Antidesma ghaesembilla

Gaertn.

Black currant tree

Phyllanthaceae Edible: Fruit, Leaves as condiment, Spice, Leaves 196 iNaturalist observations

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Summary

Antidesma ghaesembilla is a species of plant in the Phyllanthaceae family. It is native to an area from northern Australia to the Philippines, China, and west to India. The shrub or tree usually grows in moist soils in plant communities ranging from savannah to gallery forest to closed forest. It is associated with a number of species of fungus, insects and animals, including emus. Amongst the Mangarrayi and Yangman people of north Australia, the sweet ripe fruit of the tree are much appreciated and linked to the build-up season and to the koel. As well as food, the plant is used as a calendar-plant, for dyeing, in traditional medicine, in religious/magical practices, as fuel, and as an insecticide.

Description

A stout and erect tree. It grows 3-8 m tall and spreads 2-4 m across. The trunk is covered with chalky yellowish brown bark. It is rough and mottled. The timber is light coloured and hard. The young branches and new leaves have woolly hairs. The tree loses its leaves during the dry season. The leaves are 3-7.5 cm long by 2-3 cm wide. They are broadly oval with a blunt tip. The leaves are thinly textured and shiny on the upper surface but paler underneath. The leaves are numerous. The flowers are numerous and densely clustered. Male and female flowers occur on separate trees. The male flower spikes are 2.5-5 cm long and the female flowers are on short thick stalks at the ends of branches. The individual flowers are very small and about 1-2 mm long. The fruit are small, oval and fleshy. They are 0.4-0.6 cm long and purple when ripe. The fruit are edible.

Edible Uses

In Australia, children eat the quite acidic fruit. When ripe it is dark purple and very high in Vitamin C.

Traditional Uses

The fruit are eaten raw when ripe. They are sour. They can be used for jam. The fruit are also used with meat and fish dishes. The leaves are used as acid flavouring in food.

Medicinal Uses

The Mangarrayi and Yangman people of Elsey and the Roper River of north Australia eat the fruit when ripe (turning purple to black in colour). "They are very sweet and highly sought after when ripe". The fruit is also crushed and soaked in water to make a cordial-like drink. When eaten or drunk, peoples lips and tongue are stained a blue-purple colour. It is also a calendar plant: during Gaynwarr, the build-up or hot-weather time before the rains (monsoon), approximately August to November, the dowo'min (Mangarrayi) or jowogban (Yangman) (Eudynamys orientalis, koel/stormbird, a type of cuckoo) calls out during the build-up, telling the Mangarrayi and Yangman people that this fruit and 3 others are ready to harvest. The bird is held to "look after" the tree. The Jaru people of the Kimberley and Top End in Australia describe the fruit as "sweet and tasty ... when they are ripe, black." Ripening occurs in the wet season. In East Kalimantan, resin (nyatang) from the tree is burnt to make a black dye for sunhats. The fruit is eaten fresh or pickled in Cambodia. Cambodian traditional medicine includes the following: young branches, mixed with papaya roots, to regulate menstruation; a mixture of the bark and tobacco is used to dress some wounds; crushed leaves are applied to the fontanelle of newly born babies to prevent them from catching the common cold. The village of Pu Ndreng, Dak Dam commune, Ou Reang District, Mondulkiri Province, eastern Cambodia, has Bunong people making up 90% of its population. In that village the least expensive ailment to be treated by traditional medicines is "uterus pain", the treatments are local wild plants, including A. ghaesembilla. In a wider study of ethnopharmacology of Bunong people in Mondulkiri, various parts of this plant (bark, wood, root, leaves) prepared in various ways were used to treat a variety of ailments (diarrhea, diarrhea and vomiting, post-partum care, stomach-ache, haemorrhoids, fever, cough, and cleaning wounds). The bark, grated and mixed with water, was applied to the skin as an insect-repellent. While the plant was cited by a high number of informants, there was little fidelity, little agreement on what ailments were to be treated by it. It was predominantly used in complex mixtures with other plants. The plant has been shown to possess anti-bacterial activity against gastrointestinal pathogenic bacteria. A study has examined the treatment and management of liver diseases by Khmer traditional healers in the capital and largest city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. These traditional healers cite various properties/effects of plants that they mentioned, one of the most common is psah, the ability to cure inflammations, infections, wounds, burns and repair tissue damage, whether internal or external, in a very efficient manner. A. ghaesembilla is held to have this property. When treating liver disease the wood of this plant is given in the forms of a decoction, infusion or pill. The study concludes that the healers are taking on new practices and rhetoric imported from biomedicine (scientific medicine), and therefore the healers are "neotraditional", ignoring the possibility that as with all cultural practices, the healer practice is dynamic, and what is "traditional" may merely represent a point in time. Amongst Kuy- and Khmer-speaking people living in the same villages in Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces of north-central Cambodia, the tree is used as source of folk medicine, food, and fuel, and as a component in ritual/magical activities. The leaves have been used in traditional medicine of Vietnam to treat skin diseases, while the fruit have been used to treat sore throats and lung diseases. In China the fruit are eaten for food, while in local medicine the leaves are used for headaches, the stem to stimulate menstrual flow, the fruit as a purgative. In Kerala the fruit is used as a seasoning ingredient in fish and meat dishes, while tribal people in India use the plant in folk medicine as a sedative.

Distribution

A tropical plant. They are common at low and medium altitudes throughout the islands of the Philippines. It grows to 120 m altitude in Malaysia. In Australia they grow in the north in open vine forest. In Vietnam it grows along riverbanks.

Where It Grows

Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Guyana, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Philippines, SE Asia, South America, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam,

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed or cuttings.

Other Uses

The wood is cheap but soft and splits when dried. It is nevertheless used for roof construction. Another report says that it is hard and durable, but difficult to work because of the high silica content.

Production

Fruit are available September to December in Australia. In India plants flower and fruit March to February.

Other Information

It is not known if it is used for food in Papua New Guinea.

Notes

There are about 100-170 Antidesma species.

Nutrition

Part	Moisture	kJ	kcal	Protein	Vit A	Vit C	Iron	Zinc
Fruit	71.9	450	108	1.4	—	111	2.5	0.4
Leaves - flavour	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Synonyms

Antidesma frutescens Jack

Also Known As

Alimpunga, Anti, Amtua, Ande-ande, Andjurlukkumarlba, Arosep, Binayuyu, Byechin, Byisin, Chipli, Dangkep k'dam, Dempul, Dongkeabkdam, Elena, Gucheh, Gucil, Gunchek, Gunchiak, Heloch, Inyam, Jamula, Janjharli, Janupulisaru, Jhondri, Jondhurli, Kakapal, Kenyan, Khatua, Khudi jamb, Kinbalin, Kotia heloch, Kunchir, Mai-mao, Majjige hannu, Mao khai pla, Mata sure, Mikhan-tenga, Ntenren, Nuniare, Onyam, Pirliming, Pod-pod, Pullampurasigida, Pyisin, Sepat, Theng-merok-arong, Tubo-tubo, Umtao, Umtoa, Warranuwa, Yangu

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