''Aglaia argentea'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

. It is a tree found in

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Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

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Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, the

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, and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Description

Aglaia argentea is an evergreen tree. It has a spiral leaf arrangement and pinnately compound leaves with leaflets that are elliptical or oblong. Once it has reached a height of about 4.5 meters they begin to flower and fruit. It is a dioecious species so there are male and female plants. The flowers on both are similar, having 5 petals each. The male flowers have 5 stamen and the female flowers have superior ovaries. The fruit are small (between 30 and 35 mm in diameter) oval and fleshy, each containing anywhere from one to three seeds. The tree can grow up to 98ft (30m) and the leaves typically range in size from 17 – 112 cm long and 14 – 75 cm wide. The flowers have a complex inflorescence that can grow up to 60cm long and 60cm wide, with radial symmetry.

Ecology

''A. argentea'' is found in well-developed rainforests and other humid lowland areas. It grows in wet tropical areas of east Asia, Australia, and some of the Pacific islands. It thrives on full sunlight and moderate amounts of water. It is also successful on many different soil types, such as: basalt, clay, coral sand, granite, limestone and sandstone. This dioecious tree is pollinated by insects and the seeds are commonly dispersed by animals such as birds. The berries that contain its seeds are often eaten by birds and are also cultivated for human consumption.

Cultivation and Uses

''A. argentea'' produces edible fruits that are often cultivated and eaten without the seeds in East Asia and some of the Pacific islands. The bark of the tree has steroids that were isolated to use as cytotoxins to help with some forms of cancer such as leukemia. ''A. argente''a is also known for a naturally occurring chemical called rocaglamide which contains properties that are useful as insecticides, antifungals, and antibacterial applications. In addition to the antibacterial properties, rocaglamide is also helpful with leukemia much like the steroids mentioned before. Its timber is commonly used as a substitute for mahogany and it is also a great colonizer when regenerating forests and wildlife in areas where rainforests have been destroyed in the past. 4]

Common names

''Aglaia argentea'' is known as silver boodyara, bekak, or koping-koping. It is also locally known as iloilo in the

Western Visayas Western Visayas ( hil, Kabisay-an Nakatundan; tl, Kanlurang Kabisayaan or ''Kanlurang Visayas'') is an administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VI. It consists of six provinces (Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimara ...

in the

. The

city of Iloilo Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo ( hil, Siyudad/Dakbanwa sang Iloilo; fil, Lungsod ng Iloilo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines on the island of Panay. It is the capital city of t ...

(and the

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

province) is named after the tree.

References

# C. Satasook, M.B. Isman, F. Ishibashi, S. Medbury, P. Wiriyachitra, G.H.N. Towers, Insecticidal bioactivity of crude extracts of Aglaia species (meliaceae), Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1994, Pages 121–127, ISSN 0305-1978,https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-1978(94)90002-7. # Farabi, K., Harneti, D., Nurlelasari, M. R., Hidayat, A. C., Supratman, U., Awang, K., & Shiono, Y. (2017). Cytotoxic steroids from the bark of aglaia argentea (Meliaceae). ''CMU J. Nat. Sci'', ''16''(4), 293–306. # Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2020-11-05. http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Aglaia+argentea # Khaopakro, S., Vajrodaya, S., Siripatanadilok, S., & Kermanee, P. (2015). Wood anatomical survey and wood specific gravity of 13 species of Aglaia (Meliaceae) from Thailand. ''Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany)'', (43), 87–103. Retrieved from https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ThaiForestBulletin/article/view/44213 # Flora & Fauna Web, A Singapore Government Agency Website. (2020, April 20). Aglaia Argentea Blume. Retrieved from https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/3/5/3508 # http://portal.cybertaxonomy.org/flora-malesiana/node/13386 * argentea Sapindales of Australia Flora of tropical Asia Least concern flora of Australia Least concern biota of Queensland Rare flora of Australia Flora of Queensland Nature Conservation Act rare biota Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Australia-rosid-stub