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Botany
Binunga is a small, dioecious tree,
growing to a height of 4 to 8 meters. Leaves are peltate, ovate to oblong-ovate, 10 to 25 centimeters
long, with entire or toothed margins, with a rounded base and pointed apex. Male flowers are small and born on slender, branched
peduncles which are shorter than the leaves. Female flowers are usually found in simple panicled spikes or
racemes. Capsues are 10 to 12 millimeters in diameter, of 2 or 3 cocci, covered with pale,
waxy glands and with soft, scattered, elongated spinelike processes.
Distribution
- In thickets and secondary forests,
at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
- Also found in the Andaman Islands and Malay Peninsula to southern China and Taiwan southward to northeastern Australia.
Photo insert
Flower (L) and freshing cut branch
exuding reddish sticfky resin used as glue (R).
Constituents
• Phytochemical studies of leaves
yielded three new constituents: tanarifuranonol, tanariflavanone, and
tanariflavanone D with seven known compounds.
• Chemical study on the bark isolated 10 known tannins:
corilagin, mallotinic acid, geranilin, macarinin A, putranjivain B,
putranjivain A, mallotunin, mallophilnin, repandusicnic acid A and phyllanthusiin
C.
• Bark yields a resin-glue.
• Two new prenylflavanones, tanariflavanones A and B, and one known compound, (–)-nymphaeol-C were isolated from the fallen leaves. The flavonoids exhibited phytotoxic activity.
• Stems yielded diterpene ketol, macarangonol, terpenoids and steroids.
Properties
• Considered emetic, antidysenteric, antioxidant, antibacterial.
Parts utilized
Bark, leaves, roots.
Uses
Folkloric
· Powdered roots used as emetic;
decoction for hemoptysis.
· Decoction of bark and roots used for dysentery and hemoptysis.
· Decoction of sliced young leaves used for diarrhea.
· Glue from stems applied to toothaches.
· Glue from stems applied to aphthous stomatitis.
· Bushmedicine in Australia
records use of the latex, sticky and waterproof, as sutureless stitching
for deep cuts.
· In Malaysia used to treat diarrhea and dysentery.
Others
· Glue: Glue from the tree bark used
for fastening parts of musical instruments.
· Wood: Wood used as structural timber.
· Basi: Bark and leaves used in making "basi," a fermented
drink.
· In Sumatra, bark material used to make containers.
· Yields a high quality pulp and produces a high quality particle board.
· Bark contains tannin used for toughening fishing nets.
Studies
• Prenylflavanones / Cytotoxicity: Macaflavanones A-G, Prenylated
Flavanones from the Leaves of Macaranga tanarius: The
study isolated seven new prenylated flavanones, macaflavanones A-G,
along with two known compounds. The cytotoxic activities of the isolated
flavanones were assayed, with macaflavanone being the most active.
• Radical-Scavenging Activities:
Four new megastigmane glucosides were isolatd. Manganoside A-C and
mallophenol B possessed a radical-scavenging activity.
• Antioxidant / Antibacterial: Evaluation
of antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-tyrosinase activities of four
Macaranga species: M. tanarius which showed the lowest total phenolic
content, exhibited the best FIC (ferous iron chelating). M. triloba
showed the best antibacterial activity.
• Leaf Constituents: Study yielded three new constituents from the leaves of M tanarius: tanarifuranonol, tanariflavanone C and tanariflavcanone D, together with sevcen other known compounds.
• Ferrous-Ion Chelating Activity: In a study of 4 Macaranga species, M. tanarius showed the lowest TPC, AEAC, FRAP and LPI activity, but exhibited the best ferrous-ion chelating activity.
• Anti-Diabetic / a-Glucosidase Inhibitor: Study showed M. tanarius to have potent a-glucosidase inhibitory activity. a-glucosidase inhibition is one of the hyperglycemic remedies through reduction of glucose absorption by suppression of carbohydrate digestion through a-glucosidase inhibitors.
• Propolis / Radical Scavenging / Antibacterial Activity: Study showed for the first time, M. tanarius and M. indica as plant sources of Indonesian propolis. From the biologically activty extract of propolis, 11 compounds were isolated: four alk(en)resorcinols along with four prenylflavanones and three cycloartane-type triterpenes. All the prenylfavanones demonstrated radical scavenging activity. One compound showed significant activity against S. aureus.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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