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12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2

Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) Alston

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

Handb. fl. Ceylon 4, Suppl.: 41 (1931).

Ailanthus malabarica DC. (1825), Ailanthus imberbiflora F. Muell. (1862), Ailanthus philippinensis Merr. (1906).

White siris (En). Indonesia: kayu langit (general), ki pahit(Sundanese), kirontasi (Sulawesi). Philippines: malakamias (general), kalauag (Bikol). Burma (Myanmar): o-dein. Thailand: makkom (northern), mayom-pa (central), mayom-hom (south-eastern). Vietnam: b[us]t, c[af]ng hom th[ow]m.

India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, Borneo (Sabah, East Kalimantan), Sulawesi, the Philippines, and northern Australia (Queensland and northern New South Wales). It is planted in the arid zones of Africa.

The resin is used medicinally in India and as incense in India and Indo-China. The bark and leaves are renowned as a tonic and appetitive and possess febrifuge properties. The bark is employed in dyspepsia and diarrhoea as well as to relieve cough and bronchitis. In Vietnam, the leaves are recommended in cephalalgia and gastralgia. The leaves are also used to dye silk black.

A large tree up to 45 m tall, bark dimpled; leaves paripinnate with 6—17(—30) pairs of entire leaflets, (5—)9—15(—26) cm long, covered with velvety hairs below and with many glands scattered over the lower surface; petals glabrous, carpels (2—)3(—4), glabrous; samara 4.5—8 cm long. Ailanthus triphysa is comparatively rare and occurs in evergreen and seasonal forests up to 600 m altitude.

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J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg

van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H., 2001. Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) Alston. 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