Common Name:

General Information

Aglaia ceramica is a tree with few branches; it can grow up to 3 metres tall[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.
The plant has a very restricted native range. It is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2013)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - Indonesia, in the Moluccas.

Habitat

An understorey plant in dense, primary forests, sometimes on limestone; at elevations from 200 - 650 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Edibility Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	3.00 m
Pollinators	Insects
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. A rather sweet flavour[]. The yellow, obovoid fruits are around 15mm long and 8mm in diameter, containing 3 seeds, each covered with a thin-layer of sweet-tasting, white flesh[].

Medicinal

The genus 'Aglaia' is the only source of the group of about 50 known representatives of compounds that bear a unique cyclopenta[b]tetrahydrobenzofuran skeleton. These compounds are more commonly called rocaglate or rocaglamide derivatives, or flavaglines, and most have been found to have potent insecticidal properties, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial or anthelmintic bioactivity. Several of them exhibit pronounced cytotoxic activity against a range of human cancers. Since the first representative in this group was only discovered in 1982, this is one of the few recent examples of a completely new class of plant secondary metabolites of biological promise (see B. G. Wang et al., Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 32: 1223-1226. 2004; L.W. Chaidir et al., J. Nat. Prod. 64: 1216-1220. 2001)[, ].

Other Uses

The genus 'Aglaia' is the only source of the group of about 50 known representatives of compounds that bear a unique cyclopenta[b]tetrahydrobenzofuran skeleton. These compounds are more commonly called rocaglate or rocaglamide derivatives, or flavaglines, and most have been found to have potent insecticidal properties, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial or anthelmintic bioactivity. Several of them exhibit pronounced cytotoxic activity against a range of human cancers. Since the first representative in this group was only discovered in 1982, this is one of the few recent examples of a completely new class of plant secondary metabolites of biological promise (see B. G. Wang et al., Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 32: 1223-1226. 2004; L.W. Chaidir et al., J. Nat. Prod. 64: 1216-1220. 2001)[, ].

Propagation

Seed -

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