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Queen of Philippines (Mussaenda philippica)

Dlium Queen of Philippines (Mussaenda philippica)

Nusa Indah or Queen of Philippines (Mussaenda philippica) is a plant species in the Rubiaceae, a shrub or small tree, fibrous roots and yellowish white, cylindrical stems, many branches, rough and brown bark.

M. philippica has leaves that sit opposite and alternate, ovate, 5-15 cm long, 4-8 cm wide, tapered tip and base, smooth hair, pinnate veins, flat margin, green upper side and lower side whitish green.



Compound flowers, appears at the end of the stalk, umbrella-shaped bouquets, small trumpet-shaped flowers, 1 cm and yellow. Seeds riding, lancet-shaped and yellow-brown. This species grows at elevations of 1-1700 meters. This plant flowers in summer.

This plant contains β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, arjunolic acid, alkaloids, isoquercitrin flavonoids, triterpenoid saponins (mussaendoside F), iridoid compounds, heinsiagenin A. Often used to treat flu, fever, cough, tonsillitis, sore throat, wounds, boils, prevent and treat breast cancer.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Ixoroideae
Tribe: Mussaendeae
Genus: Mussaenda Burm. ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 177 (1753)
Species: Mussaenda philippica A.Rich. in Mém. Rubiac.: 165 (1830)
Variety: Mussaenda philippica var. aurorae Sulit, Mussaenda philippica var. philippica, Mussaenda philippica var. pubescens Alejandro

PUBLICATIONS

Alejandro, G.J.D., Meve, U. & Liede-Schumann, S. (2016). A taxonomic revision of Philippine Mussaenda (Rubiaceae, Mussaendeae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 101: 457-524.

Chantaranothai, P. (2015). A synopsis of Mussaenda L. (Rubiaceae) in Thailand. Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 43: 51-65.

Delprete, P.G. & Cortés-B., R. (2006 publ. 2007). A synopsis of the Rubiaceae of the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, with a key to genera, and a preliminary species list. Revista de Biologia Neotropical 3: 13-96.

Delprete, P.G. (2010). Rubiaceae. Flora dos estados de Goiás e Tocantins 40: 1-1610. Universidade Federal de Goiás.

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Sarder, N.U. & Hassan, M.A. (eds.) (2018). Vascular flora of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts 3: 1-978. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka.

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Queen of Philippines
Indonesian: Nusa Indah
Sumatra: Daun putri

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

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