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Botany
Ilang-ilang gubat is a rather small erect or climbing shrub, 1.5 to 3 meters height. Leaves are oblong to oblong-ovate, 8 to 15 centimeters long, pointed at
the tip and rounded at the base, and nearly smooth. Flowers are yellowish white, solitary on a 2- to 5-centimeter long peduncle,
borne opposite or nearly opposite to leaflets. Calyx are 3, ovate, 3 to
5 millimeters long. Corolla are 6, fixed, arranged in 2 whorls, oblong or oblong-lanceolate,
3 to 4 centimeters long, the outer whorl bigger than the inner one; stamens numerous.
Peduncle extra-axillary, about 5 centimeters long, with one flower. Sepals are ovate-lanceolate,
about 1.5 centimeters long. Petals are somewhat hairy, yellow, fragrant, 4 to 5 centimeters
long. Fruits are dehiscent, peduncled, arranged in dense clusters,
2 to 5 centimeters long, 1 to 7 seeded.
Distribution
- In thickets and forests at
low and medium altitudes in Palawan, Basilan, Mindanao (Zamboanga).
- Also occurs in India, Assam, and Burma to southern China, and southwards throughout Malaysia and the Malay Peninsula.
Parts
utilized
· Roots, leaves.
· Collect the whole year round.
· Rinse, macerate, and sun-dry.
Properties
Pungent tasting,
Stomachic.
Constituents
• Fragrant flowers yield a volatile oil. Fruit also yields oil.
• A new cytotoxic fatty acid,
desmosic acid, was isolated from Desmos cochinchinensis.
• Desmosflavone - 5-Hydroxy-7-methoxy-6,8-di-C-methylflavone.
• Study yielded eleven compounds: lawimal, desmosal, desmethoxymatteucinol,
unonal , isounonla, desmoflavone, allantoic acid, succinic acid, daucosterol,
beta-sitosterol and stearic acid.
Uses
Folkloric
· Decoction of 15-30 g of dried
leaves: Used for gastrointestinal distention, indigestion, nephritis-edema,
bronchitis.
· Leaves used for treating bruises, pain, intestinal parasitism, rheumatism, diarrhea.
· Decoction of dried roots (15-30 g): Used for rheumatic muscular
pain.
· In Malaya, roots used for dysentery and fever.
· Decoction of roots given after childbirth; also used for vertigo.
· In Chinese folk
medicine, used for malaria.
· In Vietnam, used
as antimalarial, insecticidal, antirhumatic and analgesic. Also, leaves are used for constipation.
Studies
• Anti-Malaria:
Study isolated three flavonoids from the petroleum extract of the root
of Desmos cochinchinensis. Pharmacologic study exhibited anti-malarial
activity.
• Anti-Microbial :
Study on the crude extracts of DC leaves showed strong antibacterial
activity against S. aureus, S epidermis and B subtilis and strong inhibition
against all dermatophytes
• Cytotoxic Fatty Acid:
Study yielded desmosic acid, a novel cytotoxic fatty acid.
• Cytotoxic Cycloartane Triterpenoids:
Study isolated desmosinal, a novel cycloartane triterpenoid from the stem of Desmos cochinchinensis Lour.
• Phenolic Compounds / NFAT Transcription
Inhibiton : Study yielded six phenolic compounds from
the methanolic extract of the dried leaves of Dc. Of these, compounds
2 (negletein) and 3 (2',3'-dihydroxy-4',6'-dimethoxydihydrochalcone
exhibited potent inhibitory activity against nuclear factor of activated
T cells (NFAT) transcription factor.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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