Common Name:

General Information

Leea indica is an erect shrub to small tree, often with several stems. It usually grows from 2 - 10 metres tall, occasionally to 16 metres, with stems around 19cm in diameter. Plants are frequently stilt-rooted[, , ].
The plant is gathered from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is locally cultivated in India and China for medicinal purposes[], is often grown as an ornamental, and is also grown as a green manure.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

E. Asia - southern China, Indian subcontinent, through tropical Asia to Australia and SW Pacific.

Habitat

Undisturbed to slightly disturbed (open sites) in mixed dipterocarp, swamp and sub-montane forests up to elevations of 1,200 metres[]. Usually on alluvial sites and near or along rivers and streams[]. Also found on limestone[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Shrub
Height	6.00 m
Pollinators	Flies, Bees
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Succeeds in full or partial sun, preferring a moist, fertile, well-drained soil[, ].
Plants respond well to coppicing[].

Edible Uses

The tender shoots are used as a vegetable[].

Fruit[]. The fruit is a purple-black berry 5 - 10mm in diameter, occasionally to 15mm, containing 6 seeds[].

Medicinal

The juice of young leaves is used as a digestive[]. Young shoots are chewed to relieve a severe cough[].
The pounded leaves are used for poulticing cuts and skin complaints in general. They are placed upon the head in cases of fever, headache and as a general anodyne for body pains[]. The leaf juice is applied on the head as a remedy for dizziness or vertigo[]. A decoction of the shoots is applied to sores[]. In the Oro province the body is beaten for some time with leafy shoots to relieve body pains, fevers and sleeplessness[].

The root is considered antipyretic and diaphoretic. It is used to relieve muscular pain, and is an ingredient of a preparation to treat leucorrhoea, intestinal cancer and cancer of the uterus. A decoction of the roots is taken to relieve stomach-ache, colic, dysentery and diarrhoea[, , ].
The roots are an ingredient for a treatment against yaws[]. The crushed roots are applied as a poultice to treat ringworms, diarrhoea, colic and sores[]. The crushed root is also applied to rashes, stings, allergic reactions etc from other plants[].

An infusion of the inflorescence is used in the treatment of chest pain in children[].

The leaves contain an abundance of of phenolic constituents such as flavonoids, leucoanthocyanidins, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, syringic acid and gallic acid[].
An ethanolic extract of the plant has been shown to selectively inhibits herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1) virus at a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.001—0.1 mg/ml[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The leaves serve as green manure[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings
Air layering

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