Gen info
- Maasia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae.
- Etymology: The genus name Maasia honors Paul Maas, born 1939, a botanist from the Netherrlands and a specialist in the flora of the neotropics. (3) The specific epithet derives from Latin, meaning "blue-greenish", referring to the color or sheen found on some parts of the plant, such as its leaves.

Botany
• Mid-canopy tree up to 36 m tall and 61 cm dbh. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, glaucus on lower surface. Flowers with ca. 33 mm long petals, pale yellow to cream, fragrant, placed on the branches below the leaves. Fruitlets ca. 15 mm long, red-purple, placed in apocarp, fruitlets 1-seeded. (AsianPlantNet)

• Tree to 45 m tall, sometimes with pneumatophores. Bark white, smooth on young trees, papery flakey on old trees with distinct hooping. Twigs white; young twigs slightly pubescent. Leaves brightly white beneath when fresh, chartaceous to coriaceous, generally glabrous, drying gray, olive-green or brown above, gray to pale brown beneath; blades narrowly oblong-elliptic, sometimes obovate, 9–22 × 2.5–8 cm, base rounded to acute, apex acuminate to apiculate; midrib sunken above, prominent beneath; lateral veins obscure, 13–39 pairs, looping to form weakly discernible intramarginal vein; petioles 3–8 mm long, sometimes tomentose. Inflorescences many-flowered (2–15) fascicles arising from woody tubercles on branches and twigs behind leaves; bracts 1–3. Flowers very fragrant; pedicels 1–3 cm long, glabrous, sometimes sparsely pubescent; sepals triangular, minute, c. 2 mm long, tomentose outside; petals yellow, linear, 6–18 × 1–5 mm, pubescent; stamens 15–30; carpels 10–25, glabrous. Fruiting pedicels 1–4 cm long, glabrous. Monocarps globose, c. 2.5 cm diameter, red to black, drying dark brown to black; stipes 1–3.5 cm long. Seeds 1–2 in each monocarp, biconvex, with longitudinal groove. (Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- In forests at low and medium elevations. In Luzon: Aurora, Camarines, Isabela, Nueva Viscaya, Quezon; in Mindanao: Agusan del Norte, Davao Oriental; Mindoro, Panay, Sibuyan. (2)
- Also native to Andaman Is., Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Maluku, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand. (1)
- In secondary forests and mixed dipterocarp forests, ocassionally in peat swamp and submontane forests. Mostly on hillsides and ridges on sandy to clayey soils.

Properties
- Studies have suggested anticancer, neuroprotective properties.

Parts used
Leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- No information found on edibility.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- In Indonesia, leaf powder applied to wounds. (5)
- In Thailand, used as blood tonic and carminative. In Malaysia, used for women's post-partum health.   (6)
Others
- Bow strings: Primitive Jarawas use bark strips for making bow strings. (4)

Studies
• Suppression of Wnt Pathway / Inhibitory Effects on Colorectal Cancer Cells: Among all cancers, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. CRC progression is associated with aberrant Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Activation of the pathway drives expression of the Wnt target genes that lead to cell proliferation and growth. Inhibition of TCF/ß-catenin interaction isa promising target for CRC. Study indicated bioactive-guided fractionation seconlignans from M. glauca crude extract could contribute to inhibition of proliferation of colorectal cancer cells. Two new secolignans inhibited the proliferation of HCT116 colorectal cancer cells by causing cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and promoting apoptosis. Data showed the crude extract, the scalemic mixture, and the two enantiomers suppress the Wnt signaling pathway. (6)
• PT3 / Neuroprotective in Alzheimer's Disease / Alkaloids on ß-Amyloid Peptide-Induced Neurotoxicity: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by major degeneration of the brain cortex with presence of extracellular amyloid plaques and intra-neuronal fibrillary tangles. Amyloid ß-peptide is the major component of amyloid plaques with a causal role in AD progression. Study evaluated the protective effects of PT-3, a polyphenolic compound purified from Polyalthia glauca against Aß(1-42)-induced oxidative stress, apoptosis and neurotoxicity on primary neuronal cultures from Wistar rats. Results showed pretreatment of cortical cell cultures with 10-100 µM PT-3 significantly attenuated 10 µM Aß(1-42)-induced neuronal death in a dose-dependent manner. Apoptotic cell death was demonstrated by of activated caspase-3, levels of which could be reduced by PT-3. Results suggest a protective effect of PT-3 against Aß(1-42)-induced neuronal death, which might be due to its anti-apoptotic property. (7)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Maasia glauca / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Annonaceae: Maasia glauca / Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines
(3)
Maasia / Wikipedia
(4)
Maasia glauca / eFloraOfIndia
(5)
Ethnobotanical study of wild medicinal plants in Serbajadi protected forest of East Aceh District, Indonesia / Zidni Ilman Navia, Adi Bejo Suwardi et al / BIODIVERSITAS, 2022; 23(10): pp 4959-4970 /
pISSN: 1412-033X / eISSN: 2085-4722 / DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d231001
(6)
Biological Evaluation Of Maasia Glauca (Hassk.) Mols, Kessler & Rogstad / Thanh-Thanh Claire Tran / Dissertation/Thesis 2020
(7)
PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF ALKALOIDS FROM POLYALTHIA GLAUCA ON BETA-AMYLOID PEPTIDE (1-42)–INDUCED NEUROTOXICITY AND CASPASE-3 IN RAT CORTICAL CELL CULTURES / Wipawan Thangnipon, Nicha Puangmalai, Vorapin Chinchalongporn et al / DOI: 10.1016/J.JALZ.2013.05.611

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)