Geunsia pentandra (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Geunsia pentandra (Roxb.) Merr.
- Protologue: Philipp. Journ. Sci., Bot. 11: 309 (1916).
- Family: Verbenaceae
- Chromosome number: 2n= unknown
Synonyms
Callicarpa pentandra Roxb. (1820), Geunsia farinosa Blume (1826).
Vernacular names
- Malaysia: tampang besi, ambong (Peninsular), tambong (Sabah)
- Philippines: layaupan (Bagobo).
Origin and geographic distribution
G. pentandra is widely distributed in India, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Uses
In Peninsular Malaysia, G. pentandra is used to treat vertigo. In Sumatra ground root bark has been applied against swellings. In Borneo (Kalimantan) G. pentandra is used to treat toothache. The white and lightweight wood is sometimes used, e.g. for rafters.
Properties
There is no information on the pharmacological properties of G. pentandra . Methyl salicylate, carosolic acid, ursolic acid, diterpenes, pentandralactone and pentandranoic acids A-C have been isolated from G. pentandra .
Botany
An erect shrub to small or medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, with bole up to 50 cm in diameter, buttressed; twigs with stellate-mealy indumentum. Leaves partly opposite, partly solitary, simple, ovate to oblong-ovate or oblong-elliptical, 9-30 cm × 3-12 cm, cuneate to rounded at base, acuminate to caudate at apex, margin entire, leathery, stellate-hairy and gland-dotted below, prominently pinnately veined; petiole 1-5 cm long; stipules absent. Inflorescence an axillary cyme on a 2-10 cm long peduncle, whitish to brownish stellate-tomentose, many-flowered. Flowers bisexual, regular, usually 5-merous, very shortly pedicelled; calyx shortly campanulate, c. 2 mm long; corolla with c. 5 mm long tube and c. 2 mm long lobes, white to greenish, pink or purple; stamens inserted on the base of the corolla tube, exserted; ovary superior, usually imperfectly 5-celled, style exserted, stigma broad. Fruit a depressed-globose drupe 4-6 mm in diameter, red to black when mature, usually breaking up into 10 1-celled pyrenes.
G. pentandra is a fast-growing tree that may be common in logged-over forest, e.g. in Borneo, where it has a life cycle of about 15 years with a maximum bole diameter of 50 cm.
Geunsia comprises about 20 species and is restricted to tropical Asia. It is related to Callicarpa and sometimes even included in this latter genus, which differs in its usually 4-merous flowers. Geunsia is still poorly known botanically, and it is unclear whether G. pentandra and G. farinosa represent different species or should be considered synonymous as accepted here. When they differ specifically, it is not always clear to which species the information on medicinal uses refers.
Ecology
G. pentandra occurs in mixed forest, primary as well as secondary forest, often in edges and along roads, also in brushwood up to 2000 m altitude. It is locally common.
Genetic resources
G. pentandra is widely distributed, often occurs in secondary forest, and is not in danger of genetic erosion.
Prospects
Applications of G. pentandra in traditional medicine are known for several regions in Malesia: Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. It would therefore seem worthwhile studying the phytochemistry and pharmacological properties, also in the light of the close affinity to Callicarpa species, which are well known as medicinal plants in South-East Asia and have several interesting pharmacological properties.
Literature
121, 642.
Other selected sources
62, 331, 460, 789, 990, 1014.
Main genus page
Authors
R.H.M.J. Lemmens
