''Brucea javanica'' (also known as Macassar kernels) is a shrub in the family

Simaroubaceae The Simaroubaceae are a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades, it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off. A molecular phylogeny of the family was published in 20 ...

. The specific epithet ' is from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, meaning "of Java". Other common names in English include Java brucea and kosam.

Description

''Brucea javanica'' grows up as a shrub or small tree to tall. The tiny flowers (1.5--2 mm in diameter) are greenish white to greenish red or purple and occur in panicles. There are separate male and female flowers on each shrub, making it a monoecious species. The flower anthers are typically red. It typically flowers in June and July and sets fruit in July and August. Each fruit, which are a drupe, measures up to long. When ripe they are a black-gray color that becomes wrinkled when dry. The seed is whitish yellow and covered with an oily membrane. It has compound leaves with typically 7--9 (but range from 3--15) ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaflets with serrate margins. Each leaflet is 20–40 cm long at maturity and comes to a point at the apex. The leaves are covered with fine hairs that are most prominent at the veins and on the undersides of the leaves. All parts of the plant are intensely bitter.

Distribution and habitat

''Brucea javanica'' grows naturally from Sri Lanka and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to China,

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It has been given different definitions. Th ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and Australia. Its habitat includes open areas, secondary forest and sometimes sand dunes. In Australia it grows as an

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

tree from sea-level to altitude.

Medicinal use

The fruit ''Brucea javanica'' was first written about as medicine in the Chinese medical monograph ''Omissions from the Grand Materia Medica'', written in 1765. It contains quassinoid compounds called bruceolides that are anticancer and antiparasitic. It is traditionally used to treat dysentery and malaria, though no clinical trials have been published confirming efficacy for these conditions despite test tube studies repeatedly showing anti-malarial activity.

Moronic acid Moronic acid (3-oxoolean-18-en-28-oic acid) is a natural triterpene. Moronic acid can be extracted from '' Rhus javanica'', a sumac plant traditionally believed to hold medicinal applications. The molecule has also been extracted from mistletoe ...

, another compound found in the plant, shows also potential anti-HIV activity. An injectable oil emulsion form of the plant has been studied in China in controlled trials for treating lung cancer patients combined with chemotherapy, with promising results. More high-quality trials are needed to confirm this use.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7691623 javanica Flora of tropical Asia Flora of China Flora of Taiwan Flora of Australia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus