic diarrhea.
- In India, flowers are used in the treatment of cancer.
- In Tahiti, plant used for diarrhea and dysentery; decoction of the bark as gargle.
- Decoction of roots and leaves, or roots alone, given to women after childbirth.
- Powdered leaves and roots sprinkled over wounds; also sprinkled over healing pustules of smallpox to prevent scarring.
- Handful of leaves, boiled with vinegar, ginger and "bonglai," given as decoction for leucorrhea.
- In traditional Chinese medicine, seeds used in the "poh chi" pills to treat diarrhea.
Studies
• Antinociceptive: Study of ethanolic extract of M malabathricum demonstrated strong dose-dependent antinociceptive effect. Naloxone, a nonselective opioid receptor antagonist blocked the antinociceptive effect suggesting MM may act both at peripheral and central levels.
• Gastroprotective / Anti-Ulcer: Study of the aqueous leaf extract of M malabathricum against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injuries in rats showed significant and dose-dependent inhibition of ethanol-induced gastric ulcers.
• Antidiarrheal / Non-Toxicity: Study of the water extract of M malabathricum on diarrhea models in Swiss mice showed significant reduction of fecal output and protection from castor oil-induced diarrhea. No mortality or toxicity signs were observed at doses up to 2000 mg/kg dose.
• Anti-Inflammatory: Study results suggest that the natural flavonoid and pentacyclic triterpenes from M malabathricum possess selective antagonistic activity toward platelet activating factor (PAF) and may be a potential candidate as an anti-inflammatory compound.
• Antioxidant / Cytotoxicity: Study of flower extracts and isolated compounds showed radical scavenging activity. Naringenin and kaempferol-3-O-(2",6"-di-O-p-trans-coumaroyl)glucoside showed inhibition of cell proliferation of MCF7 cell line.
• Antimicrobial: In a study of ethnomedicinal uses of 40 medicinal plants and antimicrobial activity against S aureus, B licheniformis, B brevis, B subtilis, P aeruginosa, E coli among others, M malabathricum (leaf) was one of 14 plants that showed outstanding antimicrobial activity.
• Wound Healing Activity: An extract, prepared as a 5% ointment, exhibited wound healing activity with wound contracting ability, closure time, tensile strength, and regeneration of tissues at the wound site, comparable to standard drug, nitrofurazone.
• Antioxidant / Anti-Inflammatory: Leaf extracts yielded n-hexane extract yielded a-amyrin, patriscabatrine and auranamide, quercetin and quercitrin, and kaempferol-3-O-(2",6"-di-O-p-trans-coumaroyl)glucoside. Quercetin, quercitrin, and kaempferol-3-O-(2",6"-di-O-p-trans-coumaroyl)glucoside showed strong activities with FTP radical scavenging assay. a-Amyrin and kaempferol showed the strongest activity in the anti-inflammatory assay.
• In vitro Anticoagulant Activity: An aqueous leaf extract was observed to possess potent anticoagulant property, affecting the intrinsic pathway of coagulation cascade by causing clotting factor/s deficiency.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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