Common Name:

General Information

Melicope pteleifolia is a deciduous shrub or small tree, occasionall adopting a scrambling habit; it can grow from 1 - 14 metres tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.

Habitat

Evergreen and mixed deciduous forests and forest margins, thickets, swamp forests, open places; from near sea level to 2,300( metres, occasionally to 2,800 metres[]. Forest edges on hillsides and by streams[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	0.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Melicope pteleifolia can be found from the subtropical regions of southeastern China to the tropics of southeastern Asia.
Judging by the needs of other members of this genus it is probably easily grown in a good loamy soil.
A dioecious species - it produces separate male flowers and female flowers, and only one of those types is produced on any individual plant. Therefore both male and female-flowered forms of the plant usually need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The roots and leaves are antipruritic, depurative and febrifuge[]. A decoction is used in the treatment of arthritis, fever, chickenpox, fever, epidemic influenza, meningitis, infectious hepatitis etc[, ].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow late winter in a greenhouse. Variable germination rates[]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Give the plants some protection from the cold for their first winter outdoors.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood (preferably forced in a greenhouse), 5 - 8cm with a heel, early summer to August in a warm greenhouse. Fair to good percentage[].