Scyphiphora

Scyphiphora is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the only genus in the tribe Scyphiphoreae. The genus contains only one species, viz. Scyphiphora hydrophylacea, which has a large distribution range from India, to tropical Asia and the western Pacific.[1] It is a shrub of about 3 m (10 ft) and is often found in mangrove forests or sandy beaches. Its local common names include chengam in Malaysia, ngam in Thailand, nilad or sagasa in the Philippines, and côi in Vietnam.[2]

Scyphiphora
Scyphiphora hydrophylacea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Ixoroideae
Tribe: Scyphiphoreae
Genus: Scyphiphora
C.F.Gaertn.
Species:
S. hydrophylacea
Binomial name
Scyphiphora hydrophylacea
Synonyms
  • Epithinia Jack

Description
Fruiting twig
Flowers

Its leaves are opposite. The leaf blades are broad and drop-shaped. Its terminal buds and young leaves are coated with a varnish-like substance. The flowers are tubular and have four white lobes that are tinged pink. They are arranged in dense clusters. The fruits are elliptic and deeply ridged, becoming light brown and buoyant when ripe.

Uses

Its dark brown wood can be used to craft small objects. Leaf extracts are known to be helpful for stomach aches.[3] The flowers can be used as a cleansing or whitening laundry agent.

Culture
Main article: Manila § Etymology

One popular — but antiquated and less linguistically plausible — etymology for Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, asserts that the city's name derives from this shrub, locally known as nilad. However, from a linguistic perspective it would have been unlikely for native Tagalog speakers to completely drop the final consonant /d/ in nilad to achieve the present native form of the name ("Maynilà").[4]

Chemistry

The plant contains friedelin, syringic acid, isoscopoletin, fraxetol, casuarinondiol and guaiacylglycerol-beta-ferulic acid ether.[5]

gollark: Not exactly sure what that is, but maybe.
gollark: Arguably lots of things are *sort of* infohazards, but eh.
gollark: Infohazards are a closely related thing - hazardous *information*. I guess you could argue that infohazards are a subset of cognitohazards which are transmitted informationally.
gollark: If there were things like that it would be hard to notice, because it would look like people randomly becoming dead.
gollark: It's not like a cognitohazard has to instantly kill you in order to be considered one.

References
  1. "Search results for Scyphiphora". The Plant List. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  2. "Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea". Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  3. "Mangrove flora: Chengam (scyphiphora hydrophyllacea)".
  4. Baumgartner, Joseph (March 1975). "Manila — Maynilad or Maynila?". Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society. 3 (1): 52–54. JSTOR 29791188.
  5. Tao, SH; Gao, GC; Qi, SH; Li, QX; Zhang, S (2009). "[Studies on the chemical constituents of Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea (II)]". Zhong Yao Cai. 32 (5): 712–4. PMID 19771844.


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