Botany
Erect, smooth shrub or small
tree, 4-10 meters high. Leaves are broadly elliptic to oblong,
12-25 cm long, with pointed or blunted tips. Peduncles are leaf-opposed,
solitary, 1-3 cm long. Flowers are dense, ovoid; calyx is truncate.
Corolla is white, 1 cm long; limb is 5-lobed, 1 cm in diameter.
Fruit has the odor of decaying chees; is fleshy, white or greenish
white, ovoid, 3-10 cm long.
Distribution
Along or near seashores, throughout
the Philippines.
Parts utilized:
Roots, bark, leaves.
Properties
Fruit is emmenagogue.
Root is cathartic.
Bark, because of morindine, is febrifuge
Tonic
Fruit contains phytochemicals: lignans, polysaccharides, flavonoids, iridoids,
nonisides, scopoletin, catechin and epicatechin, damnacanthal, alkaloids.
Uses
Edible
Fruit is edible, but not great tasting,
raw or cooked, salted or curried.
Fruit occasionally used as pig feed.
Folkloric
Fruit is used as emmenagogue.
Leaves, when fresh, applied to ulcers, facilitates healing.
Heated leave applied to the chest for coughs, nausea, colic, fever.
Decoction of charred leaves with mustard for infantile diarrhea.
Juice of over-ripe fruit used for diabetes.
Juice of fruit pulp, mashed with sugar, is slightly laxative.
Syrup of fruit juice used as a gargle for sore throats.
Leaves, fruit, flowers or bark used for eye problems, wounds, abscesses,
fever, constipation.
Leaf juice used for arthritis.
In Polynesian traditional medicine, used for anticancer activity.
Others
Pulp of fruit used for cleaning hair,
iron, or steel.
Young leaves may be eaten as vegetable.
Tonic drink is prepared from decoction of pounded leaves and stem bark.
Bark produces a reddish purple to brown dye used in batik making.
Noni rage
Briefly ruled as a herbal dietary supplement snake oil
cure-all (Noni Juice or as a morinda capsule supplement ) claiming a wide
range of therapeutic effects: antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antitumor,
analgesic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, and immune enhancing effects
among many others.
Studies
• Antioxidant / Anticancer: Study suggest the prevention of carcinogen-DNA adduct formation and the antioxidant activity from commercial juice made from M citrifolia fruit may contribute to the cancer preventive effect of M citrifolia.
• Nitric Oxide Scavenging Activity: Study of plant extracts of 17 Indian medicinal plants, M citrifolia was third in potency of dose-dependent nitric-oxide scavenging activity.
• Herbal Hepatotoxicity / Case Report: Report of a case of hepatotoxicity from a three-week history of drinking Noni juice. Pathology was confirmed by liverf biopsy. Transaminase levels normalized within a month.
• Antispasmodic / Vasodilator Activities: Results suggest the spasmolytic and vasodilator effects of Moringa citrifolia are mediated possibly through blockade of voltage-dependent calcium channels and release of intracellular calcium – mechanisms that may explain its use in diarrhea and hypertension.
• Analgesic: Study suggests the alcoholic extract of fruits of Moringa citrifolia appears to have an analgesic effect. Morphine sulfate was the reference drug.
• Wound Healing / Antioxidant: Study showed antioxidant and wound healing activities: increase in wound contraction rate, tensile strength, granuloma breaking strength, collagen content and hydroxyproling content.
• Antiviral / Cytotoxicity: Study of fruit juice of M citrifolia displayed marked cytotoxicity in lymphocyte (MT-4) cells and inhibition of HCV subgenomic replicon replication in Huh 5-2 cells.
• Apoptosis-Inducing Effects/ Cytotoxicity: Results showed an anti-growth effect from induction of apoptosis. Study showed noni may be useful in the treatment of breast cancer either on its own or in combination with doxorubicin.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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