Ixora coccinea (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
- Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 110 (1753).
Synonyms
- Ixora montana Lour. (1790),
- Ixora grandiflora Loddiges (1819).
Vernacular names
- Red ixora (En)
- Indonesia: soka merah (general), kembang santen merah (Malay), soka beureum (Sundanese)
- Philippines: santan-pula, santan (Tagalog), tangpupo (Bisaya)
- Cambodia: kam ron tea
- Thailand: khem baan, khem nuu (Bangkok), khem farang (central)
- Vietnam: bông trang dỏ, dơn dỏ.
Distribution
Native in India, widely cultivated in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
Uses
In the Philippines a decoction of the roots is used as a sedative in the treatment of nausea, hiccups and loss of appetite. The flowers are used in the treatment of dysentery, leucorrhoea and dysmenorrhoea, and a decoction of the flowers is prescribed to treat haemoptysis and catarrhal bronchitis. In Indo-China a decoction or infusion of the roots is administered to clear the urine. A decoction of the root is used in folk medicine as an analgesic, sedative, diuretic and antidysenteric; the flowers have the same but weaker properties. In Thailand, the roots or flowers are used as anti-inflammatory and antidiarrhoeal drugs, astringent, tranquilizer and appetite stimulant. The flowers are also used as cholagogue and stimulant of digestive enzyme secretion. In India the roots are reported to possess sedative and stomachic properties and are used against hiccups, fever, gonorrhoea, loss of appetite, diarrhoea and dysentery. They are reported to stimulate gastric secretions and bile and to provide relief in abdominal pains. The roots possess astringent and antiseptic properties and are applied to sores and chronic ulcers, and also to treat headache. A decoction of the flowers or the bark is employed as a lotion against eye troubles, sores and ulcers. The leaves are used to treat diarrhoea. I. coccinea is widely cultivated as an ornamental.
Observations
- A shrub with many stems, up to 3 m tall, glabrous.
- Leaves ovate to oblong or obovate, 3.5-10 cm × 2-5 cm, coriaceous, base subcordate or rounded, apex obtuse or slightly acuminate, mucronate, with 8-15 secondary veins, petiole absent or short, stipules long-awned.
- Inflorescence sessile, densely corymb-shaped.
- Flowers with triangular calyx lobes, about 3 mm long, acute, red, corolla tube 3-4.5 cm long, lobes lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 1-1.5 cm long, acute, orange to scarlet or white, yellow or pink (mostly in cultivated plants), not fragrant, style 3-4 mm exserted, red.
- Fruit globose, about the size of a pea, reddish, fleshy.
I. coccinea is cultivated in lowland areas but also at higher elevations.
Selected sources
97, 182, 202, 288, 332, 427, 531, 580, 768, 1035, 1126, 1128, 1178, 1227, 1310, 1591.
Authors
M.C. Ysrael & J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg
