Gen info
- Villaria is a little known Rubiaceae genus endemic mostly to the coastal forests of the Philippines.
- The genus name Villaria was established by Rolfe (1884) in commemoration of Fr. Celestino Fernandez-Villar, a Spanish priest and botanist, who processed and revised the 3rd edition of Blanco's Flora Filipina (1877-1883). (2)
- The genus contains 5 accepted species, all endemic to the Philippines: Villaria acutifolia. V. fasciculiflora, V. glomerulata, V. leytensis, and V. odorata. (5)

Botany
• Shrubs or small trees, up to 6 m high; all vegetative parts glabrous; lateral branches developing supraaxillary in a distance of about 1 cm above the nodes. Leaf blades vary from elliptic to ovate, oblong, or obovate, 8–13(– 20.5) 9 (3.5–)6–9 cm, coriaceous; apex varies from broadly acute to acuminate, or obtuse; bases acute, cuneate, or obtuse; secondary veins 7–12 pairs; petioles 5–10 mm long. Stipules triangular to ovate, keel entirely prominent from the tip to the base, or only along one-half to one-third of the length, 5–10 9 7–9 mm, colleters numerous, 0.5–0.75 mm long, yellow to golden-brown. Inflorescences axillary, or supraaxillary 2–4 mm above the nodes, usually three-flowered, simple or compound dichasial cymes, rarely uniflorous; peduncles 1–2(–6.5) cm long, glabrous. Flower pedicels 5–7 mm long, glabrous; bracts widely ovate, apex rounded, 3–4 9 4–5 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially sparsely pubescent at the base, margins sparsely ciliate, sometimes with few scattered colleters on the base inside. Calyx tube 3–4 mm long and wide, glabrous outside; lobes depressed ovate, 2–2.5 9 3–4.5 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially sparsely to densely pilose, or only at the base, occasionally with few colleters adaxially on the sides of the base, margins ciliate. Corolla tube infundibular, 5–6 9 5 mm on the top; lobes widely obovate to orbicular, 5–7 9 5–6 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially sparsely pilose at the base. Anthers 5–5.5 9 1 mm. Style 2–3 mm long, stigma elliptic to oblong, 5–6 9 1 mm, glabrous inside. Fruits ellipsoid to globose, 14–16 9 10–14 mm, glabrous; stalk 0.5–2 cm long, glabrous. Seeds ovate to oblong, 2–3 9 2 mm. (2)

Distribution
- Endemic.
- V. odorata is the most widely distributed Villaria species occurring in Luzon (Albay, Batanes, Bontoc, Bulacan, Cagayan, Isabela, Laguna, Mountain Province, Pampanga, Quezon, Rizal, and Sorsogon provinces), Visayas (Samar, Catarman), and Mindanao (Siargao and Dinagat islands); mostly in coastal forests; forest margins, upper beaches, gully forests, at 1-1500 m altitude. (2)

Constituents
- Study of dichloromethane extract of Villaria odorata isolated villarinol (1), a new alkenoyloxy alkenol metabolite, along with known compounds stigmasterol and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde. (see study below) (3)
- Study of leaves isolated three iridoids, morindolide (1), hydrophylin A (2) and hydrophylin B (3), and a norsesquiterpenoid, vomifoliol (4). (see study below) (4) (6)

Properties
- Studies have suggested anti-inflammatory, antibacterial properties.

Parts used
Leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- No information found on fruit edibility.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use.

Studies
• Antibacterial against Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Villarinol: Study of dichloromethane extract of Villaria odorata isolated villarinol (1), a new alkenoyloxy alkenol metabolite, along with known compounds stigmasterol and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde. The extracts exhibited moderate inhibition against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, based on colorimetric microplate alamar blue assay. (3)
• Anti-Inflammatory / Antimicrobial / Leaves: Study of leaves isolated three iridoids, morindolide (1), hydrophylin A (2) and hydrophylin B (3), and a norsesquiterpenoid, vomifoliol (4). The compounds were evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity on inhibition of COX-2, an enzyme responsible for and inflammation At 100 µg/mL, morindolide (1) showed highest inhibition at 84.94%, followed by hydrophylin B (3) at 79.54% inhibition. Synthetic compound DuP-697 as positive control showed 94.38% inhibition at 50 µg/mL. Compounds 3 and 4 showed antibacterial activity against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus with MICs of 125, 250, and 250 µg/ml, respectively, and MBCs of 500 µg/mL against E. coli and S. aureus, and >500 and 500 µg/mL for P. aeruginosa, respectively. (6)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Villaria odorata / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the Philippine endemic Villaria Rolfe (Rubiaceae) / Grecebio Jonathan D Alejandro, Ulrich Meve, Arnaud Mouly, Mike Thiv, Sigrid Liede-Schumann / Plant Syst Evol, 2011; 296: pp 1-20 / DOI: 10.1007/s00606-011-0472-9
(3)
Villarinol, a new Alkenoyloxyalkenol Derivative from the Endemic Philippine Rubiaceae species Villaria odorata / Allan Patrick G Macabeo, Jalil A Avila, Karsten Krohn et al / Natural Products Communications, 2012; 7(6) / DOI: 10.1177/1934578X1200700622
(4)
Iridoids and a norsesquiterpenoid from the leaves of Villaria odorata / Mario A Tan, Raychel Ann U Villacorta, Jonathan D Alejandro, Hiromitsu Takayama / Nat Prod Comm., 2014; 9(9): pp 1229-1230 / PMID: 25918779 / DOI: 10.1007/s00425-022-03824-3
(5)
Villaria / Wikipedia
(6)
Anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial constituents from the leaves of Villaria odorata / Mario T Tann, Regina Belen P Callanta,, Carlo Chris Apurillo, Thomas Edison E de la Cruz, Grecebio Jonathan D Alejandro, Mafel C Ysrael / Acta Manilana 2014; 62: pp 47-52 / ISSN: 0065-1370

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