Aglaia ijzermannii — Edible Plant | Edible Plant Database

Description

A tree. The crown is broad and irregular. The trunk has branches from near the base. Plants are separately male and female. The fruit are orange to brown and 2 cm long by 2 cm wide. There are 2 seeds.

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw. A sweet flavour. The orange-brown or orange-red, subglobose fruits are up to 20mm long and 20mm wide, containing up to 2 seeds, each covered with a translucent, sweet-tasting flesh.

Traditional Uses

The fleshy layer around the seeds is sweet and edible.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

The genus 'Aglaia' is the only source of the group of about 50 known representatives of compounds that bear a unique cyclopenta[b]tetrahydrobenzofuran skeleton. These compounds are more commonly called rocaglate or rocaglamide derivatives, or flavaglines, and most have been found to have potent insecticidal properties, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial or anthelmintic bioactivity. Several of them exhibit pronounced cytotoxic activity against a range of human cancers. Since the first representative in this group was only discovered in 1982, this is one of the few recent examples of a completely new class of plant secondary metabolites of biological promise (see B. G. Wang et al., Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 32: 1223-1226. 2004; L.W. Chaidir et al., J. Nat. Prod. 64: 1216-1220. 2001).

Distribution

It is a tropical plant. It grows in forests near rivers between 30-120 m above sea level.

Where It Grows

Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, SE Asia,

Cultivation

The male flowers emit a strong scent of citronella. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Other Uses

The genus 'Aglaia' is the only source of the group of about 50 known representatives of compounds that bear a unique cyclopenta[b]tetrahydrobenzofuran skeleton. These compounds are more commonly called rocaglate or rocaglamide derivatives, or flavaglines, and most have been found to have potent insecticidal properties, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial or anthelmintic bioactivity. Several of them exhibit pronounced cytotoxic activity against a range of human cancers. Since the first representative in this group was only discovered in 1982, this is one of the few recent examples of a completely new class of plant secondary metabolites of biological promise (see B. G. Wang et al., Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 32: 1223-1226. 2004; L.W. Chaidir et al., J. Nat. Prod. 64: 1216-1220. 2001).