1381

12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2

Zanthoxylum avicennae (Lamk) DC.

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

Prodr. 1: 726 (1824).

Fagara avicennae Lamk (1788), Zanthoxylum tidorense Miq. (1867), Zanthoxylum diversifolium Warb. (1891).

Indonesia: karangeang (Javanese), adas kastela, samirin (Moluccas). Philippines: bagatambal (Bisaya), bungi (Tagalog), kangai (Pampango). Vietnam: mu[oof]ng tru[oor]ng, bu[oof]n chu[oof]n, s[er]n lai.

From Thailand east to Vietnam and south-eastern China and south to the Philippines, Malaysia (Sabah) and Indonesia (Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Moluccas).

In the Philippines and Indo-China the stem and bark are used medicinally as a tonic and to treat snakebites. In Vietnamese folk medicine a decoction of the roots is drunk or employed as a wash for allergic dermatitis. In Java, the leaves and fruits are used to flavour food; the leaves smell like coriander, the seeds like anise. The hard, dense, heavy reddish wood is used to make small tool handles.

A dioecious, erect or scandent, evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 15 m tall, with pseudostipulae, straight or recurved prickles on the branches; leaves alternate, imparipinnate, rachis narrowly winged, 5—30 cm long, leaflets subopposite, 3—23, ovate to elliptical-lanceolate, 1—8 cm x 1—3 cm, pellucid dotted, margin subentire to glandular crenate; cyme terminal or axillary, 5—21 cm long, upper branches usually whorled; flowers up to 3 mm long, 5-merous, sepals 5, petals 5, white to green-yellow; male flowers with 5 stamens, rudimentary carpels 2; female flowers with ovary 2-carpellate; follicle subglobose, 4.5 mm in diameter, single or more usually in pairs. Zanthoxylum avicennae occurs in dry forest, thickets and on open slopes at altitudes up to 1650 m. Plants from dry, open and mountainous locations tend to become dwarfed or scandent with much reduced leaves and inflorescences.

[74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
[187] Chen, S.F., Zhu, L.F., Lu, B.Y., Yu, Y.X. & Lin, Z.J., 1990. Studies on essential oil from Zanthoxylum avicennae (Lam.) DC. and its anti-mildew activity. Acta Botanica Sinica 32(1): 49—53. (in Chinese)
[237] de Guzman, C.C. & Siemonsma, J.S. (Editors), 1999. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 13. Spices. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands. 400 pp.
[391] Hartley, T.G., 1970. Additional notes on the Malesian species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 51: 423—426.
[407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
[739] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
[810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
[949] Soepadmo, E., Wong, K.M. & Saw, L.G. (Editors), 1995—. Tree flora of Sabah and Sarawak. Sabah Forestry Department, Forest Research Institute Malaysia and Sarawak Forestry Department, Kepong, Malaysia.

Tahan Uji

Uji, T., 2001. Zanthoxylum avicennae (Lamk) DC.. 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