Desmos chinensis Lour.

Desmos chinensis; Photo by Hoang Thanh Son

[From Greek, desmos = a bundle and from Latin, chinensis = from China]

Synonymy: Unona discolor Vahl

Common names: Chinese Desmos; kenanga hutan, akar darah, akar mariam (Malay).

Physical description: It is a hand-some treelet which grows wild in a geographical zone spanning from the Himalayas to China and the Asia-Pacific. The bark is lenticelled. Leaves: simple, alternate and exstipulate. The blade is 3 cm–2 cm × 7 cm–15 cm, very thin, oblong, glaucous below and round at the base and shows 8–10 pairs of secondary nerves. The petiole is 5 mm–8mm long. The flowers are solitary, sweet scented, showy, facing the leaves and attached to 3 cm–5 cm long pedicels. The sepals are 5 mm–1 cm long. The petals are valvate, greenish yellow and 4 cm–8 cm long. The fruits are strings of greenish to reddish, 3 cm–4 cm × 1 cm–1.5 cm beads. The pedicels are 1 cm– 1.5 cm long (Fig. 8).

Uses: In Malaysia, a decoction of the roots of Desmos chinensis is drunk to stop diarrhea, dysentery, to treat vertigo and to aid recovery from childbirth. In Vietnam, Desmos chinensis Lour. is used to treat cold.

 Pharmaceutical interest: Desmos chinensis has attracted a great deal of interest on account of its ability to elaborate C-benzylated chalcones (Rahman MM et al., 2003).

Antibacterial and leishmaniacidal properties: 5-methoxy-7-hydroxyflava- none and 6’’-hydroxydehydrouvaretin characterized from Desmos chinen- sis Lour. inhibit the proliferation of Bacillus subtilis and Shigella boy- dii cultured in vitro. 5-methoxy- 7-hydroxyflavanone inhibits the prolif- eration of Staphylococcus aureus and 6’’-hydroxydehydrouvaretin is active against the flagellated protozoan Leish- mania donovanii (Nazmul Q et al., 1996). 2,4-dihydroxy-6-chalcone and chrysin characterized from Desmos chinensis Lour. inhibit the proliferation of several sorts of Gram-positive bacilli and Gram-negative bacilli (Qais N et al., 1997).

Tyrosine kinase property: 8 formyl-2,5,7- trihydroxy-6-methylflavanone characterized from Desmos chinensis Lour., inhibits tyro- sine kinase in the epidermal growth fac- tor receptor-over expressing NIH3T3 (ER12) cells, and inhibits the formation of inositol phosphate induced by the epidermal growth factor (Kakeya H et al., 1993). Inhibitors of tyrosine kinase could help to suppress the development of tumors and breast carcinoma.

References

Kakeya H, et al. (1993) FEBS Lett 320 (2): 169–172. Nazmul Q, et al. (1996) Banglad J Bot 25(2): 155–158. Qais N, et al. (1997) Fitoter 67(6): 554–555.
Rahman MM, et al. (2003) Fitoter 74(5): 511–514.

Soure: MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE AISA-PACIFIC: DRUGS FOR THE FUTURE