Tongon (Debregeasia longifolia)

Tongon (Debregeasia longifolia) is a plant species in Urticaceae, shrubs, evergreens, 2-6 m high, dioecious or monoecious, round stems with few branches, composing a second layer of forest in mountain valleys with altitudes of 500-3200 m and used as survival plants by mountain climbers.

D. longifolia has erect or beveled stems, widened canopy, hard wood, few branches, hard bark and gray or whitish brown. Green shoots sprout from old stems, sometimes in the lower trunk. Twigs have a length of 50 cm for a row of several leaves, flowers and fruit.

Leaves are slender, 6-25 cm long and 2-8 cm wide, rounded base and sharp tip, a main bone runs linear in the middle, some minor bones sideways, thin as paper and jagged margins. The upper surface is rough and green, the lower surface is white-gray.

The flower grows from the leaf armpit, stalk 0.3-3 cm, spreads hirtellous, glomerulus globose and 3-4 mm in diameter. Spedicellate male flowers, obovoid in bud, 1.2-1.5 mm in diameter, rudimentary sessile ovaries, obovoid and 0.5 mm. Female flowers sessile, obovoid, 0.8 mm and perianth membraneous tube.

Ripe fruit reddish or orange, 1-1.5 mm, surrounded by fleshy perianths, can be eaten, higher protein content than apples and sour taste. Tongons have antioxidant and antiproliferative activity. Fruit and bark are used as shampoo and digestive medicine.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Urticaceae
Genus: Debregeasia
Species: Debregeasia longifolia

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