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12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3

Dracaena angustifolia Roxb.

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

Fl. ind. (Carey ed.) 2: 155 (1832).

Pleomele angustifolia (Roxb.) N.E.Br. (1914).

Indonesia: suji (Sundanese), semar (Javanese), pendusta utan (Ambon). Philippines: malasambal, taligbuhuk (Tagalog), pasiu (Ibanag). Thailand: khon maa khaao (central), phak kon maa (Lampang), phraao phan lam (Chiang Mai). Vietnam: ph[aas]t d[ur] h[ej]p, b[oof]ng b[oof]ng.

India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand, Java, the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, New Guinea and northern Australia.

In the Moluccas a decoction of the roots is used to treat gonorrhoea, the leaves are applied externally to treat beri-beri and the leaf-sap to promote hair growth. The leaves are also used to colour vegetable oils and food green, and the leaf-sap as a dye for painting. Cooked tips of Dracaena angustifolia plants are eaten as a vegetable. Dracaena angustifolia is commonly planted as an ornamental and hedge plant.

An erect shrub or small tree up to 6(—8) m tall, often much-branched; leaves linear-lanceolate, narrowed above the sheathing base, very acute; inflorescence paniculate, branched, up to 75 cm long; flowers yellowish-white, with perianth c. 2.5 cm long; fruit globose to 3-lobed, 1.5—2.5 cm in diameter, bright orange, 1—3-seeded. Dracaena angustifolia is a variable species that occurs in open forest, forest borders and on rocky coasts, up to 1000 m altitude; it is also cultivated in gardens and hedges.

[62]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.
[121]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.
[334]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.
[689]Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of 'Indische groenten', 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1016 pp.

R.H.M.J. Lemmens

Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 2003. Dracaena angustifolia Roxb.. 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