Zanthoxylum avicennae (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Zanthoxylum avicennae (Lamk) DC.

Protologue: Prodr. 1: 726 (1824).

Family: Rutaceae

Synonyms

• Fagara avicennae Lamk (1788),
• Zanthoxylum tidorense Miq. (1867),
• Zanthoxylum diversifolium Warb. (1891).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: karangeang (Javanese), adas kastela (Moluccas), samirin (Seram)

• Philippines: bagatambal (Bisaya), bungi (Tagalog), kangai (Pampango)

• Vietnam: muồng trồng, hoàng mọc dài, sẻn

Distribution

From Thailand east to Vietnam and south-eastern China and south to the Philippines, Malaysia (Sabah) and Indonesia (Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Moluccas).

Uses

In the Philippines and Indo-China the stem and bark are used medicinally as a tonic and to treat snakebites. In Vietnamese folk medicine a decoction of the roots is drunk or employed as a wash for allergic dermatitis. In Java, the leaves and fruits are used to flavour food; the leaves smell like coriander, the seeds like anise. The hard, dense, heavy reddish wood is used to make small tool handles.

Observations

• A dioecious, erect or scandent, evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 15 m tall, with pseudostipulae, straight or recurved prickles on the branches.
• Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, rachis narrowly winged, 5-30 cm long, leaflets subopposite, 3-23, ovate to elliptical-lanceolate, 1-8 cm × 1-3 cm, pellucid dotted, margin subentire to glandular crenate.
• Inflorescence cymose, terminal or axillary, 5-21 cm long, upper branches usually whorled.
• Flowers up to 3 mm long, 5-merous, sepals 5, petals 5, white to green-yellow; male flowers with 5 stamens, rudimentary carpels 2; female flowers with ovary 2-carpellate
• Fruit a subglobose follicle, 4.5 mm in diameter, single or more usually in pairs.

Z. avicennae occurs in dry forest, thickets and on open slopes at altitudes up to 1650 m. Plants from dry, open and mountainous locations tend to become dwarfed or scandent with much reduced leaves and inflorescences.

Selected sources

• Brown, W.H., 1941-1943. Useful plants of the Philippines. 3 volumes. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Technical Bulletin 10. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. 1610 pp. (reprint, 1951-1957).

• Hartley, T.G., 1966. A revision of the Malesian species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 47: 171-221.

• Hartley, T.G., 1970. Additional notes on the Malesian species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 51: 423-426.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's‑Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).

• Soepadmo, E. & Wong, K.M. (Editors), 1995- . Tree flora of Sabah and Sarawak. Vol. 1- . Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Selected sources

74, 187, 237, 391, 407, 739, 810, 949. medicinals

Authors

• P.C.M. Jansen
• Tahan Uji