1329

12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2

Tabernaemontana rostrata Roxb. ex Wallich

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Tabernaemontana in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Bot. Reg. 15: sub t. 1273 (1829).

Tabernaemontana crispa auct. non Roxb. (1829), Ervatamia cylindrocarpa King & Gamble (1908), Ervatamia rostrata (Roxb. ex Wallich) Markgr. (1935).

Indonesia: daggi (Siberut). Malaysia: lelada, tandok-tandok. Thailand: phut (central), khem dong (northern).

From eastern India, through Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo to the Philippines (Luzon, Palawan).

In Peninsular Malaysia, the leaves pounded with turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) and rice are used as a poultice against itch and eczema. A steam bath of the leaves is applied for syphilitic afflictions. In Indonesia, on Siberut (Mentawai Islands), bark and leaves are ingredients of a dart poison, which also includes Capsicum fruits and Derris elliptica (Wallich) Benth. root. In India, an infusion of the bark or root is used against dysentery and as an astringent. The latex of the root is used against diarrhoea, dysentery and externally applied on abscesses.

A shrub, 0.5—2 m tall, stem 1.5—2 cm in diameter; leaves elliptical to narrowly elliptical, 4—23 cm x 1—8.5 cm, 2.2—4.5 times longer than wide, apex acuminate, petiole 2—20 mm long; inflorescence lax, 2—12 cm x 2—5 cm, 2—15-flowered; flowers fragrant or not, open during the night, sepals pale green, leafy, corolla in mature bud 14—26 mm long with a wide broadly ovoid head for 20—35% of the length, apex blunt, tube 1.8—4(—6) times longer than the calyx, (9—)13—22 mm long, twisted 0.5 turn or not just below the anthers; fruit consisting of 2 separate mericarps, pod-like, orange or red, several-seeded, dehiscent. Tabernaemontana rostrata is found in forest and scrub from sea-level to 1400 m altitude.

[135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
[672] Middleton, D.J., 1999. Apocynaceae. In: Santisuk, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors). Flora of Thailand. Vol. 7(1). The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. pp. 1—153.
[1118] Zahorka, H., 1998. 'Omai'- Die Pfeilgiftmixtur der neolitischen Jäger auf der indonesischen Mentawai-Insel Siberut, eine letale Mischung dreier Arten (Hundgiftgewächs, Hülsenfrüchtler und Gewürznachtschatten).['Omai' - Dartpoison of the neolitic hunters of Siberut, Mentawi Islands, Indonesia, a lethal mixture of three species (a dogbane, a pulse and Capsicum pepper)]. Der Palmengarten 62(2): 103—108.

L.S.L. Chua & S.F.A.J. Horsten

Chua, L.S.L & Horsten, S.F.A.J., 2001. Tabernaemontana rostrata Roxb. ex Wallich. In: van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea