Rasamala Wood, A Durable Woody Plant That Can Boost Vitality
Kistang - Rasamala wood is also known as body rimbo. His scientific name is Altingia excelsa Noronha.Morphologically, Rasamala wood or Rasamala tree is a towering plant. It can grow to a height of 40 to 60 meters.
The tree height is accompanied by a fairly wide diameter, between 80 to 200 cm. This tree of the Altingia genus has branches as high as 20 to 35 meters. Another characteristic of this tree from the Magnoliopsida class has a smooth bark surface. The bark is yellowish gray or brown.
As for the leaves, this tree is single-leaved. The shape of an egg is round. The length is between 6 to 12 cm. While the width of the leaves is 2.5 to 5.5 cm.
Rasamala wood is a tree with jagged leaf edges. It also has flowers, the flowers are compound with male and female flowers in separate inflorescences, but are on the same tree.
As in general, the nature of flowering trees, usually will have fruit as well. Likewise with rasamala. It has fruit, when the fruit is ripe it will be brownish green.
Benefits of Rasamala
Rasamala wood is a tough type of wood. It is very durable even in direct contact with the ground.
It has a high branch-free trunk, which makes the wood very suitable to be used as electricity poles, telephones, bridge frames, poles, construction, to railroad sleepers.
Not only that, the wood is also often used for vehicle frames, heavy construction, boat and boat flooring, rafts, veneer and plywood.
The young leaves are red. The young leaves are often used as food for vegetables or fresh vegetables.
The leaves have various benefits, for example in Java, the leaves will be finely ground and then used as cough medicine and stomach aches.
This tree has a sap that smells aromatic, so it is often used as a room freshener to ward off unpleasant odors.
Risyandi Anwar, (2018) revealed that traditionally the leaves of this tree are also used as fever-reducing, anti-inflammatory, cough medicine to increase vitality.
And scientifically there are several studies that have found this tree from the Saxigrafales order has great potential for health, including the potential as anti-bacterial and anti-cancer.
Still according to Risyandi, if you refer to its traditional use, and supported by research results in exploring the potential of this tree from the Magnoliophyta division, it is very likely that it has potential as an anti-bacterial for root canals and also for periapical abnormalities of deciduous teeth.
Spread area
Rasamala wood is spread from the Himalayas to the humid areas of Myanmar, China, India. It even spreads to Peninsular Malaysia, and in Indonesia this tree grows in Java, Sumatra, and Bali
In Java, this tree does not grow in any area, it only grows in the western region. While in Sumatra, this tree is spread over the Bukit Barisan.
This tree grows in areas with an altitude of 600 to 1,600 meters above sea level (masl) at high humidity levels and type A-B rainfall. It can grow well on sandy, rocky soil and of course on fertile soil.
It will grow naturally, especially on moist sites with more than 100 mm of rainfall per month and also on volcanic soils.
How to multiply rasamala
It's not too difficult if you want to multiply the rasamala wood. It can be propagated generatively through seeds, grafting, and vegetatively through cuttings. It has the following scientific classification:
- Kingdom : Plantae
- Division: Magnoliophyta
- Class: Magnoliopsida
- Order: Saxigraphales
- Family: Altingiaceae
- Genus: Altingia
- Species: Altingia excelsa Noronha
Green friend, that's a brief review of the rasamala wood or the rasamala tree. Plants with durable wood and leaves can boost vitality.
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