Gen info
Blumeodendron is a genus of dioecious tress of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1873.

Botany
Blumeodendron tokbrai is a tree 10–18 m high, bole fluted; sometimes with small buttresses, often with stilt-rooted; crown dense, small; bark warm orange brown, smooth, sometimes eye-marked, very finely rugulose; inner bark granular, soft, greyish-brown. Leaves spirally arranged, opposite or 3 verticillate; petioles 1.5–5.5 cm long, slender to stout, grooved above; blade oblong to elliptic, 7–17 by 3.5–11.5 cm, coriaceous, base cuneate, not glandular, margin often pale whitish when fresh and dry, apex ± abruptly acuminate with obtuse tip, shiny above, glabrous or sparsely pilose on nerves, usually drying brown to greyish-green, young leaves purplish; nerves in 6–8 pairs arched to the margin, prominent beneath, reticulation distinct. Staminate inflorescences racemes, 2.5–20 cm long, solitary or 2 together; flowers in groups of 1–3. Staminate flowers: pedicel 2–14 mm long; sepals 4, oblong, lanceolate or ovate, 4–5 mm long, reflexed, glabrous; stamens 14–18. Pistillate inflorescences axillary to terminal, very short, with 3–9 flowers; peduncle 1–2.5 cm long. Pistillate flowers: sepals 3–5, oblong or linear triangular, 1–4 mm long, recurved, margin and outside puberulous; disc annular, fleshy, some denticulate warts; ovary ovoid, acute, mainly 3-locular, glabrous; stigmas 3. Fruits round, green, very slightly flattened, 3.5–5 by 3–4.5 cm, grooved or strongly keeled sutures, ripening orange. Seeds bean shaped, 25–27 by ca 17 mm, black, enclosed in cream jacket. (e-Flora of Thailand) (2)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- Also native to Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Maluku, Nicobar Is., Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand. (1)
- Grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.
- In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp and montane forests up to 1900 m altitude.

Constituents
- Phytochemical screening of leaves yielded alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, with absence of saponin. (3)

Properties
- Studies have suggested antioxidant and cytotoxic properties.

Parts used
Stem bark.

Uses
Edibility
- Fruit (aril of seed) is edible.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
Others
- Wood:In Borneo, wood used for canoes and planks.

Studies
• Antioxidant / Cytotoxic / Stem Bark: Study evaluated the antioxidant and cytotoxicity in vitro effects of compounds from various extracts of stem bark of Blumeodendron tokbrai. Antioxidant activity by DPPH radical scavenging assay showed IC50s from hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extract of 88.33 ± 0.19 µg/mL, 74.54 ± 0.61 µg/mL, and 94.1 ± 0.19 µg/mL, respectively. Anticytotoxic activity by cytotoxicity assay using MCF-7 cell line showed IC50s of 121.24, 55.0 and 70.71 µg/mL for hexane, dicloromethane, and methanol extracts, respectively. Results showed the dichloromethane extract has promising results as antioxidant and cytotoxic. (4)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Blumeodendron tokbrai (Blume) Kurz. / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Blumeodendron / Wikipedia
(3)
Phytochemical screening of some leaves and fruits consumed by Javan gibbons (Hylobates Moloch) . . . West Java / Astri Zulfa, Muhamad Arif Wibisono et al / Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 2021; 1(3) / eISSN: 2774-4116
(4)
Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Bioassay on Blumeodendron toxbrai (Blume) Stem Bark Hexane, Dicloromethane, and Methanolic Extract / Andreas Susilo Adi, Berna Elya, Muhammad Hanafi / Pharmacognosy Journal, 2021; 13(1): pp 139-141 / DOI: 10.5530/pj.2021.13.19

DOI: It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)