General info
Artocarpus is a genus of about 60 trees of Southeast Asian and Pacific origin, belonging to the family Moraceae.
 Botany
Kubi is a medium-sized tree growing to a height of 15 meters. Bark is black to brown, longitudinally fissured. Branchlets are cylindric, wrinkled, 2 to 3 millimeters thick, appressed puberulent, rapidly glabrescent. Leaves are oblong-ovate, acute, up to 12 centimeters long and 5 centimeters wide. with prominent veins. Flowers are small. Fruits are irregularly-shaped, several seeded and covered with yellowish brown or gray tomentum.
Distribution
- Artocarpus nitidus is found in China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
- A. nitidus subsp. nitidus is restricted to the Philippines, and found in thickets and forests at low and medium altitudes in Luzon, Mindanao, and Cebu.
Constituents
- Study isolated 2 new isoprenylated 2-arylbenzofurans, artonitidin A and artonitidin B together with 14 known compounds, 3–16, were isolated from the stems.
- Study of the stems of A. nitidus subsp. lingnanensis yielded a stilbene possessing a g-aminobutyric acid lactam function, artocarpene, and a new flavanone, 2-hydroxynaringenin 4′-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, along with four known compounds.
- Artocarpus species are noted as an abundant source of phenolic constituents, viz., isoprenylflavonoids, stilbenoid and 2-arylbenzofuran derivatives, phenolic compounds.
Uses
Folkloric
No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
Studies
• Note: No reported studies on Philippines subsp. A. nitidus subsp. nitidus. Studies are from other subspecies.
• Arylbenzofurans / Pancreatic Lipase Inhibitors: Study isolated 2 new isoprenylated 2-arylbenzofurans, artonitidin A and artonitidin B together with 14 known compounds, 3–16. were isolated from the stems. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods. Five compounds- Norartocarpin, cudraflavone, brosimone, artotonkin, albanin A, and artopetelin M - showed inhibitory effects on pancreatic lipase.
• Antioxidant / Cytotoxicity: Study of the stems of A. nitidus subsp. lingnanensis yielded a stilbene possessing a g-aminobutyric acid lactam function, artocarpene, and a new flavanone, 2-hydroxynaringenin 4′-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, along with four known compounds. Compound 1, artocarpene, showed weak antioxidant activity and compound 2 exhibited weak cytotoxicity against human lung cancer A549 cell line.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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