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 Botany
Uampi is a small tree about 7 meters high. Leaves are dark green, pinnate, with 5 to 9 leaflets. Each leaflet has a stalk about 3 milimeters long, the blade ovate-elliptic, lanceolate or ovate, about 7 to 10 centimeters or more in length, pointed at the tip, much wider on one side of the base. Flowers are borne in terminal panicles, white, about 14 millimeters in diameter. Petals are five, white, and boat-shaped. Calyx is small and five-parted. Stamens are 10, with conspicuous yello anthers. Ovary is five-celled, borne on a short stalk, covered with hairy nobs, and surrounded by a short style terminating in a rounded stigma. Fruit is ivory yellow, rounded, about 2 centimeters in diameter, very slightly flattened at the base, somewhat rounded at the tip, and borne in bunches. Skin of the fruit is thin and soft, dotted with minute, raised, somewhat darker-colored spots, covered with short hairs, and marked by five, usually very inconspicuous, longitudinal lines which are lighter in color than the remainder of the fruit. Flesh is yellowish white, soft, juicy, somewhat acid in taste; cross-section shows a division into five segments by thin, white lines. Usually one to four of the segments contain a single, rather large, flattened green seed, attached near the apex of the fruit.
Distribution
- Uncommon cultivation in the Philippines.
- Introduced from and commonly cultivated in China for its edible fruit.
- Known in the Philippines earlier than 1837; reintroduced from China in 1912.
Parts
utilized
Leaves, fruits.
Collect leaves from August to October (early gathering of the
leaves affects fruiting.)
Dry under shade.
Constituents
• Essential oil extracted yielded: (1) Leaves: ß-santalol,
bisabolol, methyl santalol, ledol and sinensal (2) Flowers: ß-santalol,
9-octadecenamide, sinensal (3) Seeds: phellandrene, limonene, p-menth-1-en-4-ol.
• Study yielded seven compounds: corchoionoside C, 1'-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl (2R,3S)-3-hydroxynodakenetin, quercetin-3-O-robinobioside, rutin, quercetin-3-O-scillabioside, kaempferol-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->2)[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->6)]-beta-D-glucopyranoside and mauritianin.
• Study isolated a novel oxirane carboxamide from a hexane extract.
Properties
• Bitter, pungent-tasting, slightly
warming, anti-cold, antifebrile, improves circulation and analgesic.
• Considered stomachic, cooling and anthelmintic.
Uses
Culinary
• Condiment: as substitute for Curry leaf tree.
• Fruit used to make juice and beverage.
• In China, a much esteemed fruit, made into delicious preserves.
Folkloric
• For influenza, cold, malaria: use 15 to 30 gms dried leaves
in decoction.
•For gastric pains, abdominal colic pains: use drupe, 9-15 gms
in decoction.
• In some countries, used for bronchitis, malaria, hepatitis,
gastrointestinal inflammation.
• In China, used
for bronchitis. Leaf decoction used as hair shampoo.
• Leaves have been used for cough, asthma and gastrointestinal diseases; fruit for digestive disorders and seeds for GI disorders and chronic gastrointestinal ulcers.
 Studies
•
Anti-trichomonal / Anti-diabetic / Anti-inflammatory / Hepatoprotective
/ Antioxidant: Study isolated compounds with various
biologic activities: Imperatorin and 3-formylcarbazole showed anti-trichomonal
activity; Imperatorin and chalepin were the active constituents responsible
for insulin release and anti-diabetic activity. Results also exhibited
antioxidant, antiinflammatory and hepatoprotective effects.
• Antinociceptive / Neuroleptic:
ß-santalol, the main constituent of the essential oils of leaves,
flowers and sarcocarps has antinociceptive CNS effects and can be considered
a neuroleptic.
• Insecticidal:
Phellandrene, the main constituent of the seed oil has been shown to
be insecticidal.
• Hepatoprotective:
Study showed the hepatoprotective actions of eight of nine compounds
isolated from the leaves of C lansium, decreasing the hepatotoxicity
of thioacetamide and acetaminophen in mice.
• Antifungal / Antiproliferative
/ HIV Reverse Transcriptase-Inhibition: Study isolated
from the seeds of CL, a homodimeric trypsin inhibitor which exhibited
antifungal, antiHIV reverse transcriptase and antiproliferative activities.
• Antioxidant / Anticancer: A study of various extracts and fractions showed the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited the highest antioxidant activity, reducing power and superoxide scavenging activity. Also, the EAF exhibited strong anticancer activities against human cancer cell lines – gastric carcinoma, hepatocellular liver carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma, higher than cisplastin. Results suggest wampee peel as a potential source of natural antioxidants and possible pharmaceutical supplement.
• Antioxidant / Anticancer / 8-Hydroxypsoralen: Study yielded a pure compound - 8-hydroxypsoralen from the wampee peel. It exhibited good scavenging activities against DPPH radical and superoxide anion and also showed potent proliferation inhibition against seceral human cancer cell lines (hepatocellular liver carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma and cervical carcinoma).
• Pharmacologic Properties / Biologic Activities: A study showed the superiority of the dichlormethane extract over the methanolic extract. Various activities showed were significant anti-hyperglycemic, hepatoprotective, antioxidant and anti-trichomonal activities. Its antidiabetic action was through stimulation of insulin release, mediated by imperatorin and chalepin.
• Coumarins / Cytotoxicity: Study isolated two new coumarins, clausenalansimin A and B, together with seven known coumarins from the twigs of C lansium. Some isolated showed cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines (KB, MCF7, and NCI-Hi87).
• Anti-Allergic: Study showed extracts contained phenolic, flavones, alkaloid, organic acid, coumarins etc. Results showed the antiallergic components contained mainly phenolics and flavones. The inhibitory effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts on hyaluronidase was about 89 and 75% respectively.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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