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Family • Fabaceea
Makapilit
Pericopsis mooniana (Thwaites) Thwaites
NANDU WOOD / NEDUN TREE

Scientific names Common names
Dalbergia lanceolaria Moon Makapilit (Bis.)
Dalbergia mooniana Thwaites Nandu wood (Engl.)
Derris ponapensis Hosok. Nendu tree (Engl.)
Ormosia villamilii Merr.  
Pericopsis mooniana (Thwaites) Thwaites  
Pericopsis ponapensis (Hosok.) Hosok.  
Pericopsis mooniana is an accepted species. KEW: Plants of the World Online

Other vernacular names
INDONESIA: Kayu kuku (general), Kayu besi papus (Sulawesi), Nani laut (Irian Jaya).
MALAYSIA: Kaui laut (Peninsular, Sabah), Merbau laut (Peninsular).
PALAUAN: Kamanois.
SRI LANKA: Nedun (Sinhala).

Gen info
- Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume pea, or bean family, is a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants. It is widely distributed and is the third largest land plant family, behind only Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species. (6)
- Pericopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. The trees in the genus provide excellent timber, which is used as a substitute for teak.
- Pericopsis mooniana, the nadu wood or nedun tree, is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae; a tree threatened by habitat loss.

Botany
• Medium-sized to fairly large trees, up to 40 m tall, with bole straight or twisted, branchless for up to 20 m but often less, up to 80(—100) cm in diameter, shallowly grooved or slightly fluted at base; bark soft and thin, reddish, flaking in thin plates. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, 5—8-foliolate; leaflets alternate or rarely subopposite, ovate to elliptical, 4—9 cm 2.5—5 cm, rounded at base, acute to broadly acuminate at the top, glabrous, with about 7 pairs of secondary veins; stipules early caducous, stipels minute or absent. Inflorescence racemose or paniculate, axillary or terminal, bracts and bracteoles minute, very early caducous. Flowers bisexual, about 2 cm long; calyx bell-shaped, about 15 mm long, appressed pubescent outside, tomentellous inside, with 5 acute lobes, two slightly shorter than the other three, and connate for most of their length; corolla papilionaceous, keel petals partly connate, wings auriculate, glabrous, dark purple; stamens 10, equal, free, anthers small, ellipsoid to oblong, dorsifixed; ovary stipitate, 1—6-ovuled, pubescent along the margin, style with a hooked apex and a small terminal stigma; disk present at base of ovary. Fruit a slightly woody, oblong pod, flat, indehiscent, stipitate with a narrow base, beaked at the tip, winged along margin, glabrous, sometimes constricted near the middle. Seeds large, flat, rounded to elliptical, reddish-brown, with apical orbicular hilum. Seedling with epigeal germination. (PROSEA) (3)

• Tall tree; young stems pubescent; leaves imparipinnate, 5-8-foliate, the axis glabrous, about 10-16 cm long; leaflets about 4-9 cm long and 2.5-5 cm broad. Inflorescences racemose or paniculate, about 6-10 cm long. Flowers about 2 cm long; petals blackish-purple. Fruit 1-6 seeded, 6-15 cm long; seeds reddish-brown, compressed, about 15 mm long, 7-8 mm wide and 4 mm thick, hilum orbicular, about 1 mm in diameter.

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (1) (2)
- In Homonhon; in Mindanao: Zamboanga del Sur.
- Lowland forests near the sea. 0-100 m.
- Vulnerable due to heavy timber exploitation and habitat loss, commercial extraction of volatile oils from wood.
-
Also native to Borneo, Caroline Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera. (2)


Constituents
- Unlike volatile essential oils, oil extract from P. mooniana seeds is a non-volatile fixed oil with yield approximating 36.7%. As an oleic-linoleic type oil, fatty acid composition is dominated by oleic acid (41.02%), and linoleic acid (38.12%), along with palmitic acid (11.70%) and stearic acid (3.55%).
- The unsaponifiable fraction contains beneficial skin condition compounds: squalene (4.01 mg/g),
ß-sitosterol (2.63 mg/g), phytol (1.45 mg/g), stigmasterol (1.23 mg.g) and geranylgeraniol (1.03 mg/g). (University of Sri Jayeward. . .)

Parts used
Bark, leaves.

Uses

Edibility
- No information on edibility.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- In Sri Lankan ayurveda, used for its anti-inflammatory and astringent properties. Formulations from bark and heartwood used for fevers, skin conditions, and rheumatic complants. (3)
- Bark and leaves used for treatment of wounds and abscesses. (5)
Others

- Wood: Moderately heavy to heavy and hard. Heartwood is yellowish-brown when fresh; golden-brown to dark-brown on exposure, with irregular darker streaks. Sapwood is light yellowish-brown. Rated slightly susceptible to powder-post beetles, but moderately resistant top dry-wood termites.(3)
- Timber uses: A valuable decorative wood of very limited supply. Timber described as handsome. Used as substitute for teak for cabinet work, furniture, turnery, high quality joinery, parquet flooring, paneling and veneer. Also used for heavy construction needs, ship building (especially rails and decks), bridges, door and window frames, vehicle bodies and in freshwater engineering. Wood is probably usable for saltwater harbor works. (3)


Studies
• No medicinal studies found.

Availability
- Commercial products are rare.
- Traditional remedies prepared fresh by local healers.


November 2026

                                                 PHOTOS / ILLUSTRATIONS
IMAGE SOURCE: Illustration: Pericopsis mooniana / AHG Alston, JD Hooker, Henry Trimen / Public Domain / Click on image or link to go to source page / Wikipedia
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Pericopsis mooniana / © Chalitha Madhuwantha / Noncommercial use / Image modified / Click on image or link to go to source page / Facebook
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Pericopsis mooniana pods / © Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka / Noncommercial use / Image modified / Click on image or link to go to source page / InstituteOfAyurveda
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Pericopsis mooniana twigs / © Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka / Noncommercial use / Image modified / Click on image or link to go to source page / InstituteOfAyurveda
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Pericopsis mooniana / © Sanjeewa Rupasinghe - Flora of Sri Lanka / Noncommercial use / Image modified / Click on image or link to go to source page / FloraOfSriLanka
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Pericopsis mooniana / © Aruna Yasapalitha - Flora of Sri Lanka / Noncommercial use / Image modified / Click on image or link to go to source page / FloraOfSriLanka

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Fabaceae: Pericopsis mooniana / Co's Digital Flora Database
(2)
Pericopsis mooniana /
KEW: Plants of the World Online
(3)
Pericopsis mooniana / K. Sidiyasa, I Soerianegara, A Martawijaya, S Sudo / PROSEA: Plant Resources of South-East Asia
(4)
Pericopsis mooniana / LAKPURA
(5)
Pericopsis mooniana / Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka Compendium Version 3
(6)
Fabaceae / Wikipedia

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DOI: 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. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)

                                                            List of Understudied Philippine Medicinal Plants
                                          New plant names needed
The compilation now numbers over 1,830 medicinal plants. While I believe there are hundreds more that can be added to the collection, they are becoming more difficult to find. If you have a plant to suggest for inclusion, native or introduced, please email the info: scientific name (most helpful), local plant name (if known), any known folkloric medicinal use, and, if possible, a photo. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
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