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Useful Tropical Plants

Maclura cochinchinensis

(Lour.) Corner

Moraceae

+ Synonyms

Cudrania cochinchinensis (Lour.) Kudo & Masam.

Cudrania javanensis Trécul

Maclura javanica Blume

Vaniera cochinchinensis Lour.

Common Name:

Maclura cochinchinensis
Leaves
Photograph by: Mark Marathon
Creative Commons License
Maclura cochinchinensis Maclura cochinchinensis Maclura cochinchinensis Maclura cochinchinensis Maclura cochinchinensis Maclura cochinchinensis Maclura cochinchinensis

General Information

Maclura cochinchinensis is a branched, thorny, spreading shrub with a scrambling habit, sometimes becoming a climber. It produces stems up to 10 metres long, and up to 15cm in diameter, with long thorns on the nodes[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].
A famous dye plant in Indonesia, where it has long tradition of use as in batik[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. The wood is gathered from the wild leading to the plant becoming rare in parts of its range due to over-exploitation[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. The plant is also harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References


Range

E. Asia - Indian subcontinent through Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Indo-China, to Australia.

Habitat

Thickets and brushwood in lowland forest and up to elevations of 1,800 metres[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

Properties

Edibility Rating *  *
Medicinal Rating *  *
Other Uses Rating *  *  *  *
HabitShrub
Height10.00 m
Growth RateSlow
Self-fertileNo
Cultivation StatusWild

Cultivation Details



A slow growing plant, the stems reaching 10 - 15cm diameter in about 10 - 15 years[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].
Formerly extensively used in 'batik' processes. The easy availability of synthetic dyes has largely reduced the use of this plant, but it is still locally used in dyeing processes[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. However, the traditional 'soga-batik' produced with it is very expensive and used only in ceremonies, particularly by Javanese nobility[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. As the demand for 'soga-batik' is decreasing and as it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain the wood, the use of this vegetable dye so highly esteemed in Javanese culture can be expected to disappear completely in the near future[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

Edible Uses

The young leaves are sometimes eaten raw[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

The fruit is edible[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

Medicinal

The wood is used to treat fevers[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

The fresh leaves, stripped of their petioles and either finely pounded or made into a decoction, are used in poultices for healing wounds of any soft parts of the body. For penetrating wounds, poultices are applied on both sides and covered with a dressing. Poultices and dressings are changed once a day[
283
Title
Medicinal Plants in Vietnam
Publication
 
Author
Nguyen Van Dan & Doan Thi Nhu
Publisher
World Health Organisation
Year
1989
ISBN
92 9061 101 4
Description
An excellent book, giving information on over 200 plants, their medicinal compounds and applications.
].

A decoction of the roots is effective in the treatment of rheumatism, oedema, blood stasis, dysmenorrhoea and contusions[
283
Title
Medicinal Plants in Vietnam
Publication
 
Author
Nguyen Van Dan & Doan Thi Nhu
Publisher
World Health Organisation
Year
1989
ISBN
92 9061 101 4
Description
An excellent book, giving information on over 200 plants, their medicinal compounds and applications.
]. A decoction of the roots is used to alleviate coughing[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

The roots and leaves can be collected all lhe year round. The roots are used dried and lhe leaves fresh[
283
Title
Medicinal Plants in Vietnam
Publication
 
Author
Nguyen Van Dan & Doan Thi Nhu
Publisher
World Health Organisation
Year
1989
ISBN
92 9061 101 4
Description
An excellent book, giving information on over 200 plants, their medicinal compounds and applications.
].

Other Uses

The heartwood, particularly of the larger roots, but also of the stem, is used to dye textiles yellow[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. A yellow dye is obtained when alum is used as a mordant, a green is obtained when it is mixed with indigo {Indigifera spp), red when combined with sappan wood (Caesalpinia sappan), and orange-green with turmeric(Curcuma longa)[
46
Title
Dictionary of Economic Plants.
Publication
 
Author
Uphof. J. C. Th.
Publisher
Weinheim
Year
1959
ISBN
-
Description
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
,
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].
It is also used in mixtures of dyes with other plants[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. It is an ingredient of the traditional 'soga-batik', together with the bark of Ceriops tagal and Peltophorum pterocarpum[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. Sometimes the dye is used for colouring other materials like mattings[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].
In the traditional 'soga-batik' process the wood is chopped into small pieces (3 - 5 cm), and mixed with the chopped bark of Ceriops tagal and Peltophorum pterocarpum, usually in the ratio of 1:2:4, but other proportions are also used, depending on the desired colour[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. The mixture is put into a pan, covered with water, and boiled until it has thickened to the right consistency; this usually takes about 8 hours[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. After cooling, filtering, and about 2 hours of precipitation, the liquid is transferred to another pan and used for dyeing cotton textiles[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
]. For this purpose the textile, partly covered by wax where colouring is not wanted, is soaked in the warm to cool (but not hot) infusion until absorption is even. Then, the textile is dried in a shady place. This process of soaking and drying is repeated at least 20 times for good quality 'soga-batik'[
310
Title
Plant Resources of Southeast Asia
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://proseanet.org/
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
].

Propagation

Seed -
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-12-12. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Maclura+cochinchinensis>

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