Botany
Smooth tree, 7-16 meters high. The leaves are leathery, elliptic to oblong-ovate, 11-25 cm long, blunt-tipped and rounded or heart-shaped at the base. Stipules are green, ovate to elliptic, 1-3 cm long. Flowers heads are solitary, terminal, 4-5 cm diameter. Flowers are white.

Distribution
In secondary forests at low and medium altitudes.

Parts utilized
Bark

Uses
Folkloric
Leaves applied to boils and tumors.
Bark decoction for diarrhea and toothaches.
Elsewhere, bark used as ingredient in birth control concoctions.
• Aboriginal people of North Queensland crush the fruits in water to use as baby food; also used for coughs, colds, stomach pains and diarrhea.
Others
Fruits palatable to bats and birds.

Studies
• Antimalarial : Antimalarial Constituents from Nauclea orientalis (L.): Phytochemicals isolated two novel tetrahydro-B-carboline monoterpene alkaloid glucosides: naucleaorine and epimethoxynaucleaorine. Study showed moderate in vitro activities against Plasmodium falcifarum.
• Phytochemicals: New Indole Alkaloids from the Bark of Nauclea orientalis: Four new alkaloids, nauclealines A and B and naucleosides A and B, together with six known compounds were isolated from the bark of Nauclea orientalis.
• Antiproliferative / Alkaloids: Study yielded nine indole alkaloids from ammoniacal extracts of Nauclea orientalis. The compounds were found to exhibit in vitro anti-prolilferative activity against human bladder carcinoma T-24 cell line and epidermal growth-factor-dependent mouse epidermal keratinocytes.
• Anthelmintic: Various extracts of Nauclea orientalis leaves were evaluated for anthelmintic activity on adult Indian earthworm (Pheretima posthuma). The extracts exhibited dose-dependent action with inhibition of spontaneous motility and death of earthworms.
• Cytotoxic Indole Alkaloids: Study yielded a pair of new isomeric indole alkaloids, naucleaoral A and B from the roots. Naucleaoral A showed significant cytotoxicity against HeLa cells, while compound B showed very modest cytotoxicity against both HeLa and KV cell lines.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Antimalarial Constituents from Nauclea orientalis (L.)/ Zhen-Dan He, Cui-Ying Ma, Hong-Jie Zhang, Ghee Teng Tan / Chemistry & Biodiversity • Volume 2 Issue 10, Pages 1378 - 1386
(2)
New Indole Alkaloids from the Bark of Nauclea orientalis / Zhizhen Zhang, Hala N. ElSohly et al
(3)
Indole alkaloids with in vitro antiproliferative activity from the ammoniacal extract of Nauclea orientalis./ Erdelmeier C A et al / Planta-Med. 1992 Feb; 58(1): 43-8 /
(4)
In vitro Evaluation of Anthelmintic Activity of Nauclea orientalis Leaves / S T V Raghavamma and N Rama Rao / Indian J Pharm Sci. 2010 Jul–Aug; 72(4): 520–521. / doi: 10.4103/0250-474X.73932.
(5)
Two new cytotoxic isomeric indole alkaloids from the roots of Nauclea orientalis / Jirapast Sichaem, Serm Surapinit et al / Fitoterapia, Vol 81, Issue 7, Oct 2010, Pages 830-833 / doi:10.1016/j.fitote.2010.05.004
(6)
Nauclea subdita / ZipcodeZoo