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Medicine: bark, leaves
Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br.
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Family: APOCYNACEAE
Synonyms: Echites scholaris L., E. pala Buch-Ham. ex Spreng., Pala scholaris
(L.) Roberty, Tabernaemontana alternifolia Roxb.
Other names: Local names: teen pet, teen khai. Thai: teen pet, chaba,
phayasataban, tin pet khao, ba-sa, pu-la, sattaban. Vietnamese: mua cua, mo
cua, sua, nangtrung. Cambodian: popeal khe. Chinese: tang jiao shu. English:
Pulai, devil tree, blackboard tree, devil’s bark, milky pine, white cheesewood,
Pagoda tree.
Use: Bark and thin roots used in folk medicine as a tonic, febrifuge, antidiarrheic, anti-malarial and applied to treat male genital pains, headaches,
influenza and pneumonia. Alcoholic extract of bark shows anti-cancer activity,
reduces blood sugar level and acute arthritis. Bark yields also a fibre. Latex can
be applied to open sores to keep maggots out, and can provide a good quality chewing gum. Leaves
are used to treat syphilis and beriberi. In Vietnam dried leaves when burned under beds or green
leaves are applied on the back of patients to provoke lactation. The tree is often ornamentally planted
and recommended as a fuelwood species. Wood charcoal is sometimes used as gun powder.
Active ingredients: The bark contains alkaloids (ditamine, echitamine and echitenine) œ-amyrin
acetate and lupeol. Latex and coagulum contain rubbers and resins. Flowers yield an essential oil.
Harvesting: Trees are sometimes cut down to harvest the bark and leaves.
Yield, densities:
Access rules: Generally open access.
Sustainability: Cutting trees is destructive.
Conservation status: Common.
Processing: Leaves and bark are boiled and extract distilled.
Quality criteria: None.
Marketing: Mixed with other medicinal herbs sold on local market. An estimated export of 12-15
tonnes/year of dried bark is possible against a price of US$/kg 0.4-1.5.
Market prospects: Little or not known.
Propagation: Natural regeneration is often scarce; seedlings are found scattered in groups, particularly
in open places at forest edges and in secondary forest. Regeneration can be enhanced by enrichment
planting using the strip system, but sufficient opening of the canopy is essential for optimal growth of
the seedlings. Seeds are difficult to collect, as the fruits open while still on the tree. Growing from seed
or cuttings is possible. The germination rate of fresh seeds is high, nearly 100%.
Description: Briefly deciduous tree up to 40 m and 75 cm in DBH, bole often fluted. Leaves in whorls
of 4-8, blade coriaceous, elliptic, obovate or spathulate, 4.4-32 by 1.2-8.7 cm. Inflorescence 3-8.5 cm
long, pubescent, many flowered, clustered, fragrant flowers to 1 cm long, green-white. Fruit, a pair of
follicles, 21-56 cm long, 2-2.7 cm wide, many seeded, seed oblong, with a tuft of silky hairs at each
end, 3.9-7.5 by 1.4-1.9 mm, cilia 1.1-1.9 mm long.
Distribution & Ecology: From India and Sri Lanka to Southern China, SE Asia, Malesia, Northeast
Australia and Pacific Islands. In Laos found everywhere. Fast growing tree found in evergreen,
deciduous or mixed forest, in scrub or on forest margins, on a variety of soils, even on very shallow
soils. Trees do not flower at every leaf-change, but only after marked periods of dry weather. Pollination
is by insects, and fruits are dispersed by wind.
Literature: CLP04, FT7.1, FC17, SM9, ICRAF, MOD, AEMB66-68, ITC, NPI24.