| Antiaris toxicaria | |
|---|---|
| Antiaris toxicaria | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Moraceae |
| Tribe: | Castilleae |
| Genus: | Antiaris |
| Species: | A. toxicaria |
| Binomial name | |
| Antiaris toxicaria Lesch. |
|
Antiaris toxicaria is native to Australia, Cameroon, China (the warmer southern and eastern areas including Hainan Island), Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Thailand, Tonga, Uganda and Vietnam.
The name antiaris is derived directly from the Javanese language name for it: ancar (obsolete Dutch-era spelling: antjar). There are several other botanical names (synonyms): Antiaris africana Engl., the Antiaris macrophylla R.Br. and the Antiaris welwitschii Engl..
Commonly used local names include: In English it may be called bark cloth tree, antiaris, false iroko, false mvule or upas tree. In Javanese language it is known as the upas or ancar, in Indonesian language as bemu. In the related languages of Filipino upas, and Malaysian as antiaris and ancar. In Thai it is the yangyong. In Mandinka, it is the jafo and in Wolof the kan or man.
The Chinese of Hainan Island, refer to the tree as the "Poison Arrow Tree" (Chinese: 箭毒木; pinyin: Jiàndú Mù) as its sap was speared on arrowheads in ancient times by the Li people for use in hunting and warfare.[1]
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The antiaris tree is found in grassy savanna and coastal plateaus. In Africa, there are three varieties clearly distinguished by habitat and their juvenile forms. One is confined mainly to wooded grassland, the other two are found in wet forests; rain forest, riverine forest and semi-swamp forests. [2] It tends to not grow above height of 1,350 to 1,700 metres above sea-level (4,050 feet and 5,100 feet approximately).[2][3]
Antiaris toxicaria is monoecious. It is a large tree, growing to 25-40 m tall, with a trunk up to 40 cm diameter, often buttressed at the base, with whitish bark. The leaves are elliptic to obovate, 7-19 cm long and 3-6 cm broad.[2][4] The African species is unique as the fruit material is bigger than Asian-Polynesian species. The Javanese Antiaris toxicaria flowers in June. In Kenya peak seeding time is March. The fruit is a red or purple drupe 2 cm in diameter. This soft, edible fruit is dispersed by birds, bats, possums monkeys, deer, antelopes and humans.[2] The tree grows rapidly and attains maturity within 20 years.
It is a fairly low source of timber and yields a lightweight hardwood with density of 250-540 kilogram er cubic metre (similar to balsa). As the wood peels very easily and evenly, it is commonly used for veneer work. The bark has a high concentration of tannin which is used in traditional clothes dyeing and paints. In Javanese traditional medicine, the leaves and root are used to treat mental illnesses. In Africa and other Asian nations, seed, leaves and bark are used as an astringent and the seeds as an antidysenteric. Most famous to Africa and Polynesia are the strong, coarse bark cloth derived clothings- which are often decorated with the dye produced from the bark tannins.
The plant is often grown purposely for shade or shelter around human dwellings as it provides excellent dense shade from the tropical heat. The leaf litter is an excellent compost material and high in nutrients- often spread around local gardens, which must be grown distant to the antiaris due to its extremely dense canopy.
Recently, the plant had allegedly been used by retired Tanzanian pastor Ambilikile Mwasapile to allegedly cure all manner of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, asthma, and others.[5] While found to be harmless to humans when boiled in accordance with Mwasapile's mode of creating a medicinal drink out of the bark, it allegedly was undergoing testing by the WHO and Tanzanian health authorities to verify whether it has any medicinal value.[6] However, conflicting reports suggest that the plant in question is not indeed Antiaris toxicaria, but rather Carissa edulis.[7]
Humans have long used poison for hunting and warfare. Antiaris toxicaria is most famous for being employed as a poison for arrows, darts and blowdarts. In Javanese tradition, Antiaris toxicaria is used with strychnos ignatii. The Antiaris toxicaria latex sap has the active components of cardenolides (chemicals with cardiac arresting potential).[8] The latex, present in the bark and foliage, contains a cardiac glycoside named antiarin, which is used as an arrow poison called upas: Javanese for poison, but, commonly to the poetic (non literal) quality of many Javanese words has a duality of meanings- watchman, messenger and courier.[2][3] In China, this plant is known as Arrow Poison Wood and the poison is said to be so deadly that it has been described as "Seven Up Eight Down Nine No Life" meaning once poisoned a person can take no more than seven steps uphill, eight steps downhill or nine steps on level ground. A visitor to South Kensington Museum in 1881 noted a picture of a Upas tree and wrote in their diary 'a picture of the Upas tree the most poisonous in the world any one fall down dead before they can reach it'.
Literary allusions to the tree's poisonous nature abound.[9]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
*Hot and cold soaking treatment of twenty wood species from Irian Jaya,Abdurrohim S and Martawijaya A. Jurnal Penelitian Hasil Hutan Indonesia: 1987. 4(3): 1-9.
*Flora of West Tropical Africa. Hutchinson J and Dalziel JM. Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administration: London 1958. 2nd Ed., Vol. 1(2), .
*Analysis of some Malaysian dart poisons, Kopp B, Bauer WP and Bernkop-Schnurch A, Journal of Ethnopharmacology: . 1992. 36(1): 57-62.
*Timber trees: lesser known species Sosef MSM, Hong LT, Prawirohatmodjo S. (eds.) PROSEA 5(3). Backhuys Publishers, Leiden: 1998
*A pocket directory of trees and seeds in Kenya, Teel W. KENGO, Nairobi: 1984
*Studies on the Indonesian Antiaris Toxicaria Sap, Fujimoto Yukio, Suzuki Yuko, Kanaiwa Takao, Amiya Takashi, Hoshi Katsuji, Fujino Sumiko, "Journal of pharmacobio-dynamics" , 6 (2), The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan: 19830200: pp 128–135