HOME      •      SEARCH      •      EMAIL    •     ABOUT


Family Rubiaceae
Santan-puti
Ixora finlaysoniana Wall. ex G. Don
WHITE IXORA

Bao ye long chuan hua

Scientific names Common names
Ixora finlaysoniana Wall. ex G. Don Santan-puti (Tag.) 
Ixora denticulata Pierre ex Pit. Bride's bouquet (Engl.)
Ixora merguensis var. parviflora F. N. Williams Fragrant ixora (Engl.) 
  White ixora (Engl.) 
Ixora finlaysoniana Wall. ex G.Don is an accepted name The Plant List

Other vernacular names
CHINESE: Bao ye long chuan hua.
SPANISH: Ramo de novia.

Gen info
There are about 500 species in the genus Ixora. A few are in cultivation. There are numerous cultivars differing in flower color (yellow, pink, orange) and plant size. Several cultivars are dwarfs, usually under 3 feet. Other noteworthy ornamental santans: santan puti (Ixora finlaysoniana Wall), a shrub 2 to 4 meters high, with white fragrant flowers; and Philippine santan (Ixora philippinensis Merr), a shrub or small tree, with white to pink flowers.

Botany
Santan-puti is a shrub or small tree, growing up to 5 meters high. Leaves are oblong-lanceolate, with tapered and pointed tips. Blade is dark green and glossy. Flowers are many and in dense clusters, white and fragrant.

Distribution
- Cultivated for ornamental purposes.
- Introduced to the Philippines during the American period.
- Probably native to Thailand.

Constituents
- An n-hexane fraction of a methanolic extract yielded α-amyrin and ß-sitosterol. A chloroform fraction yielded four compounds: 3-hydroxyhexan-5-olide, protocatechuic acid, gallic acid and ß-sitosterol glucoside. An ethyl acetate fraction yielded three compounds: parasorboside, D-1-O-methyl- myo-inostiol, and galactitol. (3)
- An ethyl acetate fraction isolated arasorboside, D-1-O-methyl-myo-inositol, galactitol, and apigenin-4-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside and 11-hydroxy-dodec-5-en-2-one.
- Study of chloroform extracts air-dried leaves yielded a new dammarane triterpenoid,
17β-dammara-1-one -20 ene-3β-3', 8'-dimethyloctanoate (1) along with two known saturated fatty acids, capric (2) and palmitic (3) and three phenolic acids, gallic (4), caffeic (5), chlorogenic (6), and six flavonols, Kaempferol 3-O-ß-D-arabinopyranoside (7), afzelin (8), Kaempferol-3-O-ß-glucopyranosyl-7-O-glucuropyranoside   (9), Kaempferol-3-O-α-L- rhamnopyranosyl (1'''→6'')(4''-trans-p-coumaroyl)ß-D-glucopyranoside-7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (10), Kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1'''→2'')(4''-trans-p-coumaroyl)ß-D-arabinopyranosid-7-O-α-L- rhamnopyranoside (11) and kaempferol (12). (5)
- GC-MMS analysis of essential oil of flowers by HD and SE yielded 22 components, representing 98.08% and 95.19%, respectively. Ledol and sesquiterpene laurenene showed high percentages in the HD sample, while both hydrocarbons nonedecane and pentacosane were major components in the SE sample. (see study below) (6)

Properties
- Wood is considered febrifugal; root considered aperient, diuretic and deobstruent.
- Studies on flowers have shown estrogenic, abortifacient, and anti-implantation properties.
(4)

Uses
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- In Thailand, dried entire plant used as a tonic or strength medicine

Studies
Antigestagenic / Abortifacient / Anti-Implantation / Aerial Parts: Oral administration of a crude ethanolic extract of aerial parts of Ixora finlaysoniana to female rats on post-coital days 1-5 or 1-7 prevented pregnancy in 100% of cases. The extract at its contraceptive dose exerts a differential estrogenic response at the fallopian tube and uterine levels, also causing slight asynchrony in development and tubal transport rate, with anti-implantation and post-implantation resorptive actions not mediated via altered ovarian function. (1)
• Bioactivities of Essential Oil / Flowers: Flowers of Ixora finlaysoniana yielded 1.2% and 2.4^ {v/w) of essential oil by hydrodistillation (HD) and solvent (diethyl ether) extraction (SE). The two oil samples compared to standard exhibited variable and significant efficacy and potency as antiulcer, antioxidant, anticonvulsant, hypoglycemic, and hepatoprotective. (see constituents above) (6)

Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated.


Updated September 2018 / May 2014


IMAGE SOURCE: Ixora finlaysoniana specimen in the Jardin Botanique de Lyon, Parc de la Tête d'Or, Lyon, France. / Archivo:Ixora finlaysoniana - Jardin Botanique de Lyon - DSC05403.JPG / Daderot / 26 de Abril de 2011 / Public Domain / , Wikipedia

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Antigestagenic activity of Ixora finlaysoniana in rat.
/ Singh MM, Chowdhury SR, Kulshreshtha DK, Kamboj VP / Contraception. 1993 Aug; 48(2): pp 178-91 /
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-7824(93)90008-U
(2)
Ixora finlaysoniana Wall. ex G.Don / The Plant List
(3)
PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF IXORA FINLAYSONIANA WALL. EX.G.DON GROWING IN EGYPT
/ Faten M. M. Darwish and Zedan Z. Ibraheim / Bull. Pharm. Sci., Assiut University, Vol. 26, Part 1, June 2003, pp. 91-96.
(4)
A REVIEW ON PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF GENUS IXORA / AR. Kharat*, VV. Nambiar, YS. Tarkasband, RR. Pujari / INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PHARMACY AND CHEMISTRY, 2013, 3(3).

(5)
A New Dammarane Triterpenoid Compound Isolated From Ixora Finlaysoniana / Magda T. Ibrahim, Khaled Meselhy, Asmaa I. Ali, Amany A. Sleem / IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences, Mar-Apr 2017; Vol 2, Issue 2, Ver II: pp 94-105
(6)
Composition and Bioactivities of the Essential oil of Ixora finlaysoniana Wall. ex G. Don. (Family Rubiaceae) / Asmaa Ibrahim Ali, Magda Tohamy Ibrahim, Khaled Meselhy, Abeer Temra & Amany Sleem / Journal of Essential Oil Beariing Planst, 2015; Vol 18, Issue 4 / https://doi.org/10.1080/0972060X.2015.1029990

 



It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page.

HOME      •      SEARCH      •      EMAIL    •     ABOUT