Common
Name(s):
funtumia (mutundu) (Liberian english/ local
name/ trade name) sayklay (Mano) Troloweh (Sapo)
Chinese: si jiao shu
English: bush rubber, Ive rubber, Lagos
rubber, Lagos silk rubbertree, silkrubber, West African rubbertree
French: arbre à caoutchouc
Samoan: pulu vao
Spanish: caucho africano
Habit:
tree
Alternative
Denomination and Spread
Spread from Sierra Leone eastward to Kenya,
Funtumia elastica is also found all the way south to Mozambique and Angola.
Nowadays it is a frequent tree in El Salvador, Madagascar, and China as well,
even if the plant is actually native to west African regions.
More popular names of Funtumia elastica
include “Bush Rubber”, “Lagos Rubber Tree”, and “West African Rubber Tree”.
However, you will find it most often under the name of “Silkrubber”.
General
Description
This medium-sized tree grows its narrow,
cylindrical crown in arid regions, measuring not more than 30 meters in height.
Its ovate leaves are glossy because they store water, while a sort of white
latex exudes in abundance from its slash and petioles. Funtumia elastica’s
yellow-white flowers are fragrant and grow in dense cymes, resulting in long,
spindly fruits of a grey-brown shade. When matured, this 30 cm long fruit opens
up to release a number of hairy, wind-dispersed seeds.
Funtumia elastica belongs to the family
Apocynaceae, commonly called Lagos silk rubber and ‘Ire’ in Yoruba. The genus Funtumia consists
of two species namely: F elastic (female) and F africana (male).
The leaves of both species are very similar, glaborous, leathery, elongated,
elliptic more or less acuninate, cuneate at the base with short stalks.
Felastica is distinguished through the flowers and fruits
which are both shorter than those of F africana. F
elastica is about
30 metres high and 2.50 metres in girth (3) F elastica is used for carving spoons and
bowls in Sierra Leone and found to be suitable for match manufacture in
Nigeria. The decoction of the leaf is used as a cure for mouth and venereal
diseases.
General
Uses
Funtumia elastica (Preuss) Stapf
(Apocynaceae), popular name ‘‘Ireh’’, is a forest tree growing in west and
Central Africa. The stem latex of
F. elastica is used for washing wounds, its leaves to treat haemorrhoids4 and venereal
diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhoea4,5 and its bark powder in the treatment of respiratory
ailments including asthma.
Funtumia
elastica (Preuss)
Stapf. (Apocynaceae),known commonly as silkrubber (local Asante-Twi name is
“Frumtum/Ofruntum”), is traditionally used to treat whooping cough ,
inflammatory diseases such as asthma, blennorhea, and painful menstruation,
cutaneous fungal infections, hemorrhoids,syphilis, gonorrhea and wounds.
Funtumia elastica is a medicinal plant. It is
a medium-sized African rubber tree with glossy leaves, milky sap, and long
woody seedpods. The bark is the medicinal portion. Scientists studied Funtumia
extensively in the 1960s, but only recently have its medicinal properties
recaptured the interest of science.
Funtumia has important antioxidant,
antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antibiotic properties. It is traditionally
used in its native environment, tropical Africa to treat asthma, allergies, and
other respiratory issues, as well as malaria. It has no known toxicity.
Natural compounds found in Funtumia elastica
include: Anthocyanins,
Flavonoids,Steroid alkaloids, plant sterols
(phytosterols), and brassinosteroids, Natural anti-fungals, Tannins, Funtumia
elastica
Funtumia elastica has demonstrated good
safety (low toxicity) in multiple laboratory experiments, and has tested
negative for heavy metals including cadmium, zinc, lead, chromium, and nickel.
It has been safely used for respiratory disease, including allergies, asthma,
and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in humans, cats, and horses
(Funtumia contains no substances prohibited by any equine sport or racing authority).
Funtumia elastica (Preuss) Stapf.
(Apocynaceae) has a long ethnopharmacological history for uses such as
treatment of whooping cough, asthma, blennorhea, painful menstruation, fungal
infections, and wounds.
Funtumia elastica (Preuss) Stapf. (Apocynaceae)
has a long ethnopharmacological history for uses such as treatment of whooping
cough, asthma, blennorhea, painful menstruation, fungal infections, and wounds.
Pharmacology
Recent
investigations have shown that Funtumia elastica is rich in pharmacologically
active compounds with strong therapeutic qualities. The long list of beneficial
chemicals includes anthocyanins, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, anti-fungals,
and natural steroids. A heavy metal analysis of this plant have reveales no content
of cadmium, zinc, nikel, lead and chromium, while the presence of copper, iron
and magnesium was all together less than 0.95%.
Preliminary
phytochemical studies of F
elastica and M oppositifolius extracts revealed that they contain
anthocyanins, butacyanin, flavonoids, steroids and tannins. Phytobutanin was
absent in the extracts. Heavy metal analysis of plant materials showed absence
of cadmium, zinc, lead, chromium and nickel, while the presence of copper, iron
and manganese was less than 0.95%.
Research
findings show F. elastica (FBE and FLE) exhibited significant antimicrobial
activity. The antifungal
properties of aqueous and ethanol extracts of Funtumia elastica and Mallotus
oppositifolius were carried. The crude
extracts exhibited definite significant antifungal activity on most of the
fungi.
Medicinal
Use and Benefits
Most of the curative compounds that make
Funtumia elastica a famously efficient medicinal plant are to be found in its
bark. Scientists have studied this plant begining with the 1960, yet only
recent investigations have recaptured medical interest. These studies have
confirmed what the tranditional African medicine has known for centuries:
Funtumia elastica has valuable antioxidant, antifungal, antibiotic, and
anti-inflammatory qualities. In addition, the plant has shown insignifiant
levels of toxicity, which makes it safe for long term use in almost any dosage.
Traditional medicine practiced by west
African herbalists since ancient times qualifies this tree’s bark for the
treatment of respiratory disorders such as asthma, allergies, hay fever and
even malaria. The alcoholic decoctions made from this tree’s leaves and bark
are antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, qualities which are also greatly
responsible for the widespread medicinal use of Funtumia elastica.
Moreover, you may find it useful to know that
Funtumia elastica leaves and bark extracts are much appreciated as natural
antifungals, thanks to their powerful action against the development of a wide
range of molds.
Curative
Actions of the Anthocyanins Content
The anthocyanins are in fact the pigments
that, in various concentrations, give blueberries, blackberries and cherries
their specific colors. Indicating its high concentration of this substance,
Funtumia elastica unprocessed powder is distinctly blue. Concerning their
physiologic action, it is worth mentioning that they are strong antioxidants,
eliminating the free radicals that cause immune-stimulated inflammations.
Consequently, they have valuable
anti-inflammatory effects, and protect the human organism against DNA damage,
cancer, and other degenerative conditions, while being particularly beneficial
for the heart, the eyes and the brain (improving intellectual capacities and
memory). At the same time, anthocyanins are a safe bet if you care to prevent
asthma.
Curative
Actions of the Flavonoids Content
Flavonoids are a class of natural antioxidant
compounds derived from plants. Funtumia elastica is rich in such chemicals
(among which vitamin C is the one you are most likely familiar with), which
provides this plant’s extracts with strong anti-allergic qualities. Flavonoids
are also antihistamines and are particularly useful in both the prevention and
the treatment of chronic lung diseases, including asthma and COPD.
Curative
Actions of the Natural Steroids Content
Funtumia elastica’s chemical componence also
includes steroid alkaloids, plant sterols and brassinosteroids. They all
enhance the functioning of the immune system (normalizing an over-reactive
antibody response, for example); moreover, they possess anti-inflammatory and
anti-cancer qualities.
Their effects on the maintenance of a proper
immune balance are valuable in the treatment of allergies and of most of the
autoimmune disorders, without the side effects common in standard steroid
drugs. Last but not least, you should also take notice of (and benefit from)
the strong anti-bacterial properties of some of these chemicals.
Curative
Actions of the Tannins Content
Aware of it or not, you are consuming tannins
while drinking coffee, tea, and red wine. Funtumia elastica also contains
plenty. These chemicals influence the organism’s production of prostaglandines
(hormon-like chemicals), thus promoting anti-inflammatory processes. They are
helpful in breaking down proteins, reducing severe allergic response, and
treating asthma.
Safety
Concerns and Recommendations
Clinical investigations have demonstrated
surprisingly low toxicity (close to none) of Funtumia elastica treatments in
various laboratory trials. These results guarantee that Funtumia elastica’s
medicinal use is very safe in cases of respiratory ailments in humans, cats,
and horses.
However, you may want to seek advice from a
profesional heatlth-care provider to avoid potential interactions with standard
medication and to establish the appropriate dosages of Funtumia elastica
remedies according to your body weight and to your health necessities.
Now you and your dear ones can safely start
to benefit from the amazing therapeutic qualities of Funtumia elastica!
Previous phytochemical investigations
of F. elastica led to the isolation of steroidal alkaloids of the conanine
groups named irehdiamines A and B, irehamine, conkurchine or irehline and
irehine from the leaves and
conamine, irehdiamine, conessine and N,N0-tetramethylhorrhimine from the seeds.4 In addition the
sterols, cyclofuntumienol and cycloeucalenol were both isolated from the leaves
and the bark.
Some
steroidal alkaloids (holarrhetine, conessine, holarrhesine and isoconessimine)
have been isolated from the stem bark and conanine group, namely, irehdiamine A
and D, irehamine, conkuchine and irehine from leaves of F. elastica . This study investigated the antimicrobial and
anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol stem bark and leaf extracts of F.
elastica based on its ethnobotanical uses. Preliminary phytochemical
screening for secondary metabolites was also performed.
References
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