Botany
Macaranga aleuritoides is a small to medium sized evergreen tree growing up to 20 meters tall. Bole is straight, up to 50 centimeters in diameter, occasionally with stilt roots, rarely with buttresses. Bark is brown, horizontally fissured.Petioles are 14 to 32 centimeters long, usually stout, D-shpaed in transverse section near the base, 4 to 11 millimeters across, at first tomentose, later glabrous. Blades are large, trilobed, rarely entire ovate, 22 to 32 centimeters by 20-27 centimeters, with 3 main and several minor nerves from the petiole insertion.. Staminate inflorescences are dense, crowded, 20 by 8 centimeters, dirty brown pubescent. Flowers about 10 per cluster, sessile, stamens 5 to 15,, anters 3-locular. Fruits in groups of 1 to 3, clustered t the tips, globular, 12 millimeters across or shallowly bilobed. Seeds are globose, 6 millimeters, coarsely verrucose, with sarcotesta.

Distribution
- Common in secondary growth forests in the Philippines.
- Occasionally planted as an ornamental.
- Found in Southeast Asia_ Indonesia to new Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Constituents
- Methanol extract yielded flavonoids, tannins, and saponins. (see study below)

Properties
- Abortifacient.

Parts used
Leaves, bark.

Uses
Folkloric
- Leaves are use to induce abortion. (2)
- In Papua New Guinea, used for induction of labor. Used for treating cuts in Siwai and breast abscesses in Buin. In Bougainville and Milne Bay, bark used to treat cough; leaves used for boils, bruises and headache. (3)
Others
- Fuel: Source of firewood.
- Cooking: Leaves used for wrapping food before cooking. (2)
- Wood: Soft; used for light construction, like rafters, flooring, battens, carving, and light uses. (2)

Studies
• Toxicity Study / Brine Shrimp Lethality : Toxicity study of methanol extract using brine shrimp lethality showed an LC50 of 6,710.94 ppm. (see constituents above) (3)

Availability
Wildcrafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Macaranga aleuritoides / Synonyms / The Plant List
(2)
Macaranga aleuritoides / Ken Fern: Tropical Plant Database / Useful Tropical Plants
(3)
An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the Siwai and Buin districts of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville / Julie Waruruai, Beuluah Sipana, Michael Koch, Louis R Barrows, Teatulohi K Matainaho, and Prem P Rai / J Ethnoharmacol, 2011; 138(2): pp 564-577 / doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.09.052
(4)
Toxicity and phytochemistry test of methanol extract of several plants from papua using Brine Shrimp Lethality Test (BSLT) / Martina Sri Lestari, Toto Himawan, A Latif Abadi, Rurini Retnowati / Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research / ISSNL 0975-7384
(5)
Mlesian Euphorbiaceae Descriptions: Macaranga 66 / T C Whitmore / Flora Malesiana

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