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Dita cheesewood (Nauclea subdita)

Dlium Dita cheesewood (Nauclea subdita)

Dita cheesewood (Nauclea subdita) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae, a low to tall tree, 25 meters, shedding leaves during the dry season, the stem is cylindrical, the bark may be smooth or cracked and grayish in color, many branches and in all directions, orange to yellow wood.

N. subdita has leaves with stalks and sits opposite. Strands oval to elongated, tip pointed to blunt, margins flat, upper side glossy green, pale green, a major vein in the middle with a few pinnate minor veins.





Inflorescence fragrant, small, tubular, yellowish to orange and white stamens. The flowers are clustered in a ball with a central point about 3 cm in diameter. Individual flowers are small, 8-10 mm long and 3-5 mm in diameter. Perianth consists of petals and sepals in separate circles. The inner surface of the crown is yellow to orange.

Bisexual with short, separate stamens attached to the perianth. The petals fuse together to form a round flower head. Epigynous with inferior ovary. The flower head develops into a syncarp compound fruit that joins the petals. 4-5 cm in diameter, wrinkled surface, brown and aromatic. Seeds ovoid to ellipsoidal, 1-10 mm long.

Young leaves are used to treat stomach ache. The roots contain indole alkaloids for anti-cancer and anti-malarial. Bark extract as an antioxidant and sunscreen. The people of South Kalimantan use bangkal as a traditional cosmetic.

Tree bark is used as an ingredient in cold powder to protect facial skin from ultraviolet radiation, smooth the skin surface, give a white impression, remove black spots, prevent acne and clean dead cells on the face.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Cinchonoideae
Tribe: Naucleeae
Genus: Nauclea L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 243 (1762)
Species: Nauclea subdita (Korth.) Walp. in Repert. Bot. Syst. 2: 511 (1843)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Platanocarpum subditum Korth. in Verh. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Bezitt., Bot.: 153 (1842)
Sarcocephalus subditus (Korth.) Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind. 2: 134 (1856)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Nauclea dasyphylla (Miq.) Merr. in J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5: 535 (1915)
Nauclea glaberrima Blanco in Fl. Filip., ed. 2.: 100 (1845)
Nauclea hirsuta (Havil.) Merr. (1915)
Nauclea horsfieldii (Miq.) Bremek. in Blumea 5: 248 (1942)
Nauclea junghuhnii (Miq.) Merr. (1915)
Nauclea mitragyna (Miq.) Merr. (1915)
Nauclea multicephala (Elmer) Merr. (1915)
Nauclea pubescens (Valeton) Merr. (1915)
Sarcocephalus dasyphyllus Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind., Eerste Bijv.: 538 (1861)
Sarcocephalus hirsutus Havil. in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 33: 32 (1897)
Sarcocephalus horsfieldii Miq. (1856)
Sarcocephalus junghuhnii Miq. (1856)
Sarcocephalus mitragynus Miq. in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 4: 180 (1869)
Sarcocephalus multicephalus Elmer in Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 5: 1896 (1913)
Sarcocephalus pubescens Valeton in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 44: 550 (1910)

PUBLICATIONS

Beaman, J.H. & Anderson, C. (2004). The Plants of Mount Kinabalu 5: 1-609. Natural history publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Deb, D.B. & Gangopadhyay, M. (2025). Flora of India 14: 1-607. Botanical Survey of India.

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Mao, A.A. & Dash, S.S. (2020). Flowering Plants of India an Annotated Checklist (Dicotyledons) 1: 1-970. Botanical Survey of India.

Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.

Puff, C., Chayamarit, K., Chamchumroon, V. & Esser, H.-J. (2021). Flora of Thailand 15(1): 1-235. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.

Tan, H.T.W., Chua, K.S. & Turner, I.M. (1995). Rubiaceae of the Bukit Timah nature reserve. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore, Suppl. 3: 29-59.

Turner, I.M. (1995 publ. 1997). A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(2): 347-655.

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Dita cheesewood
Filipino: Southern bangkal, Bulubangkal
Indonesian: Bangkal, Kepil
Java: Bangkal
Malaysia: Gedembah, Lempedu jawa, Lempedu tanah
Maluku: Kome banga

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