Gen info
- The genus Chisocheton belongs to the Carmelia family and comprises more than 53 species distributed mainly in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.
- Etymology: The genus name Chisocheton derives from Greek words schizos, meaning split, and chitin, meaning cloak or tunic. The specific epithet patens derives from Latin, meaning "spreading" referring to the flowering shoot.

Botany
• Growth: Tree grows to a height of 35 m, with trunk diameters of up to 70 cm. Bark is pale green to black. (3) Foliage: Alternate, stalked, pinnate leaves are up to 70 cm long, with up to 14 pairs of leaflets. Its leaflets have thinly leathery blades that are narrowly oblong to elliptic-lance-shaped, paler below, and 6-28 by 2.5-10.5 cm. Flowers: Flowering shoots are up to 90 cm long. Its fragrant flowers are white-yellow, 2.5-3 mm tall, each bearing 4 petals with irregularly toothed margins. Fruits: Fruits are red, somewhat round, and 5 by 4.5 cm. Each fruit bears 2 seeds that are shield-shaped, half covered by pulp, and 5-11 by 8 mm. (2)

• Tree to 43 m, but often flowering when 2-3 m tall; bole to 20 m and 73 cm diam., sometimes fluted or buttressed, buttresses to 2 m tall, 1 m out and 8 cm thick, concave. Bark pale greenish to black, smooth to faintly cracked, lenticellate, the lenticels in horizontal rows (Pennington); inner bark pale to dark brown; wood pale to dirty cream, often smelling of methyl mercaptan. Leafy shoots c. 6 mm diam., glabrous to deciduously tomentose. bark dark, cicatrices conspicuous. Leaves to 70 cm, paripinnate to pseudogemmulate, in terminal bunches; petiole 7-15 cm, glabrous to pubescent. Leaflets 6-28 by 2.5-10.5 cm, narrowly oblong to oblong- or elliptic-lanceolate, opposite to subopposite, often maturing all together, thinly coriaceous, often conspicuously paler abaxially, base c. rounded or rarely subcordate, c. unequal, shortly acuminate, adaxial surface glabrous or with tomentose midrib and pubescent veins, abaxial surface glabrous or with tomentose midrib and pubescent veins, abaxial surface glabrous to softly tawny pubescent, midrib and veins tomentose, costae 9-14 on each side, +/- prominent abaxially, tertiary venation often conspicuous; petiolules 3-6 mm. Thyrse to 90 cm, borne in upper axils or supra-axillary, pendent, paniculiform; most proximal branches to 17 cm (10 cm in females), ultimate branchlets cymules of subsessile or shortly pedicellate fragrant flowers; axes glabrous to tomentose; bracteoles minute. Calyx 2.5-3 mm, cupular to shortly tubular, puberulous, margin subentire to minutely, irregularly toothed. Petals 4, 5-10 mm long, subspathulate-elliptic, glabrous to glabrescent. Staminal tube 5-7(-8) mm, glabrescent or minutely pubescent near mouth without, pubescent, tomentellous or very rarely villous within, margin with (5-)6-8 linear-triangular lobes a little shorter than anthers; anthers (5-)6 or 7(-8), basifixed, glabrous, locellate. Disk absent or very short, fleshy, glabrous, +/- lobed. Ovary pubescent; style glabrous to densely short pubescent; stylehead cylindric to clavate. Capsule to 5 cm long, 4.5 cm diam., subglobose, stipilate, glabrous to tomentose (especially when unripe), 2-locular; stipe to 2 cm. Seeds 2, 5-11 mm long, to 8 mm wide, scutiform, half covered by an aril. (Flora Malesiana) (4)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- In Luzon, from Cagayan to Sorsogon. Common in lowland primary rainforest, 500 to 1000 m. (6)
- Also native to Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Myanmar, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam. (1)
- Habitat is low land forests from sea-level to 500 m. (3)

Constituents
- Study of bark of Chisocheton patens isolated a set of triterpenoids, Chisopaten (A-D). (see study below) (5)

Properties
- Study showed cytotoxicity, anti-cancer properties.

Parts used
Bark.

Uses
Edibility
- No reports found on edibility.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
Others
- Timber: Used for house construction.

Studies
• Cytotoxic Triterpenoids / MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line / Bark: Study of bark of Chisocheton patens isolated a set of triterpenoids, Chisopaten (A-D). Two of the triterpenoids, Chisopaten A (18) and C (20) exhibited potent cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells using MTT assay with IC50s of 4.01 and 4.33 µM, respectively. The strong activity may be attributed to SARS where the hydroxyl, olefinic, carbonyl, and methyl group positions are playing a vital role in the cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds. Chisopaten D also showed more potent cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line compared to Chisopaten D with IC50s of 6.98 and 9.23 µM, respectively. (5)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Chisocheton patens Blume / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Chisocheton patens / National Parks: FLORA & FAUNA WEB
(3)
Chisocheton patens / Wikipedia
(4)
Chisocheton patens / AsianPlantNet
(5)
Cytotoxic Triterpenoids from the Bark of Chisocheton patens Blume (Meliaceae) / Unang Supratman, Wiro Naibaho, Supriatno Salam, Rani Maharani et al / Phytochemistry Letters, 2019; Vol 30: pp 81-87 /
DOI: 10.1016/j.phytol.2019.01.034
(6)
Chisocheton / Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines

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)