Malayan Spurge Tree

Overview

The plant is common in Southern India and Southeast Asia. In tropical and subtropical regions, the plant is typically planted as an ornamental and fence plant, while in temperate zones, it is planted as an indoor plant. Malayan spurge tree is also traditionally used as an ailment for a variety of conditions, sweet food, and fish poison.

Vernacular Names

Sudu-sudu, susudu (Indonesia and Malaysia), chan bat day (Cambodia), lep nguak (Laos), kalam-phak, khia phaa, salatdai paa (Thailand)

Agroecology

Malayan spurge tree can be found at elevations of up to 800 meters in dry, open, evergreen forests, scrubby vegetation, rocky limestone hills, and sandy soils.

Morphology

• Stems - green, succulent, branching, and spiny.
• Leaves -  obovate-spathulate or subrhomboid; cuneate to attenuate at base; rounded to emarginate at apex; fall off early.
• Flowers - 1-7 cyathia with 5 pale yellow glands; peduncle pale green; anthers dark red.

Cultivation

Can be easily cultivated through root cutting.

Chemical Constituents

Diterpenes and Triterpenoids such as Euphane and Tirucallane. 

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• In Java, the plant young twigs are consumed as sweet after properly boiled, soaked in water, and covered in sugar.

• Malayan spurge tree latex is consumed as an emetic, purgative, and diuretic whilst also applied externally to cure various skin diseases such as swelling, boil, etc.

• The latex, dried heartwood, and fresh stem also can be used to treat toothache.

• The latex may also be used to treat rheumatic after being mixed with oil, and also to treat earache and asthma

• In Cambodia, the dried heartwood is also used to treat dysentery and as a febrifuge, whilst in India, the plant is used to treat edema and nerve disease. 

• The plant latex also may also be used as a fish poison.