Creek Premna

Overview

In Madagascar, Mauritius, East Africa, and India, Bangladesh, Indo-China, China, Taiwan, and Japan, Premna serratifolia is found across Thailand and the entire Malesian zone (reported from Malaysia Peninsular, Java, Moluccas, New Guinea and the Philippines) to Northern Australia, Polynesia and Melanesia. Medicines, fibre and wood for local use are produced by the farm. It is sometimes planted in gardens and as a street tree.

Vernacular Names

Arbre de la migraine. (French), San xu xiu huang jing (Chinese), Alagau-gubat (Philippines), Taiwan-no-kusagi (Japan), Bebuas (Malaysia), Cach nuin (Vietnam), Kalokalo (PNG).

Agroecology

Grows in open scrub, forests of kerangas or swamps, popular along coasts or in urban environments. Sand or (clay) loam or clay soils, often over ultra-fundamental, calcareous or volcanic substrates. It occurs on mountain slopes and along streams in mixed and open forests at elevations of 100-300 m in southern China, but can grow at altitudes of up to 700 m.

Morphology

• Barks - smooth to scaly or fissured, green to (dark or reddish) brown or grey. The bole can be very small, and it has a diameter of up to 30 cm. Twigs often with noticeable interpetiolar ridges, hairy when young, as they age, becoming more glabrous, patches sometimes remain on interpetiolar ridges, bracts absent from new shoots at the base.
• Leaves - opposite; blades 2.5-13.5(15) x 2-9 cm or more, widely elliptic, elliptic.oblong or obovate-elliptic to suborbicular, rounded obtuse to subacute or shortly acuminate at the apex, cuneate or rounded at the base to subcordate, slender, 0.5-3 cm long, dark green on both surfaces.
• Flowers - numberous, bisexual, corolla greenish white, scented, tube cylindrical or funnel-shaped.
• Fruits - black, subglobose, 4 mm in diameter, glabrous or pulverulent.

Cultivation

P. serratifolia is propagated by seeds or by low branches self-layering

Chemical Constituents

Flavonoids, akaloids, phenolic, fenil propanoid, saponin, essential oils, phytosterol compound.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

Medicinal Uses

• Premna serratifolia linn. The properties are cardiotonic, anti-coagulant, anti-inflammatory , anti-hyperglycaemic, anti-parasitic, anti-oxidant and anti-microbial.
• As a galactagogue, the leaves are used to treat rheumatic arthritis, colic, flatulence, cough, headaches and fevers as well.
• Roots are laxative and stomachic.

Traditional Uses

• As a cure for fever, a steam bath made from leaves and young stems is breathed in.
• The leaves are boiled into medicinal tea which, often used in the treatment of backaches, is reputed to have analgesic effects.
• The root has a warm bitter taste and a good scent, recommended as a gentle cordial and stomachic in fevers in decoction.
• Fevers, liver complaints, rheumatism, neuralgia are used for root and bark.
• An infusion of leaves and roots is used against fever and shortness of breath in different parts of Indonesia; women often eat the leaves to facilitate the production of breast milk.