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12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1

Derris elliptica (Wallich) Benth.

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

Journ. Linn. Soc. 4, Suppl.: 111 (1860).

Derris, tuba root (En). Touba (Fr). Brunei: tuba (Dusun, Malay). Indonesia: tuba, oyod tungkul (Javanese), tuwa leteng (Sundanese). Malaysia: tuba, akar tuba. Philippines: tubli, tugling-pula (Tagalog), upei (Bontok). Burma (Myanmar): hon. Cambodia: ca bia, k'biehs. Thailand: hang lai daeng, lai nam (northern), kalamphoh (Phetchaburi). Vietnam: d[aa]y m[aaj]t, d[aa]y thu[oos]c c[as].

Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, Thailand, the Nicobar Islands and Malesia (apparently not wild in Borneo, Sulawesi and the Moluccas); cultivated in South-East Asia, India, tropical Africa and America.

The powdered root of Derris elliptica is widely used as an insecticide and fish poison. In Thailand, the roots are also used as an emmenagogue and the stems as a blood tonic. An extract of the root is reported to be used as an ingredient of dart poison in Borneo.

A liana up to 16 m long, root reddish-brown, apical shoots often leafless for several m and rusty pubescent; leaflets 7-15, mostly densely rusty hairy on both surfaces when young; inflorescence axillary or fascicled on older branches; flowers with rusty pubescent calyx and pinkish corolla, standard with basal callosities, rusty silky hairy; fruit oblong or oblong-elliptical, with a narrow wing along both sides. Derris elliptica is commonly found in forest edges, roadsides and along rivers, in Java up to 1500 m altitude.

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Auzay Hamid

Hamid, A., 1999. Derris elliptica (Wallich) Benth.. In: de Padua, L.S., Bunyapraphatsara, N. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea