Java Olive

Overview

It is found in the tropical zone of Europe, Africa and Asia. Originally from Australia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Somalia, Tanzania. A multi-purpose tree, often harvested from the wild, providing popular food, as well as medicine and a variety of materials for local use.

Vernacular Names

Kelumpang (Malaysia), Letpan Shaw (Burmese), Kalumpang (Philippines), Chamahong (Thailand), Trôm Hôi (Vietnamese), Anacaguita (Spanish), Jangli Badam (India), Telembu (Sri lanka), Samrong (Cambodian), Kalupat (Indonesia), Samrong (Kampuchea), Hsiang-P’ing-P’o Xiang Ping P (China).

Agroecology

Java olive grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18-32 °C, but can tolerate 16-36 °C. It prefers a mean annual rainfall within the range 1,100-1,800 mm, but tolerates 900-2,000 mm, growing in areas both with or without a clear dry season. Prefers a deep, fertile, moist but well-drained soil in a sunny, sheltered position. Succeeds in a wide range of soils. Prefers a pH in the range 6-7.5, tolerating 5-8.

Morphology

• Barks - greyish-brown, fissured or dippled.
• Leaves - grouped together at apex, leaf petiole 10–20 cm, palmately compound, leaflets 7–9, elliptic-lanceolate 10 × 2.5 to 15 × 7.5 mm apex acuminate-caudate, acute base on very short petiolule; young leaves pinkish.
• Flowers - foetid, 20–25 mm wide, woolly in loose, racemose panicles 10–15 cm long. Male and female flowers on separate trees.
• Fruits - large, smooth, ovoid, red, nearly smooth, obovoid, about 10 cm long, containing 10 to 15 seeds.
• Seeds - purple black, velvety, 2.5–3 cm long, ellipsoid or oblongish, with small waxy yellow rudimentary aril at one end.

Cultivation

• Propagated by seed or stem cuttings.
• Seeds have a long shelf life.

Chemical Constituents

Alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, triterpenoids, tannins, steroids, saponins, oleat acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, myristic acid, fatty acids, malvalic acid, sterculic acid (9,10-methyleneocadec-9-enoic acid).

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• Bark and leaves are considered aperient, diaphoretic, and diuretic.
• The bark is used in the treatment of dropsy and rheumatism.
• Oil is reported to resemble olive oil in its physiological properties, non-toxic, non-irritating.
• Decoction of leaves as wash for skin eruptions.
• Decoction of leaves is used for difficult labor.
• Decoction of fruit is mucilaginous and astringent.
• Oil from seeds given internally for itching and skin diseases; also applied externally as a paste to pruritic conditions.
• In Java, decoction of fruit is used for blennorrhagia.
• The seeds are used as a purgative in Ghana.
• In Sri Lanka, leaves are used for the treatment of wounds and ulcers.