Psychotria luconiensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Psychotria luconiensis (Cham. & Schltdl.) Fern.-Vill.

Protologue: Nov. app.: 112 (1880) "luzoniensis".

Family: Rubiaceae

Synonyms

• Coffea luconiensis Cham. & Schltdl. (1829),
• Psychotria malayana Fern.-Vill. (1884).

Vernacular names

• Philippines: tagpong-gubat (Tagalog), kadpaayan (Iloko), lugani (Bontok).

Distribution

The Philippines (Luzon, Mindoro, Masbate, Leyte, Panay).

Uses

The fresh leaves are applied to the head for headache. A decoction of the young leaves or the scraped fresh roots are used for cleansing ulcers and infected wounds. A decoction of the root is taken for dysentery, and a decoction of the bark is taken for intestinal pains.

Observations

• A glabrous, erect shrub, 1.5-5 m tall.
• Leaves oblong to elliptical-oblong, 8-20 cm × 2.5-5 cm, acute at both ends, shining, petiole short.
• Cyme compact, 2-3 cm long, many-flowered.
• Flowers white, calyx small, corolla 4-4.5 mm long, throat hairy; berry obovoid, 5-6 mm long, somewhat fleshy, yellow or reddish.

P. luconiensis is commonly found in thickets and secondary forest, at low and medium altitudes.

Selected sources

• [126] Bremer, B., 1996. Phylogenetic studies within Rubiaceae and relationships to other families based on molecular data. In: Robbrecht, E., Puff, C. & Smets, E. (Editors): Second International Rubiaceae Conference. Proceedings. Opera Botanica Belgica 7: 33—50.
• [786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.

Main genus page

• Psychotria

Authors

• H.C. Ong & S. Brotonogoro