Gen info
- Engelhardia is a genus of trees in the family Juglandaceae, native to tropical Asia from norther India east to Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.(2)
- The genus name is commonly misspelled "Engelhardtia": A correction was made by the original author Carl Ludwig Blume in 1829, which persists until today. (2)
- Pollen fossils of Engelhardia spicata have been recovered from strata of Messinian stage of the Miocene epoch in Western Georgia in the Caucasus region. (2)

Botany
• A small, deciduous tree with gray bark and woolly shoots. Leaves imparipinnate, 10-25 x 8-12 cm, ovate-oblong. Leaflets 5-11, obtuse or acute, entire, woolly beneath, the terminal one smallest or sometimes aborted. Male flowers in slender catkins, small, green. Stamens 4-5, nearly sessile. Female flowers in pendulous spikes. Calyx hairy, adnate to the ovary. Petals none. Fruit a small, round nut, villous, seated on a 3-lobed bract. (4)

• A tree 7(–20) m tall. Leaves 15–25 cm; petiole 2–6 cm;petiole and rachis tomentose, rarely glabrescent; leaflets 4–10, petiolule to 1 cm or leaflets rarely sessile, blade broadly elliptic-ovate or broadly elliptic-obovate to longelliptic, 7–15
3–7 cm, abaxially tomentose or rarely glabrescent, base oblique,broadly cuneate or rounded, apex obtuse or sometimes acute. Fruiting spike 13– 18 cm, densely pubescent. Nutlets globose, 4–6 mm, hispid; wings hispid at base,middle wing 1.9–3 cm, lateral wings 1–1.5 cm. (9)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- Also native to Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sumatera, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya. (1)
- From near sea level to 2,1000 m, in valleys and  in forests on mountain slopes.

Constituents
- Study evaluated ethyl acetate and methanol bark and leaves extract for phenolic and flavonoid contents. The ME of leaves yielded higher values in total phenolics (240.50 ± 8.43 GAE mg/g) and EA extract of leaves showed highest flavonoid content (140.86±2.55 CTE mg/g). (5)
- Phytochemical screening of bark yielded 5-hydroxy-4-(hydroxymethyl)-pyran-2-one, gallic acid, quercetin-3-O-α-L-ramnopyranoside, astilbin, myrictrin, quercetin-3-O-β-glucopyranoside,3,30-di-O-methyl ellagic acid-4-O-β-D-xylopyranoside, 3,30-di-O-methyl ellagic acid, and oleanolic acid (Sajan et al. 2016). (9)

Properties
- Studies have suggest antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties.

Parts used
Bark, flowers, fruit juice, leaves, latex.

Uses
Edibility
- In the Himalayas, fruit used for making local wine. (9)
Folkloric
- In India, fruit juice used for treatment of abdominal pain. Bark used against diarrhea and as piscidal.    (5)
- In Bangladesh, used for scabies and skin diseases. (6) Used for treatment of tumors and breast cancer. (11)
- In Nepal, bark decoction taken to overcome fatigue. (7) Flowers used for abdominal pain. (12)
- In Manipur, India, bark decoction used for treatment of liver disorders. Flower juice used for abdominal pain, cough and colds. (10)
- In Eastern Himalaya, Bark used in diarrhea and dysentery; paste used in bone fracture. Latex applied to wounds. Plant juice used for dysentery and rheumatism. Plant latex used for bilious dyspepsia. Flower juice used for abdominal pain. Fruit juice used for abdominal pain. Paste prepared from buds applied to tinea pedis. (9)
- Herbal mixture of leaves and bark of Psidium guajava, Shorea robusta, and Engelhardia spicata use for stomach pains and dysentery. Mixture of bark of Abelmoschus esculentus, Schefflera impressa, and Engelhardia spicata applied to paralysis. (9)
- In Tripura, India, folklore practitioners use the plant for treatment of bone fractures: Bark of E. spicata, whole plant of Euphorbia hirta and rhizome of Kaempferia rotunda are ground, the juice extracted, mixed and boiled to make paste, applied in a bandage to fractured area and left for 22-25 days. (13)
- Karen people of northern Thailand use the plant for treatment of gastric ulcers. (14) Used for treatment of uterine prolapse, menstrual irregularities, hemorrhoids, and hernia. Used for postpartum baths.
Others
- Wood: Although not durable, used for light indoor construction, carving, and agricultural implements. (9)
- Fish poison: Crushed young shoots and bark used for fish poisoning.
- Fertilizer: Ash from burnt leaves and branches used as fertilizer. (9)
- Fiber: Plant used as source of fiber.

Studies
• Antioxidant / Anti-Inflammatory / Bark: In a study of methanolic bark extracts of 15 Bangladesh medicinal plants, Engelhardia spicata was one of three extracts that showed highest total phenolic contents and total antioxidant activity. E. spicata showed highest IC50 value for ABTS radical scavenging activity (60.80 ± 4.31 µg/ml).  In DPPH assay, E. spicata showed second lowest IC50 (192.59 ± 2.42 µg/mL). The three bark extracts also significantly reduced mRNA expression of LPS-induced inflammatory cytokines and inflammation-inducible enzymes in macrophages, and significant suppression of mRNA expression of NADPH oxidase 2 in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. (6)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.
- Extracts and capsules in the cybermarket.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Engelhardia spicata / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Engelhardia / Wikipedia
(3)
Engelhardia spicata / Wikipedia
(4)
Engelhardtia spicata / eFloraofIndia
(5)
Determination of phenolics and flavonoids contents of the ethyl acetate and methanol bark and leaves extract of Engelhardtia spicata Lechen ex Blume / Anita Devo Thokchom, Manabendra Dutta Choudhury / The Pharma Innovation, 2018; 7(7): pp 4-7 / eISSN: 2277-7685 / pISSN: 2349-8242
(6)
Examination of the Antioxidant and AntiInflammatory Effects of Extracts from the Bark of Bangladesh Medicinal Plants / Jon Won Lee, Mi-Bo-Kim, Seungjin Jeong, Hyeju Lee, Su Hyeon Baek, Sang Gil Lee et al / DOI: 10.20944/preprints202310.0655.v1
(7)
Traditional use of medicinal plants in the ChyangthapuPhalaicha biological subcorridor, Panchthar District, Kangchenjunga Landscape, Nepal / Prabin Bhandari, Krishna K Shrestha et al / Ethnobotany Research & Applications, 2021 / DOI: 10.32859/era.22.25.1-43
(8)
Traditional use and management of NTFPs in Kangchenjunga Landscape: implications for conservation and livelihoods / Yadav Uprety, Ram C Poudel, Janita Gurung, Nakul Chettri, Ram P Chaudhary / Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2016; 12 / DOI: 10.1186/s130032-016-0089-8 / PMID: 27142597
(9)
Engelhardia spicata Lesch. ex Blume Juglandaceae / Shreehari Bhattarai, Ripu M Kunwar, Rainer W Bussmann, Narel Paniagua Zambrana / (Book) Ethnobotany of the Himalayas. 2021 /
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-57408-6_91
(10)
Traditional Usage of Ethnomedicinal Plants in Treating Liver Disorders at Manipur, North East India  / Anita Devi Thokchom, Anupam Das Talukdar, Manabendra Dutta Choudhury et al / European Journal of Medicinal Plants, 2018; 23(3): pp 1-10 / ISSN: 2231-0894
(11)
Quantitative Ethnobotany of Medicinal Plants Used by Indigenous Communities in the Bandarban District of Bangladesh / Mohammad O Faruque, Shaikh B Uddin, Xiaohua Li et al / Front. Pharmacol., 2018; Sec of Ethnopharmacology, Vol 9 / DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00040
(12)
FOLK HERBAL MEDICINES OF MAHAKALI WATERSHED AREA, NEPAL / Chudamani Burlakoti, Ripu M Kunwar / Medicinal Plants in Nepal: An Anthology of Contemporary Research, 2008; pp 187-193
(13)
Indigenous Medicinal Plants of Tripura used by the Folklore Practitioners for the Treatment of Bone Fractures / Gunamoni Das, Anjan Kumar Sarma, Nituljyoti Das, Prasenjit Bhagawati, R K Sharma / International Journal of Life Science and Pharma Research,  2021; 11(3): pp 17-22 /
DOI: 10.22376/ijpbs/lpr.2021.11.3.L17-22
(14)
Ethnomedicinal plants used for digestive system disorders by the Karen of northern Thailand / Kornkanok Tangjitman, Chalobol Wongsawad, Kaweesin Karwong, Treetip Sukkho, Chusie Trisonthi /  Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2015; 11(27) / DOI: 10.1186/s13002-015-0011-9

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