Botany
Makopa is a tree reaching a
height of 10 meters. Leaves are pinkish when young. Older leaves are large,
drooping, elliptic-oblong to broadly oblong-lanceolate, 15 to 30 centimeters long,
7 to 15 centimeters wide, narrowed and pointed at both ends. Flowers are large, showy, crimson, 5 to 6
centimeters in diameter, borne on the branches below the leaves, clustered on short, few-flowered racemes, 6 centimeters long or less. Fruit is shiny,
oblong or pear-shaped, 5 to 7.5 centimeters long, either white splashed, striped with pink,
or wholly crimson to purplish, and slightly shiny, seedless or one-seeded. Flesh is white, pithy,
juicy. Although rather tasteless, some varieties have a pleasant flavor.
 Distribution
- Cultivated
for its edible fruit.
- Nowhere naturalized.
- Also occurs in Indo-Malaya.
- Now planted in most tropical countries.
Parts
used and preparation
Leaves.
Constituents
• Leaf oil largely composed of monoterpenes (30% sesquiterpenes,
9 % caryophyllene).
Properties
- Considered diuretic, emmenagogue, abortifacient, febrifuge.
.
Uses
Nutrition / Culinary
Fruit is eaten raw but may be prepared with flavoring.
In Puerto Rico, used
for making of table wines.
In Indonesia, flowers
eaten in salads. Young shoots and leaves eaten, raw or cooked.
Folkloric
- Not known
in the Philippines for its medicinal properties.
- In the Moluccas, the astringent bark is used for making a mouthwash for thrush (dapulak).
- A root-bark decoction used for dysentery and amenorrhea.
- Malays applies the dried, powdered leaves for cracked tongues.
- Root applied to itches.
- For sore throat, the inner bark is scraped or the whole bark is decocted.
-
Root-bark used as abortifacient; also for amenorrhea and dysentery.
- In Hawaii, juice of
salted pounded bark used for wounds.
- In Molucca, decoction
of bark used for thrush.
Malayans use powdered
dried leaves for cracked tongues. Root preparations for itching.
- In Cambodia, decoction
of fruit, leaves and seeds used for fever. Juice of leaves used
for baths and lotions. The root is considered diuretic.
- In Brazil, used for
diabetes, cough, headaches, constipation.
- In Malaysian Borneo, Malaysian
Borneo, decoction of stem and bark for diarrhea.
Others
Wood is used for construction, bowls and boards.
 Studies
• Antiinflammatory: Flavan-3-ols
isolated from some medicinal plants inhibiting COX-1 and COX-2 catalyzed
prostaglandin biosynthesis: S malaccense was one of four
plants tested that were traditionally used for inflammatory conditions.
• Antioxidant: (1) Study of 58 underutilized Malaysian fruits of 32 different species, showed fruits from some genera, including Syzygium, had higher antioxidant capacity compared to other genera. (2) Leaf extract exhibited a high antioxidant activity with DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging assays. A strong correlation was noted with phenoli and flavonoid contents.
• Leaf Oil Analysis: Study of hydrodistilled essential oil from the fresh leaves of SM grown in Nigeria showed the oil to be largely composed of monoterpenes (61.1%) characterized mainly by a-pinene, b-pinene, p-cymene and a-terpineol. The sesquiterpenes constituted 30.8% of the oil with b-caryophyllene as the major component.
• Essential Oils / Non-Ichthyotoxic: Study yielded three compounds – ursolic acid, B-sitosterol, and sitos-4-en-3-one. None of the compounds gave any significant ichthyotoxicity.
• Aldose Reductase Inhibition / Cataract Prevention: Cataractogenesis is a common complication in diabetes, and aldose reductase in a lens enzyme involved in its development. In a study, S malaccense was one of the best four plant extract inhibitors with a preventive effect on cataract formation.
• Hypoglycemic / Antidiabetic: Study of SM aqueous and alcoholic bark extracts in STZ-induced diabetic rats showed reduction of blood sugar and improvement in hyperlipidemia and liver glycogen depletion. The alcohol extract was more effective than the aqueoous extract and equivalent to that of glibenclamide.
• Candied Fruit Slices: Study was done to develop pomera (S. malaccense), an underutilized highly perishable fruit, into a candied fruit product. Results showed the color, taste, and texture of the candied fruit to be acceptable.
Availability
Cultivated.
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