Derris scandens (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Derris scandens (Roxb.) Benth.

Protologue: Journ. Linn. Soc. 4, Suppl.: 103 (1860).

Synonyms

• Brachypterum scandens (Roxb.) Benth. (1838).

Vernacular names

• Hogcreeper (En)
• Indonesia: bendan, gobul (Javanese), sobi (Madura)
• Philippines: malasaga (Tagalog), lapak (Bikol)
• Thailand: khruea khao nang (Nakhon Ratchasima), thaowan priang (central), phan sanai (Chumphon)
• Vietnam: cóc kèn leo.

Distribution

From India to northern Australia; throughout Malesia, but apparently absent in New Guinea.

Uses

D. scandens is used as a fish poison. In Thailand, the stems are used as a diuretic, laxative, expectorant, emmenagogue and in the treatment of common cold and backache. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.

Observations

• A liana up to 20 m long or scandent shrub with drooping branches, young branches finely pubescent.
• Leaflets (7-)9-13(-19), puberulous beneath.
• Inflorescence axillary.
• Flowers with pubescent purplish calyx and whitish or pinkish corolla, standard without basal callosities, glabrous or hairy on the back.
• Fruit narrowly oblong or strap-shaped, with a broad wing along one side.

D. scandens occurs in light forest and brushwood in the lowland (up to 200 m altitude in Java).

Selected sources

• 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.
• 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.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• 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.
• Narayana Rao, M., Krupadanam, D.G.L. & Srimannarayana, G., 1994. Four isoflavones and two 3 aryl coumarins from the stems of Derris scandens. Phytochemistry 37: 267-269.
• Wang, B.H., Ternai, B & Polya, G., 1997. Specific inhibition of cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase by warangalone and robustic acid. Phytochemistry 44: 787-796.

Main genus page

• Derris (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Auzay Hamid