PATCHOULI

Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth

Background...

Pogostemon cablin has many common names according to the places. In Borneo such as Acheh and Malaysia it was known as Nilam. Meanwhile in Philippine it was called Kabling. European named this species with Patchouli. This plant is thought to be originated from Philippine. This species can be found easily in the islands of this country. Nilam was introduced in Malaysia since early of 1800 by the farmers. But it was not established yet in Malaysia due to the competition with Hevea sp. (getah) in that time. The farmers give more focusing in this crop because of their benefits compared to the Nilam crops. Meanwhile in the Jawa Island especially Acheh area, Nilam was very important as main sources for the essential oil processing and manufacturing as well as Brazil and China. There are three types of Nilam which are Nilam Aceh (Pogostemon cablin), Nilam Jawa (Pogostemon hortensis) dan Nilam tipis (Pogostemon heyneanus). According to the percentage of production of essential oil, Nilam Acheh (Pogostemon cablin) is the most popular compared to the others. Nilam oil was used as a main sources in traditional medicine. It has higher contain of essential oil.

Nowadays, Indonesia is the one of the main eksporters for the essential oil/ atsiry oil in the world. Their essential oil can be commercialised in the market for many purposes. At international level, this oil was called patchouli oil. In the Tamil language, patchai mean ‘green’ and ellai refered to the leaves. That species was diffilcut to produce flowers if growth in tropical area except those with in-vitro technique. Their oil will be collected by extraction process at leaves and stems part. The young leaves produced more yield than the old one. The matured plants occured between 6 to 8 month after the plantation.


Classifications of Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth

Kingdom : Plantae
Sub kingdom : Tracheobionta
Super division : Spermatophyta
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Asteridae
Order : Lamiales
Family : Lamiaceae (Labiatae)
Genus : Pogostemon
Species : Pogostemon cablin
Common Name/Vernacular Name : Nilam (Aceh, Malaysia)
Kabling (Phliphine)
Patchouli (Europe)


Morphology and Biology Characteristics

Nilam is categorised as a herbs about 1 to 2 metres high. They have many branches and formed a thicket area. It was growth at the villages, growth errectly and have their own time to survive. This species in Malaysia not produced flowers. They have smelly odour which are good to avoid the pests. Leaves are solitary, ovate to oblong about 8-10 cm long and 5 -8 cm width. Their margin are wavy and hairy at the above surface. The colour of leaves is greeny purple. But, their leaves were produced aromatic odour when it was blended. Stem and branches was purple in color, rectangular and was sheath with a thin hairy layers.

The stomata found in both surfaces and caryophyllaceous type. Their leaves have a large glandular hairs with unicellular cell. The collenchyma cell are in a closed ring in the primary cortex.

This plant are prefered in shaded and higher condition. Their reproductive behaviour by vegetative ways. It can be found either in lowland or highland. But, their optimum level is around 10 to 400 metres from the sea level. They need enough water supply with rainfall around 2000 until 3500 mm per year. The suitable temperature about 24°C to 28°C with 75% humidity. This species have several reactive chemical agents like Patchouli alcohol, Patchouli camphor,Cadinene, Benzaldehyde,Eugenol and Cinnamic aldehyde.

Uses and Benefits of Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth

Perfume/cosmetics

Nilam are well known as an important element in perfume or cosmetics industry and the most important product for atsiry oil. Their leaves can produce essential oil. The uses of nilam oil in this industry because of their fixative character. Nilam oil has a strong and unique strength to fix with other aromatic. Thus, it can fix the aroma for a long time. This capability is not be found in others plants except nilam oil. Their demanding for the nilam oil is very high at international level. About 2/3 of the perfume products in the world was made up by this oil. Beside that, this oil also can be solute with alcohol and others esters oil.

Medicinal Purposes

Nilam oil have a great contributions in traditional medicine. It can be used as an antibiotic. It is because, this oil could be destroyed the microbs. Beside that, it can be used in cough medicine, headache, stomachache, fever and hyertensional diseaese. For the headache, the leaves will be soak in the plain water for a while before drinked.

The pure oil (100%) can be used after the snake or wild animal’s bite such as cobra. We need to put the oil at those part. This considered as an emergency treatment. There are no doubts about their benefits in skin treatments. It can be used as a skin lotion. Their roots could be extracted to make this particular lotions.

After that, their leaves also can be used in order to solve in hygenic problem. Many products of deodorants was used this plants. More over, we can used it in traditional ways either by drink the water or use the soaking water for bath. Some people also used this plant for diarrhea disease.


Pesticide/ insecticide

Nilam leaves can be function as a pesticide or insecticide. Many insects give harmful and uncomfortable condition in our life. There are many diseases because of these insects. There are many ways to solve this problem. Usually, the most popular ways is by using the insecticide which is available at the market. But, the effectiveness of the insecticide only for the short term.
However, instead of insecticide there are certain kinds of plants that can be used for this purpose. As simple example, nilam is the one of the best plant for used as an insecticide. Certain people used their oil to destroy the insects such as in cupboard, drawer and so on. At certain Asian country, the nilam oil used as an insecticide for moth.

Other uses

The nilam oil was categorised as a woody aromatic and exotic oil. This kind of oil were very useful for pshycoemosional aspect. It can work in order to raise our sensuality . The oil can create an aromatic condition in the room. This action will give a result in order to solve the insomnia symptom. So that, it was known as an alternative medicinal therapy. It is because of their oil could be used to reduce the depression, stress and others.

Beside that, the nilam oil can be used as a treatment agents for the clothes. Most of the cotton and silk clothes are very sensitive. Some people were used their leave’s water to make the clothes more deodrize. It can be used as a detergent or syampoo for the hair treatment. It wiil give the black and shiny hair. This oil also used as a flavour in food products but in low concentration.

Mengkudu (Noni)
Morinda citrifolia Linn.

Background...

Morinda citrifolia or Mengkudu, as it is known locally, is a small erect tree found within the forest. Morinda Citrifolia is native to many countries in the Indo-pacific region. It was found in Southeast Asia, tropical Australia, has been extensively spread by man throughout India, Caribbean and into the Pacific islands as far as the islands of French Polynesia, of which Tahiti is the most prominent. It can also be found in parts of the West Indies.

Due to its medicinal properties it is now planted in the villages, mainly for its translucent white fruit. M.citrifolia is found growing wild along the coasts, and is commonly grown in villages. It has been used in Hawaiian traditional medicine for over 2000 years. There was a revival in the mid-1990s, when M.citrofolia was known worldwide as the “Hawaiian magic fruit” and “Hawaiian miracle medicine” .

The benefits and their uses was not widely known in Malaysia. However, some of scientist in Malaysia such as researcher from FRIM, Dr Mohd Ilham Adenan was doing the research for mengkudu. The mengkudu species were distributed all over the world. But their main location is in the tropical forest such as Malaysia. This species have a very recalsitran seed which are resistant and could float for a long term. Many researches scientific of this species was carried out by Dr. R. M. Heineike.

Mengkudu has many local names according to the country. For example, Noni was called by people in Hawaii and island of Polinesia. But, in India it was known as ‘Indian Mulberry’, "Nono" (Tahiti); "Lada" (Guam); "Indian Mulberry" (India); "Painkiller tree" (Kepulauan Caribbean); "Nhau" (Sebahagian di Asia Tenggara); "Cheesefruit" (Australia); "Bumbo" (Afrika), “Nonu” ( Tonga), “ungcoikan” ( Myanmar), “Ach” ( Hindi), and ""Kura" (Fiji). In weastern region, mengkudu was called as queen of morinda or cheese fruit bacause the matured fruits have smell like a cheese. In Malaysia, some people was called it as a queen of fruits due to their uses and benefits in traditional medicines.

Classification Morinda citrifolia Linn.

Kingdom : Plantae
Sub kingdom : Tracheobionta
Super division : Spermatophyta
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Asteridae
Order : Rubiales
Family : Rubiaceae
Genus : Morinda
Species : Morinda citrifolia
Common Name/Vernacular Name : Noni (Hawaii and island of Polinesia)
Indian Mulberry (India)
Nono (Tahiti)
Lada (Guam)
Painkiller tree (Island of Caribbean)
Nhau (South East of Asia)
Cheesefruit (Australia)
Bumbo (Afrika)
Nonu (Tonga)
Ungcoikan (Myanmar)
Ach (Hindi)
Kura (Fiji)

There are three types of Mengkudu which are Morinda citrifolia Linn., Morinda elliptica Ridl., and Morinda umbellata Linn.. All of these species has their own value in many aspects such as traditional medicines, food products and so on.

Morphology and Biology Characteristics

The height can reached 35 feet or 10 metres. The flower are white in color. Their inflorencens occur through out the year. It can produced fruits all over the year. The leaf is dorsiventral and homogenous structures. The stomata are typically rubiaceous and the petiole are cylindrical shape and have small medulary strands. Their vessels are small and rays are narrow with 2 to 3 cells. Their leaf have crystal in raphid form.

Uses and benefits

Medicinal Purposes

In China, Samoa, Japan, and Tahiti, various parts of the tree (leaves, flowers, fruits, bark, roots) serve as tonics and to contain fever, to treat eye and skin problems, gum and throat problems as well as constipation, stomach pain, or respiratory difficulties. Dr. Joseph Bafz has revealed that Noni fruits contain antihistamin that very important to treat asthma, hayfever and rheumatism. In Malaysia, heated noni leaves applied to the chest are believed to relieve coughs, nausea, or colic. The noni fruit is taken, in Indochina especially, for asthma, lumbago, and dysentery. As for external uses, unripe fruits can be pounded, then mixed with salt and applied to cut or broken bones. In Hawaii, ripe fruits are applied to draw out pus from an infected boil. The green fruit, leaves and the root/rhizome have traditionally been used to treat menstrual cramps and irregularities, among other symptoms, while the root has also been used to treat urinary difficulties. The juice of the over-ripe fruit is consumed by women to regulate menstrual flow. It may also be taken to ease painful urination. Scientific studies have investigated noni's effect on the growth of cancerous tissue. One such study found that noni inhibited and reduced growth of the capillary vessels sprouting from human breast tumor explants and, at increased concentrations, the noni caused existing vessels to rapidly degenerate. Other preparations of the Mengkudu fruit are used to treat haemorrhages.

Another scientific study showed one brand of noni juice to have prevented formation of cancer cells in rats (using detection methods of bio-chemical markers called DNA adducts). It further showed to reduce the number of DNA adducts in rats induced with carcinogenic DMBA, in some cases, by up to 90%. The same study then also looked at the effective anti-oxidant properties of this Tahitian Noni brand of noni juice, (via LPO and TNB-SAR assays) comparing with the free-radical properties of vitamin C, grape seed powder (GSP), and pycnogenol (PYC) at the daily dose per serving level recommended by U.S. RDAs or manufacturers. This noni juice brand was shown to be more effective than all three. Their conclusion: "The results suggest that prevention of carcinogen-DNA adduct formation and the antioxidant activity of TNJ may contribute to the cancer preventive effect of Morinda citrifolia.

In Island of Carribean, Noni was known as ‘pain killer tree’ because of their widely uses in medicinal such as fever and so on. For people in SEA region, Noni can be used for oral problem, menstrual problem and so on. The result from the research of Dr. Isabella Abboft, Noni can be used for diabhetes, cancer and high blood pressure patients. The ability of Noni as pain killer is due to the chemical contain which is xeronine. Xeronine will help in activation of protein such as in brain.

Food Products

The young leaves used as a side supplement in main menu (ulaman). In Burma, they cooked the young fruits and eat the matured fruits with salt. But, the Noni fruits become as a main foods in some countries like Fiji and Samoa Island. Beside that, Noni has a complete set of nutrition that we need such as carbohydrate, protein, minerals and unsaturated fat. Selenium is the one example for important minerals that found in the Noni fruit. Noni fruits was made as a juice and pills for healthy products.

Mona Harrison, M.D., Ph.D., a former dean of Medical Faculty, University of Boston, said that Noni juice can induced the malatonin and seratonin which can be used for soporofit. It can delayed the senecent process.
According to Dr. Ralph Heincke, revealed that the liquid contents in mengkudu can supply our body with proxeronine which can be synthesised into xeronine alcaloid. There are many functions of this xeronine. For example,in order to absorb the endorphine and act as a co-hormon for energy activation. This biochemical process is the most important process by mengkudu. As until today, mengkudu is the one of the best important source for xeronine compared to the pineapple.

Other uses

The bark of the great morinda produces a brownish-purplish dye for batik making; on the Indonesian island of Java, the trees are cultivated for this purpose. In Hawaii, yellowish dye is extracted from its root in order to dye cloth. In Surinam and different other countries, the tree serves as a wind-break, as support for vines and as shade trees for coffee bushes. The fruit is used as a shampoo in Malaysia, where it is said to be helpful against head lice. Women in the rural areas also use the fruit to make shampoo as they believe it is good for the hair There have been recent applications also for the use the oil from noni seeds. The noni seed oil is abundant in linoleic acid, found in products in the beauty industry, as research points to its affective properties when applied topically on the skin, ie. anti-inflammatory, acne reduction, moisture retention properties.