Premna serratifolia (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

1, tree habit; 2, flowering twig; 3, flower; 4, fruit (Iskak Syamsudin)

Premna serratifolia L.

Protologue: Mant. pl. 2: 253 (1771).

Synonyms

• Premna integrifolia L. (1771),
• Premna corymbosa Rottl. & Willd. (1803),
• Premna obtusifolia R.Br. (1810),
• Premna foetida Reinw. ex Blume (1826).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: babon (Bali), ki seungit, ki pahang (Sundanese), singkil alas (Javanese), daun kambing (Moluccas)
• Malaysia: buas-buas, pokok buru hantu (Peninsular)
• Philippines: alagau-dagat (Filipino).
• Burma (Myanmar): taung-tangyi
• Papua New Guinea: kalokalo (Sipupu, Milne Bay), ninggrp (Yenchimangua, Sepik), lavakaliu (New Ireland)
• Thailand: akkhe thawan thale (peninsular), man kai (northern), sam pra nga bai (south-western), cha lueat (Trat)
• Vietnam: cây cách, vọng cách.

Distribution

Madagascar, Mauritius, East Africa, and from India, Bangladesh, Indo-China, China, Taiwan and Japan, through Thailand and the whole Malesian area (at least reported from Peninsular Malaysia, Java, the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Philippines) to northern Australia, Polynesia and Melanesia.

Uses

The leaves and roots are used in traditional medicine in Indo-China as a diuretic, stomachic and febrifuge. The leaves are employed as a galactagogue in India and Indonesia, and also to treat rheumatic arthritis, colic and flatulence in India. A decoction of roots and leaves is used as a febrifuge in Peninsular Malaysia. Extracts of the leaves are used to treat cough, headache and fever in Papua New Guinea. A tea made from the boiled bark is used in Guam to treat neuralgia. The wood is used for implements and paddles, the bark as binding material. Cooked leaves are eaten as vegetable. The plant is used locally in hedges.

Observations

• A shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall, bole up to 30 cm in diameter, much-branched and sometimes spiny, bark fissured-flaky, brownish-grey.
• Leaves broadly ovate, obovate to suborbicular, sometimes oblong, (2-)8-15(-21) cm × (1-)5-10(-16) cm, mostly entire, sometimes serrate, crenate or dentate, glabrous, petiolate.
• Flowers with pedicel 0.5-1 mm long, corolla greenish-white.
• Fruit obovoid-globose, 3-6 mm long, green turning black.

P. serratifolia is extremely variable, particularly the leaves and calyces. It grows in brushwood and hedges, often near the sea.

Selected sources

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [126] Barik, B.R., Bhowmik, T., Dey, A.K., Patra, A., Chatterjee, A., Joy, S., Susan, T., Alam, M. & Kundu, A.B., 1992. Premnazole, an isoxazole alkaloid of Premna integrifolia and Gmelina arborea with anti-inflammatory activity. Fitoterapia 63(4): 295-299.
• [202] 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.
• [316] Dasgupta, B., Sinha, N.K., Pandey, V.B. & Ray, A.B., 1984. Major alkaloid and flavonoid of Premna integrifolia. Planta Medica 50 (3): 281.
• [359] Dixit, O.P. & Saxena, R.C., 1990. Insecticidal action of Premna integrifolia against Callosobruchus chinensis (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). Pesticides 24(1): 29-31.
• [580] 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.
• [597] Holdsworth, D.K., 1977. Medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea. Technical Paper No 175. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 123 pp.
• [972] Moldenke, H.N. & Moldenke, A.L., 1983. Verbenaceae. In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Fosberg, F.R. (Editors): A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol. 4. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, India. pp. 196-487.
• [991] Munir, A.A., 1984. A taxonomic revision of the genus Premna L. (Verbenaceae) in Australia. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 7(1): 1-44.
• [1035] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.

Main genus page

• Premna (Medicinal plants)
• Premna (Timbers)

Authors

• L.B. Cardenas