Siam Villa Garden: ต้นตีนเป็ด

English Name: Devil's Tree, White Cheesewood, Devil's Bark, Dita Bark, Blackboard Tree

Scientific Name: Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.B.

Family: Apocynaceae

Native Region: Southern China, Tropical Asia, Australia

Alstonia scholaris is a glabrous tree and grows up to 40 m (130 ft) tall. Its mature bark is grayish and its young branches are copiously marked with lenticels.

The upper side of the leaves are glossy, while the underside is greyish. Leaves occur in whorls of three to ten; petioles are 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in); the leathery leaves are narrowly obovate to very narrowly spathulate, base cuneate, apex usually rounded; lateral veins occur in 25 to 50 pairs, at 80–90° to midvein. Cymes are dense and pubescent; peduncle is 4–7 cm (1.6–2.8 in) long. Pedicels are usually as long as or shorter than calyx. The corolla is white and tube-like, 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in); lobes are broadly ovate or broadly obovate, 2–4.5 mm (0.079–0.177 in), overlapping to the left. The ovaries are distinct and pubescent. The follicles are distinct and linear.

Flowers bloom in the month October. The flowers are very fragrant similar to the flower of Cestrum nocturnum.

Seeds of A. scholaris are oblong, with ciliated margins, and ends with tufts of hairs 1.5–2 cm (0.59–0.79 in). The bark is almost odorless and very bitter, with abundant bitter and milky sap.

Uses

During convocation the leaves of Alstonia scholaris (saptaparni) are awarded to graduates and postgraduates of Visva-Bharati University by the chancellor, given to him in turn by the Prime Minister of India. In recent years, supposedly to prevent excessive damage to environment, the vice chancellor of the University accepts one saptaparni leaf from the chancellor on behalf of all the students. This tradition was initiated by the founder of the University, Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore.

The wood of Alstonia scholaris has been recommended for the manufacture of pencils, as it is suitable in nature and the tree grows rapidly and is easy to cultivate.[8] In Sri Lanka its light wood was used for coffins. The wood close to the root is very light and of white colour, and in Borneo was used for net floats, household utensils, trenchers, corks, etc. In Theravada Buddhism, the first Buddha is said to have used Alstonia scholaris as the tree for achieving enlightenment.

The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia states that "the powerfully bitter bark of this tree is used by the natives of India in bowel complaints (Treasury of Botany). It has proved a valuable remedy in chronic diarrhoea and the advanced stages of dysentery. It has also been found effectual in restoring the tone of the stomach and of the system generally in debility after fevers and other exhausting diseases (Pharmacopoeia of India). It is described in the Pharmacopoeia of India as an astringent tonic, anthelmintic, and antiperiodic. It is held in the highest repute in the Phillippine Islands [sic]." Despite its widespread traditional use as an 'antiperiodic' (a medicine which was supposed to cure the effects of malaria), however, it was found to have little to very weak activity against Plasmodium falciparum. It had no effect against Giardia intestinalis, and weak effect against Entamoeba histolytica, which both cause diarrhoea.

At one time, decoctions of the leaves were used for beriberi.