Gen info
- Wrightia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It was first described as a genus in 1810.
- Etymology: The genus name Wrightia was named by Robert Brown for Willian Wright (1735-1819), Scottish physician and botanist. (3)

Botany
• Trees to 40 m tall, glabrous except for flowers. Bark dark gray, branchlets brownish, lenticellate. Petiole 5-7 mm; leaf blade oblong or narrowly elliptic, rarely ovate, 7-18 X 2.5-8 cm, apex acuminate to caudate-acuminate; lateral veins 5-11 pairs. Cymes ca. 6 cm; peduncle ca. 1 cm, puberulent to glabrous. Pedicel 1-1.5 cm. Sepals broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm, pubescent outside, apex rounded or obtuse. Corolla white or yellowish, funnelform, tube 1.5-3 mm; lobes narrowly elliptic, 5.5-13.5 mm, papillate; corona fringed, scales 25-35, linear, puberulent. Anthers as long as corona, puberulent. Ovaries 2, distinct. Follicles cylindric, distinct, 20-35 cm X ca. 7 mm, lenticellate. Seeds sublinear, 1.5-2 cm, coma to 4 cm. (Flora of China)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- Also native to Bismarck Archipelago, Cambodia, China, Hainan, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, New Guinea, Queensland, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam. (1)

Constituents
- In an extraction study of six species for indigotin content, Wrightia laevis leaves was the only species that contains a milky sap, as observed during extractions. (6)

Parts used
Roots, leaves.

Uses
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- Roots and leaves used for treatment of cuts and injuries. Fruits used for treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. (2)
Others
- Wood: Light, soft, fine textured; suitable for carving and turnery. Used for making parang sheaths and blowpipe mouths. (4)
- Dye: Leaves yield a blue dye. (•) Yields a dark blue stain used to dye the customary clothing of the Shui communities of southwest China. (7)
- Host plant: Host plant of the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina. (•)

Studies
• Extraction of Indigo from W. laevis: Indigo-yielding plant species were once important cash crops from Central Asia. Indigo-dyed textiles were once traded widely along the legendary Silk Road that linked China to Europe. Commercially produced indigo paste have replaced traditional methods. Wrightia laevis is less commonly used as contemporary indigo source. Study documents the indigenous knowledge on indigo-yielding plants, and details the method of indigo extraction from Wrightia laevis and the use of Ricinus communis seeds in that process. (5)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Wrightia laevis / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Wrightia laevis / Flora of China
(3)
Wrightia / Wikipedia
(4)
Wrightia laevis / Ken Fern: Tropical Plants Database / Useful Tropical Plants
(5)
Island blues: indigenous knowledge of indigo-yielding plant species used by Hainan Miao and Li dyers on Hainan Island, China / Libin Zhang, Lu Wang, Anthony B Cunningham, Yuru Shi, Yuhua Wang / Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine,  2019; 15(31) / DOI: 10.1186/s13002-019-0314-3
(6)
“Purplish Blue” or “Greenish Grey”? Indigo Qualities and Extraction Yields from Six Species / Anna Hartl, Andrea Polleichtner, Johannes Novak / Plants, 13(7) / DOI: 10.3390/plants13070918
(7)
Ethnobotany of wild plants used for starting fermented beverages in Shui communities of southwest China / Liya Hong, Jingxian Zhuo, Qiyi Lei, Chunlin Long et al / Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2015; 11: Article No 42 / DOI: 10.1186/s13002-015-0028-0

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)