1411

3: Dye and tannin-producing plants

Maclura cochinchinensis (Lour.) Corner

Gard. Bull. Singapore 19: 239 (1962).

MORACEAE

2n = probably 28

Cudrania javanensis Trécul (1847), Maclura javanica Blume (1856), Cudrania cochinchinensis (Lour.) Kudo & Masam. (1932).

Indonesia: kayu kuning (general), tegeran, soga tegeran (Javanese). Malaysia: kederang, kedrae. Philippines: kokom-pusa (Ilokano), talolong (Ilokano, Igorot), patdang-labuyo (Tagalog). Cambodia: khlaè, nhoër khlaay. Thailand: kae kong (Phrae), kae lae (central), klae (peninsular). Vietnam: dây mo'qua.

Maclura cochinchinensis is extremely widely distributed. It is found from the Himalayas in Nepal and India to Japan, and south through Malesia to the Bismarck Archipelago, New Caledonia, and eastern Australia.

The heartwood, particularly of the larger roots, but also of the stem, is used to dye textiles yellow; it is also used in mixtures of dyes. In Indonesia it is used as an ingredient of the traditional 'soga-batik', together with the bark of Ceriops tagal (Perr.) C.B. Robinson and Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) Backer ex K. Heyne. Sometimes the dye is used for colouring other materials like mattings.
Some medicinal uses of the wood are also reported, notably against fever. A decoction of the roots is used to alleviate coughing. The young leaves are sometimes eaten raw. The fruit is edible.

As the wood is collected from plants in the wild on a fairly small scale, no figures on production and trade are available. In the major batik areas, as in central Java, it is reported to be more and more difficult to obtain. The wood is, for instance, collected in Irian Jaya and transported to Java.

The colouring substance in the wood is possibly morin and/or maclurin, which are also present in other dye plants such as the related Chlorophora tinctoria (L.) Gaudich. (old fustic) from South and Central America. Substances found in bark and wood include cudraniaxanthone, butyrospermol acetate, kaempferol, aromadendrin, populnin, quercetin and taxifolin. The heartwood is liver-coloured and hard.

A branched thorny shrub, scrambling or even becoming a liana. Stems up to 10 m long, and up to 15 cm in diameter, with long thorns on the nodes, containing latex; bark light greyish or brownish. Leaves spirally arranged, elliptic to oblong or obovate, (2—)4—9(—11) cm x 1—3.5(—5) cm, entire, base cuneate, apex obtuse to shortly acuminate and mucronate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, shortly petiolate and with caducous stipules. Inflorescences axillary, usually in pairs but also solitary, short-pedunculate, capitate, bracteate, unisexual; male heads 7—10 mm in diameter, with 4-staminate flowers, female heads 6—8 mm in diameter, containing flowers with a filiform stigma. Fruiting heads composed of accrescent fleshy perianth and bracts forming a capitate syncarp, 15—20 mm in diameter, ripening yellow to orange and red. Seeds rounded, ca. 5 mm across, brown.

Seedlings have small, suborbicular and obtuse leaves. On developing the long scrambling and thorny shoots, the leaves become narrowly lanceolate and large, up to 12 cm x 2 cm. Adult plants produce the usual elliptic to obovate leaves. This species is a slow grower, stems reaching 10—15 cm diameter in about 10—15 years.

A densely hairy form of this variable species has been named var. pubescens (Trécul) Corner. This variety is found in Malesia.

Maclura cochinchinensis grows in lowland forest and up to 1800 m altitude. It can be found in thickets and brushwood. Locally it is common.

Branches 10—15 cm in diameter in which the heartwood is already formed are harvested. In Irian Jaya the sapwood is removed immediately.

In the traditional 'soga-batik' process the wood is chopped into small pieces (3—5 cm), and mixed with the chopped bark of Ceriops tagal and Peltophorum pterocarpum, usually in the ratio of 1:2:4, but other proportions are also used, depending on the desired colour. The mixture is put into a pan, covered with water, and boiled until it has thickened to the right consistency; this usually takes about 8 hours. After cooling, filtering, and about 2 hours of precipitation, the liquid is transferred to another pan and used for dyeing cotton textiles. For this purpose the textile, partly covered by wax where colouring is not wanted, is soaked in the warm to cool (but not hot) infusion until absorption is even. Then, the textile is dried in a shady place. This process of soaking and drying is repeated at least 20 times for good quality 'soga-batik'.
Also in Malaysia the heartwood of Maclura cochinchinensis is sometimes used for colouring fabrics. Some colours other than yellow can be obtained by combination with other vegetable dyes, for instance red with sappan wood (Caesalpinia sappan L.), green with indigo (Indigofera arrecta Hochst. ex A. Rich.), and orange-green with turmeric (Curcuma longa L.).

Maclura cochinchinensis was formerly extensively used in 'batik' processes. The easy availability of synthetic dyes has largely reduced the use of the vegetable dye, but Maclura cochinchinensis is still locally used in dyeing processes, for instance in Surakarta (Central Java). However, the traditional 'soga-batik' produced with it is very expensive and used only in ceremonies, particularly by Javanese nobility. As the demand for 'soga-batik' is decreasing and as it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain the wood, the use of this vegetable dye so highly esteemed in Javanese culture can be expected to disappear completely in the near future. More information on the cultivation, use and chemistry of this species, and on vegetable dyeing processes in general, is most desirable.

Corner, E.J.H., 1981. Moraceae. In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Fosberg, F.R. (Editors): Flora of Ceylon. Vol. 3. Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. pp. 224—226, fig. 4.
Murti, V., Seshadri, T. & Sivakumaran, S., 1972. Cudrania xanthone and butyrospermol acetate from the roots of Cudrania javanensis. Phytochemistry 11(6): 2089—2093.
Susanto, S.S.K., 1973. Seni kerajinan batik Indonesia [Indonesian batik art and industry]. Balai Penelitian Batik dan Kerajian, Jakarta. pp. 64—81, 108—114, 164—180, 313.
Walker, E.H., 1976. Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu Islands. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington D.C. p. 399.

H. Sangat-Roemantyo

Sangat-Roemantyo, H., 1991. Maclura cochinchinensis (Lour.) Corner. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J. and Wulijarni-Soetjipto, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 3: Dye and tannin-producing plants. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea