Melientha suavis

Melientha suavis Pierre, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris i. (1888) 762. et Fl. For. Cochinch. Fasc. 17 (1892)t. 264b.

Melientha suavis Pierre, Photo  by  Dinh  Quang  Diep

its native range is Indo-China to NW. Peninsula Malaysia, N. Borneo, Philippines (Mindanao).

Latin name:

Melientha suavis Pierre

Family:

Opiliaceae Valeton

Synonyms:

Melientha acuminata Merrill (1926).

Accepted Infraspecifics:

Melientha suavis subsp. macrocarpa Hiepko

Melientha suavis subsp. suavis

Vietnamese name:

Rau  sắng, rau ngót rừng, Phắc van (Rau ngọt).

English  namee:

Melientha

Sabah name:

Malaysia namee: 

tangal 

Philippines name: 

malatado

Cambodia name: 

daam prec

Laos name: 

hvaan

Thailand name:

phakwan-pa

Describtion:

Wild tree, evergreen, up to 10 m high. Leaves simple, alternate, elliptic to ovate, obtuse or sometime acuminate, glabrous, glossy green above, leathery but brittle when bruised, 6-12 cm long, 2.5-5 cm wide; petiole 1-3 mm long. Inflorescence solitary or in group of racemes, on stem or leafless branches, rarely in the leaf axils, 15-20 cm long. Flowers dioecious, 4- or 5-merous with 1-1.5 mm long tepals, green. Fruit a drupe, ellipsoid, with a fleshy mesocarp, 2-3 cm long, 1.5-2.0 cm wide, green when young, turn yellow at maturity. 

Distribution: 

Borneo, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam (Lào Cai, Cao Bằng, Bắc Kạn, Lạng Sơn, Quảng Ninh, Bắc Giang, Vĩnh Phúc, Hoà Bình, Hà Tây (Chùa Hương), Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên Huế, Kontum, Gia Lai, Lâm Đồng, Khánh Hoà, Đồng Nai, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu.).

Ecological:

M. suavis occurs naturally in deciduous forest, rarely in dry evergreen forest (valleys, borders of streams), at altitudes of 300-900(-1500) m. In Vietnam it is common on limestone soils, in Sabah on black rocky soils. Flowering is from December to March and fruiting from April to August. Pollination is by insects. Natural dispersal takes place by birds, water and wild animals..

Flower times:

Flowering is from December to March and fruiting from April to August.

Type:

Pharmacology:

total phenolic and flavonoid contents of pak-wan pa in Thailand. Pak-wan pa extracts were prepared by solvent extraction using soxhlet apparatus. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl radical scavenging (DPPH) assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. The results found that the water extract of pak-wan pa exhibited antioxidant activity with an IC50 of 900-1150 µg/mL in DPPH assay and 20 µg/mL in FRAP assay, compared with that of gallic acid (2.84+0.008 µg/mL) and trolox (0.94 ± 0.224), respectively. The highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents of pak-wan pa was found in the methanolic extract (265-1,978 mgGE/100 g dry extract and 21-459 mgTE/100g dry extract) and in water extract (183-296 and 17-20 mgCE/100g dry extract), respectively. The results also showed a strong correlation between the FRAP scavenging activities and the flavonoid contents (Pearson correlation = 1.000) with significantly difference (p-value=0.013).

Uses:

The young shoots, leaves, inflorescences and young fruits are widely consumed as a vegetable after boiling. The ripe fruits are also edible (juicy mesocarp) and in Vietnam the seeds are eaten in the same way as groundnut after boiling or frying. The wood is often used for charcoal in Thailand.

References:

https://www.ipni.org/n/608041-1

http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:608041-1

https://www.jircas.affrc.go.jp/project/value_addition/Vegetables/070.html

https://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/Melientha_suavis_(PROSEA)

http://www.vncreatures.net/chitiet.php?page=1&loai=2&ID=3136

https://www.rsu.ac.th/bhst/public/upload/journal/article/abstract/20150916FOT9p8-29-37-Laksana.pdf