Phaleria macrocarpa

Phaleria macrocarpa
Ripe Phaleria macrocarpa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Thymelaeaceae
Genus:	Phaleria
Species:	P. macrocarpa
Binomial name
Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff.) Boerl.

Phaleria macrocarpa (Buah Mahkota Dewa, God's Crown, Pau) is a dense evergreen tree, indigenous to Indonesia and Malaysia. It is found in tropical areas of Papua Island up to 1,200 meters above sea level.

Botany

P. macrocarpa's height ranges from 1 to 18 meters with greenish bark and white wood. It has green, tapered leaves. The flowers are made up to two to four petals, and range from green to maroon in color. It grows 10-1,200 m above sea level with a productive age that ranges from 10 to 20 years. The leaves are green and tapering with length and width ranging from 7 cm to 10 cm and 3-5 cm respectively. The flowers make a compound of 2-4, with color from green to maroon. Eclipse shaped fruits are green when unripe, and have a diameter of 3 centimeters. They are red when ripe. The white, round pits are poisonous and fruit is of eclipse shape with a diameter of 3 cm. Each fruit has 1 to 2 brown, ovoid and anatropous seeds per fruit. The extract of the plant has been evaluated scientifically for pharmacological uses.

Uses

Extracts of P. macrocarpa have been reported to have a number of pharmacological effects, including:

• anti-tumor
• anti-hyperglycemia
• anti-inflammation
• anti-diarrhoeal
• anti-oxidant
• anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal
• vasodilator

The stem and shells of seeds have been used to treat various cancers, lung, live and heart diseases.

The leaves also contain compounds that can treat impotence, blood diseases, allergies, diabetes mellitus and tumors.

Origin: New Guinea, Indonesia.