Common Putat

Overview

This plant is found in the coastal areas of eastern Africa and Madagascar to Sri Lanka, India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, Thailand, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, throughout the Malesian region towards Micronesia, Polynesia (east to Fiji and Samoa) and northern Australia. A most decorative tree, which grows easily and rapidly, it is often grown for ornament in the tropics and subtropics. B. racemosa is also known as mangrove associate.

Vernacular Names

Putat sungai, Butun darat (Indonesia), Putat ayam (Malay), Chik ban (Thai), Chiếc hoa vàng (Vietnamese), Som pawng (Laos), Apalang (Tagalog-Philippines), Paopao (Papua New Guinea), Putat aying (Brunei).

Agroecology

Found in primary and secondary forest, mostly restricted to inundated flood plains on tidal river banks, or in swampy localities, sometimes behind the mangrove or in the upper mangrove swamp. It grows well under slightly saline conditions or on beaches near the high water level, with a preference for heavy clay, loam or rich volcanic soils, occasionally up to 500(–900) m altitude.

Morphology

• Stems - smooth or fissured, grey or yellow.
• Leaves - alternate, crowded towards the ends of twigs, simple, obovate-oblong to oblanceolate, stipules very small, petiole very short, without hairs, caducous, base cuneate, apex acuminate, margin entire to toothed.
• Flowers - bisexual, almost regular, calyx tubular, lobes up to 1.5 cm long, green, flushed pink or purple, stamens numerous, connate into a short tube at base.
• Fruits - ovoid-tetragonous drupe, 3–9 cm × 2–5.5 cm, tapering at base, truncate at apex, indehiscent, green, often tinged purple or red, style fleshy at first, later becoming hard, fibrous and yellowish-brown when mature, usually 1-seeded.
• Seeds - ovoid-tetragonous, 2–4 cm × 1–2.5 cm. Seeds aromatic.

Cultivation

• By seeds - best sown as soon as it is ripe. Seedlings are ready for field planting about 2-3 months after germination, when it reaches around 20-30 cm tall.
• By cuttings of half-ripe wood.
• By air layering.

Chemical Constituents

Germanicol, germanicone, betulinic acid, lupeol, taraxerol, phytosterol, phenolic acid, flavonoids, tannins, stilbene, lignin, dimethoxy ellagic acid, dihydromyticetin, gallic acid, bartogenic acid and stigmasterol.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• Considered analgesic and antipyretic.
• Roots are considered deobstruent and cooling.
• Studies have shown anti-tumor activity.
• A decoction of the bark is externally applied as an antirheumatic and to treat chickenpox or as a poultice to relieve itch.
• The fruit is used to treat coughs, asthma and diarrhoea. It is pulverized and used as snuff.
• The Zulu tribe of South Africa uses the fruit as a remedy for malaria and is used externally for poulticing sore throat and skin eruptions.
• A decoction of the scraped nut is drunk to relieve cough, sinusitis or bronchitis. The seed is peeled, mixed with flour and oil, and used in the treatment of diarrhoea.
• The seed is used externally to treat ophthalmia.
• In Malaysia, the leaves are used to treat high blood pressure and as a depurative.