Socfindo Conservation

Rambai

Baccaurea motleyana  (Müll.Arg.) Müll.Arg.

Phyllanthaceae

Location in our garden

Rambai 1Rambai 2Rambai 3

Overview

Native in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java and Borneo; also cultivated in this region and in Peninsular Thailand, the Philippines and Bali.. The tree is harvested from the wild as a local source of food, medicines and wood. It is sometimes cultivated as a garden plant in the tropics, being grown for its edible fruit.

Vernacular Names

Rambai (Indonesia), Rambai (Malay), Rambi (Philippines), Mafai-farang (Thai).

Agroecology

The natural habitat of B. motleyana is the tropical lowland forest and hills up to 900 m altitude. Plants succeed on alluvial soils, yellow clay, sand and limestone soils and position in full sun or light shade.  It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,500-3,500 mm,pH in the range of 5-6 and tolerating 4.5-6.5.

Morphology

  • Trunks - 15-25 m tall, 40 cm in diameter, crown low, round, bushy; twigs, petioles and underside of leaves velvety.
  • Leaves - obovate-lanceolate to elliptic, 20-35 cm × 8-17 cm, petioles 3-10 cm, stipules lanceolate.
  • Flowers - ramiflorous, male racemes 13-20 cm long, flowers yellow in fascicles of 2-5, sepals 4-5, stamens 4-8, female racemes 25-60 cm long, flowers often in clusters, sepals 4-6.
  • Fruits - globose to ellipsoid and turn brownish-yellow coloured when ripe, without splitting, 3-seeded berries, raised glands present, glabrous to densely hairy outside, glabrous inside, greenish yellow to white.
  • Seeds - ellipsoid, laterally flattened. Each seed is covered with sweet tasting aril which is translucent white to light brown.

Cultivation

  • By seeds - when sown fresh it usually germinates in a few days.
  • By air layering.
  • By grafting.

Chemical Constituents

Saponin, tannin, alkaloid, phenolic, flavan (catechin), flavonoid compound, terpenes and terpenoids.

Benefits

  • Fiber content found abundantly in rambai fruit helps in proper functioning of the digestive system.
  • The peel extract possessed antimicrobial activity since it inhibited the growth of S. aureus, B. cereus, B. subtilis, E. coli, Proteus vulgaris, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
  • Rambai fruit can also be used to prevent cancer.
  • The bark is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of eye diseases was extracted by maceration in ethanol and aqueous. Also used as an ingredient of a concoction of many ingredients and administered internally after childbirth in protective medicaments
  • The fruit is able to cure several skin diseases such as itching, panu, scabies, and also ringworm.

Simplisia

  • Siapkan kulit buah rambai secukupnya.
  • Cuci kulit hingga bersih dengan air mengalir.
  • Jemur bahan di bawah naungan selama beberapa hari hingga kering.
  • Setelah kering simpan dalam wadah atau plastik bersih dan kedap udara.

Plant Parts Used

Rambai part 1
Rambai part 2
Rambai part 3

Traditional Recipes

1. Mengobati jerawat

1. 1. Mengobati jerawat

  • Haluskan buah rambai, kemudian aplikasikan di kulit yang bermasalah.
2. Mengobati sakit mata

2. 2. Mengobati sakit mata

  • Ambil kulit batang pohon rambai tua. Kikis kulit batang dan ambil kulit bagian dalam, bersihkan kulit dengan air mengalir.
  • Masukkan kulit kayu pada kain bersih, tumbuk dan peras airnya.
  • Teteskan air perasan pada mata 3 kali dalam sehari hingga sembuh.

Reference Sources

  1. de Padua, L.S., Bunyapraphatsara, N. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors), 1999. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(1). Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands. 711 pp.
  2. Haegens R. 2000. Taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography of Baccaurea, Distichirhops, and Nothobaccaurea (Euphorbiaceae). Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Plant Geography. Supplement 12.
  3. Lim TK. 2012. Edible Medicine and Non-Medicine Plants 4. Springer. London, New York.
  4. Ramayani, P. & Fitmawati. 2020. Diversity of rambai (Baccaurea motleyana (Müll.Arg.) Müll.Arg.) in Bengkalis Island based on morphological characters. Buletin Kebun Raya. 23(1): 46-58.
  5. Uji, T. 1999. Baccaurea motleyana. In: Verheij, E.W.M. and Coronel, R.E. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 2: Edible fruits and nuts. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. pp. 98-100.