Common Name:

General Information

Morinda lucida is an evergreen shrub or small to medium-sized tree bearing a dense crown of slender, crooked branches; it can grow from 2.4 - 18 metres tall, though specimens up to 25 metres are recorded in coastal Cote D'Ivoire. The bole and branches are often crooked or gnarled[, , , ].
A multipurpose species yielding dyes, timber, fuel and traditional medicines. The roots are sold in local shops and markets, both as dyestuff and medicine, whilst the leaves and twigs are sold as a medicinal tonic for young children[]. The plant is occasionally grown in home gardens[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Senegal to Cameroon, Sudan and Uganda, south to Angola, Zambia and Tanzania.

Habitat

Grassland, exposed hillsides, thickets, forests, often on termite mounds, sometimes in areas which are regularly flooded, at elevations from sea-level up to 1,300 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	10.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

The bitter-tasting roots are used as flavouring for food and alcoholic beverages[].

Medicinal

Morinda lucida is an important plant in traditional medicine in west Africa and various trials have confirmed the effectiveness of several of these uses[].
Eighteen anthraquinones have been isolated from the wood and bark, including the red colorants 1-methylether-alizarin, rubiadin and derivatives, lucidin, soranjidiol, damnacanthal, nordamnacanthal, morindin, munjistin and purpuroxanthin. Two anthraquinols, oruwal and oruwalol, have also been found; these give a yellow colour and possibly are intermediates in the formation of anthraquinones. In addition to anthraquinones, tannins, flavonoids and saponosides have been isolated[].
Extracts of the plant have shown anti-inflammatory, febrifugal and pain-reducing activity, as well as promoting gastric emptying and intestinal motility[].
Leaf extracts have shown in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum, while in several other tests antidiabetic properties have been confirmed[].
Inhibiting effects on cancer tumours have also been reported[].
A leaf extract gave 100% mortality in the freshwater snail Bulinus globulus at a concentration of 100 ppm[].
The plant is powerfully astringent[].

Decoctions and infusions or plasters of the root, bark and leaves are recognized remedies against different types of fever, including yellow fever, malaria, trypanosomiasis and feverish condition during childbirth. The plant is also employed in cases of diabetes, hypertension, cerebral congestion, dysentery, stomach-ache, ulcers, leprosy and gonorrhoea[]. In Nigeria, Morinda lucida is one of the four most used traditional medicines against fever[].

A bark or leaf decoction is used in the treatment of jaundice, and is combined with a dressing of powdered root bark as a treatment against itch and ringworm[].

Other Uses

The wood yields yellow to red dyes[].
The root bark is used to dye textiles into scarlet red. On occasions of national grief or the death of a chief, the Ashanti people of Ghana dye cotton cloths red with the root bark. These cloths, called 'kobene', are worn as mourning dress by official people and by the family of the deceased[].
The root is the most important traditional source of yellow dye for textiles in the Kasai Province of DR Congo. It can be used without a mordant. It is also added to indigo vats in Côte d’Ivoire, to contribute both to the fermentation and reduction process necessary for dyeing with indigo and to get darker blues. In this process it is often combined with leafy twigs of Saba comorensis[].
For dyeing, the root bark or leaves are used fresh, pounded or chopped. For red colours, the fibres to be dyed must first be mordanted with tannin-containing plants and alum. For red and yellow colours, the dye baths are prepared by boiling the root bark or leafy twigs in water for one or two hours before filtering and plunging the textiles into the coloured liquid and boiling it again until the desired shade is obtained[].
In the region of Kasongo in north-eastern DR Congo, young leaves of Morinda lucida are combined with leaves of a Philenoptera species (a source of indigo) to obtain a pale green dye used in basket weaving[].

The bitter-tasting roots are popular in Nigeria as chewing sticks[].

The leaves are used for cleaning and scouring items such as calabashes[].

The wood is yellow (hence the name brimstone tree), darkening to yellow-brown in the sapwood and to dark brown in the heartwood. It is medium-weight and hard; it works and finishes well, and it is durable, being resistant to fungi, termites and other insects[]. It is used for construction, mining props, furniture, canoes, poles etc[].
The wood is used for fuel and is excellent for making charcoal[].

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings.

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