Common Name:

General Information

Aglaia speciosa is a tree that can grow up to 35 metres tall. The straight, bole can be free of branches for up to 20 metres, up to 60cm in diameter, with buttresses up to 5 metres high and 1 metre outwards, plus fluting above[].
The tree is sometimes harvested from the wild for its edible fruit[].
Threatened by habitat destruction. The plant is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2013)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - Malaysia, Indonesia.

Habitat

Dense primary forest; more open, secondary formations; marsh forest; forest edges; growing on loamy soils with lime; at elevations from near sea level to 2,200 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Edibility Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	28.00 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 sweet flavour[]. The orange to brown, obovoid fruits are 23 - 30mm long and 17 - 27mm wide, containing up to 2 seeds each of which are covered in an edible 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)[, ].

The sapwood is yellow[].

Propagation

Seed -

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