2454

12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3

Calophyllum inophyllum L.

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

Sp. pl. 1: 513 (1753).

Alexandrian laurel, Borneo mahogany (En). Indonesia: nyamplung (Java), dingkaran (Sulawesi). Malaysia: bintangor laut, penaga laut (Peninsular), penaga (Sabah). Papua New Guinea: beach calophyllum. Philippines: palo maria (Sp), bitaog, butalau (general). Burma (Myanmar): ponnyet, ph'ông. Cambodia: khtung, kchyong. Thailand: kra thing (general), saraphee naen (northern), naowakan (Nan). Vietnam: c[aa]y m[uf]u, m[uf]u.

Eastern Africa, Madagascar, islands of the Indian Ocean, India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, Thailand, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, throughout Malesia, northern Australia and the islands of the Pacific Ocean; often planted within its range, in western Africa and in tropical America.

The latex and pounded bark are used in traditional medicine in many regions; they are applied externally on wounds, ulcers and to treat phthisis, orchitis and lung affections, and internally as a purgative, after childbirth and to treat gonorrhoea. In Indonesia, a cold infusion of the leaves in water is used to treat sore eyes, in the Philippines to treat haemorrhoids, and in Papua New Guinea against dysentery. Heated leaves are applied to cuts, sores, ulcers, boils and skin rash in Papua New Guinea, and the leaves are used in Cambodia in inhalations to treat migraine and vertigo. In Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Indo-China and India, the seed-oil is applied externally against rheumatism, swellings, ulcers, scabies, ringworm, boils and itch. The flowers are used as heart tonic in Thailand. Calophyllum inophyllum is used medicinally in Fiji to treat skin inflammations, in New Caledonia to treat ulcers, wounds and sores, and in Samoa to treat skin infections and scabies. It is also used to poison fish. The wood is used for many purposes. The oil from the seeds is used for illumination and soap making. The tree is planted as an ornamental and shade tree, and for reforestation and afforestation.

A medium-sized tree up to 25(—35) m tall, usually with twisted or leaning bole; leaves elliptical, ovate, obovate or oblong, (5.5—)8—20(—23) cm long, with 4—10 veins per 5 mm; inflorescence usually unbranched but occasionally with 3-flowered branches; flowers with 8(—13) tepals; fruit spherical to obovoid, 25—50 mm long. Calophyllum inophyllum is often common on the seashore (sandy beaches), but is sometimes found inland on sandy soils up to 200 m altitude.

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[401]Itoigawa, M. et al., 2001. Cancer chemopreventive agents, 4-phenylcoumarins from Calophyllum inophyllum. Cancer Letters 169(1): 15—19.
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[722]Patil, A.D. et al., 1993. The inophyllums, novel inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase isolated from the Malaysian tree, Calophyllum inophyllum Linn. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 36(26): 4131—4138.
[760]Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
[772]Ravelonjato, B. et al., 1992. Molluscicidal constituents of Calophyllum from Madagascar: activity of some natural and synthetic neoflavanoids and khellactones. Planta Medica 58: 51—55.
[813]Samsudin, M.W., Ibrahim, M.N. & Said, I.M., 1998. Composition of the steam volatile oil from Calophyllum inophyllum. ASEAN Review of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation. May 1998. 3 pp.
[878]Soerianegara, I. & Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors), 1993. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(1). Timber trees: Major commercial timbers. Pudoc Scientific Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands. 610 pp.
[885]Spino, C., Dodier, M. & Sotheeswaran, S., 1998. Anti-HIV coumarins from Calophyllum seed oil. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 8(24): 3475—3478.
[891]Stevens, P.F., 1980. A revision of the Old World species of Calophyllum (Guttiferae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 61: 117—424.
[915]Taylor, P.B. et al., 1994. Kinetic and mutational analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase inhibition by inophyllums, a novel class of non-nucleoside inhibitors. Journal of Biological Chemistry 269(9): 6325—6331.

R.H.M.J. Lemmens

Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 2003. Calophyllum inophyllum L.. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea