Scaevola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb.
Beach Naupaka / Ambong-ambong/Akar pahit (M.)
Description
Traditional Medicinal Uses
Ecology
Propagation
Distribution
Precaution
Perennial erect shrub or small tree up to 7 m tall. Leaves are simple, alternately arranged, glabrous to hairy, fleshy, glossy and light green with yellow patches. Leaf blade is obovate, rounded at apex, attenuate at base with entire to toothed margin. Stems are cylindrical. Inflorescence a cyme arising at leaf axils. Flowers are white to pale yellow, few-flowered, scentless, glabrous to densely covered with appressed hairs. Fruit a white,
The local healers believed that it can give stamina after hard day of work. Fresh leaves are cooked as vegetable dish or eaten raw as salad. The roots are boiled and the resultant decoction can be taken as remedies for high blood pressure, after childbirth and gastric complaints.
It thrives on slopes of forest margins, in wastelands and along roadsides. It prefers fertile sandy loamy soil under full sunlight to partial shade.
Seeds and root division.
Native to East Africa to India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific
None