Materia Medica, Pharmacology & Bio-Prospecting Main MenuIntroductionStudent ProjectsAn Investigation of Five Plants from Rumphius' The Ambonese HerbalBy Jasmine Mariko Reddy, Riya Shah, Emily Burns, Jessica Wakefield and Sareen ManuelThe Importance of Plantago in Medieval European MedicineBy Chris Jamali, Eryn Wilkinson, Swetha Sundaram, Osvaldo Sanchez Fernandez, and Fiza Zahra BalochRe-discovery of Huang Hua Hao: "Qing Hao," Artemisinin, and MalariaBy Anna Yu, Yasaman Moradian, Arman Soltanzadeh, Maya Barajas-Tavera, and Medha VallurupalliJasmine Mariko Reddyb0281e9dbf771b6dad85840110cc9e3d58f55c50Riya Shahc4935b725a6a886968209b1201e4d171adb9da73Emily Burns36af36617134a2bbfd98d24be85866b56ab19858Jessica Wakefield80f49fd19bd630d958c7325599404bef4648009cSareen Manuel2c5a5acc2c71c72acdd64318e7d8aea41b7ef039Chris Jamali02467fca8849d6d56e058865b66250768fdff764Eryn Wilkinsonf420cd237ff4a148ab803b96fae71be4b88fa19bSwetha Sundaram9db3b0c7023f421b67616e34a07fd459b84b7f42Osvaldo Sanchez Fernandez667e0bfed7f4b6edb09b1ad7d53ff0c9e16b3be0Fiza Zahra Baloch8ade266c845a4eab0029266abdab1f9a03773bb7Anna Yuca7a106787bf0a1a2d8077ad646be4f62af171c6Yasaman Moradian41a5b6b8f173c61476252b8ce3915cae39a3eaa9Arman Soltanzadehea0481f5e1a561c616b81a8f76be08abebe530f1Maya Barajas-Tavera952495e26ba3bdc14ebef7f5445a33f92e6f2386Medha Vallurupallibac3343fdf840677331343a4c047d6aee40ac352Chien-Ling Liu Zelenyb41fb6e9789888538ccab835b41e1a49b128a7bf
Ripe Nuts and Male Inflorescence of Lodoicea maldevica or Coco-De-Mer
12021-06-08T04:53:47-07:00Riya Shahc4935b725a6a886968209b1201e4d171adb9da73392125Marianne North’s oil-painted image of Lodoicea maldevica from 1883 as observed in its endemic country, Seychelles, and documented under Kew Science’s Art and Illustrations in Digifolia.plain2021-06-08T10:13:12-07:0018834.6796° S, 55.4920° EChien-Ling Liu Zelenyb41fb6e9789888538ccab835b41e1a49b128a7bf
12021-06-08T05:32:09-07:00Riya Shahc4935b725a6a886968209b1201e4d171adb9da73Flowers that produce pollenRiya Shah1plain2021-06-08T05:32:09-07:00Riya Shahc4935b725a6a886968209b1201e4d171adb9da73
1media/Bilak image.jpg2021-05-24T10:24:24-07:00The Cocos Tree (Lodoicea maldivica)45by Riya Shahplain2021-07-05T08:20:58-07:00The Ambonese Herbal: Volume I is just one of seven volumes, which was completed in 1702 after Rumphius lost his records in multiple incidents. Rumphius identified a plant named Lodoicea maldivica, the nut of which has anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antibiotic, and antidiarrheal properties. Back then, Rumphius used umbrella categories for multiple plant species that were inspired by the local plant relationship structure. He emphasized key characteristics, such as leaf appearance, wood appearance, presence/absence of latex, and the taste and smell of leaves, flowers, and fruit. The image to the right shows the female and male trees of Lodoicea maldivica. The shorter female tree is on the left while the taller male tree, of about 100 feet, is to its right. These trees are known to have the longest leaves in the plant world.
Rumphius separated his plants into 13 categories and Lodoicea maldivica fell under the first category of “trees that contain natural and unmistakable stones in their wood or fruits, like the Calappa”.
The image below to the left shows the gigantic fruit of the plant. The seeds of this plant take 2 years to germinates, plants must grow 20 to 40 years before flowering, and fruits take 6–10 years to mature. The seeds can weigh up to 18 kilograms or almost 37 pounds! Empty shells of small nuts can be carved into bowls and vessels, while the larger ones can be made into stools and tables. The image below to the right shows a small part of the outer fibrous covering of the fruit has been removed to show the two-lobed nut. It usually contains only 1 seed which is known to be the largest and heaviest in the plant kingdom. The male inflorescence has many flowers, and each flower produces a large number of pollen. Unlike some other plants, drawings of Lodoicea maldivica from The Ambonese Herbal: Volume I were accurate when compared to the actual one. The image has been hand-drawn and shows the entire tree, leaves, and the large fruit. Rumphius marked the characteristics of this tree as having coarse, tangled, and fibrous roots and spongy branches. The wood of the trunk is coarse from the outside but on the inside it is spongy, soft, and firmly held. The fruit grows from the upper part of the trunk. All three images of Lodoicea maldivica illustrate the huge fruit of the tree, emphasizing its appeal and usefulness. Two images are zoomed in on the fruit, depicting its different forms, while the other one is a landscape showing the plant in its natural habitat. The images differ from each other in the way they are depicted - two of them are oil painted while the third one is digital. The time in which these images were made available could be a causal factor for the differences seen in the ways they were presented. The oil-painted images surfaced around the late 1800s when cameras and digital media were not accessible. The digital image would have been captured very recently, after documenting pictures using a camera became commonplace.
