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Alstonia scholaris, commonly called blackboard tree, scholar tree, milkwood or devil's tree in English,[1] is an evergreen tree in the oleander and frangipani family Apocynaceae. Its natural range is from Pakistan to China, and south to northern Australia. It is a toxic plant, but is used traditionally for myriad diseases and complaints. It is called 'Saptaparna' in India and is the sacred tree of the 2nd Jain tirthankar Ajitnatha.Template:Not verified in body It was first described by Linnaeus in 1767, who gave it the name Echites scholaris.
Description
Alstonia scholaris is a large tree growing up to Template:Cvt tall (rarely to 60 m), with narrow buttressess that extend well up the trunk, giving it a fluted appearance. The bark is gray to pale gray with numerous lenticels, and all parts of the plant exude copious amounts of white sap when broken or cut.Template:RTemplate:Excessive citations inline
The leaves are glossy dark green above and pale below, and they are arranged in whorls of four to eight, with petioles (leaf stalks) around Template:Cvt long. The leaves are usually obovate (i.e. broadest near the apex) to elliptic, tapering towards the base and with a rounded tip, and there are 25 to 40 pairs of lateral veins at 80–90° to the midvein.Template:RTemplate:Excessive citations inline
The inflorescences are much branched (Template:Botanygloss), with peduncles up to Template:Cvt long, and are produced at the ends of the branches. The small tubular flowers are cream or white and strongly scented. They are about Template:Cvt long and wide, with five Template:Botanygloss lobes. The calyx is about Template:Cvt long, and the flower stalks are usually as long as or shorter. The corolla is white and tube-like, Template:Convert long. The lobes are broadly ovate or broadly obovate, Template:Convert, overlapping to the left.Template:RTemplate:Excessive citations inline
The fruit is a pair of long papery follicles measuring up to about Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt diameter. They contain numerous flat, brown seeds about Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide, which have long tufts of hairs at each end.Template:RTemplate:Excessive citations inline
Taxonomy
This plant was originally named Echites scholaris by Carl Linnaeus in 1767.Template:R The Scottish botanist Robert Brown transferred it to the genus Alstonia in 1810, as part of his work on the taxonomy of Apocynaceae.Template:R
Etymology
The genus was named in honour of botanist Charles Alston, and the species epithet scholaris is a reference to the traditional use of the timber of this tree for blackboards in Myanmar.Template:R
Distribution and habitat
Alstonia scholaris grows in a broad range of habitats in tropical and subtropical areas, in a range of forest types from rainforest to savannah, on a variety of soils including alluvial, volcanic and metamorphic, and at altitudes from sea level to more than Template:Cvt.Template:R
The tree is native to tropical and subtropical areas in the following countries/regions:Template:R
- China: China South-Central, China Southeast
- Indian subcontinent: Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Islands, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya
- Indo-China: Andaman Islands, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Vietnam
- Malesia: Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera
- Papuasia: Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Islands
- Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia
Toxicity
This is a toxic plant. At high doses, an extract of the plant exhibited marked damage to all the major organs of the body in both rats and mice. The toxicity appears to depend on the plant organ studied, as well as the season it is harvested, with the bark collected in the monsoon season being the least toxic, and bark in the summer the most. Intraperitoneal administration is much more toxic than oral. Rats were more susceptible to the poison than mice, and pure-bred mice strains were more susceptible than crossbred. The toxic effects may be due to the alkaloid echitamine in the bark.[2]
Chemistry
The bark contains the alkaloids ditamine, alschomine,[3] echitenine,[4] echitamine[2] and strictamine.[5] Echitamine is the most important alkaloid found in the bark, as it has been detected in all samples studied and collected from several locations. It is commercially sold as a herbal medicine.[6] The alkaloid picralinal has been found in the leaves.[7]
Culture
Alstonia scholaris is the state tree of West Bengal, India, where it is called the chhaatim tree (in Bengali, Template:Lang).[8]
During convocation the leaves of Alstonia scholaris (saptaparni) are awarded to graduates and postgraduates of Visva-Bharati University by the chancellor, given to him in turn by the Prime Minister of India. In recent years, supposedly to prevent excessive damage to the environment, the vice-chancellor of the University accepts one saptaparni leaf from the chancellor on behalf of all the students. This tradition was initiated by the founder of the University, Rabindranath Tagore.[9]
The tree blossoms in the Northern Hemisphere subtropical autumn, and its flowers are thus widely regarded as a herald of autumn in Vietnam, especially in Hanoi. Called Template:Lang, literally 'milk flower' in reference to the color, its associations with romantic love and fleeting passion have become culturally embedded in poetry and popular music.[10] However, its heady aroma has been a source of complaint and division, with some households even filing lawsuits against urban planning departments, for example in a case in 2011 in what was then Trà Vinh province.[11]
Uses
The wood of Alstonia scholaris has been recommended for the manufacture of pencils, as it is suitable in nature and the tree grows rapidly and is easy to cultivate.[12] In Sri Lanka its light wood was used for coffins. The wood close to the root is very light and of white colour, and in Borneo was used for net floats, household utensils, trenchers, corks, etc.[13] In Theravada Buddhism, the first Buddha is said to have used A. scholaris as the tree for achieving enlightenment.
The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia states that "the powerfully bitter bark of this tree is used by the natives of India in bowel complaints (Treasury of Botany). It has proved a valuable remedy in chronic diarrhoea and the advanced stages of dysentery. It has also been found effectual in restoring the tone of the stomach and of the system generally in debility after fevers and other exhausting diseases (Pharmacopoeia of India). It is described in the Pharmacopoeia of India as an astringent tonic, anthelmintic, and antiperiodic. It is held in the highest repute in the Phillippine Islands [sic]."[14] Despite its widespread traditional use as an 'antiperiodic' (a medicine which was supposed to cure the effects of malaria), it was found to have little to very weak activity against the cause of the disease, Plasmodium falciparum.[15][16] It had no effect against Giardia intestinalis,[15] and weak effect against Entamoeba histolytica, which both cause diarrhoea.[16]
Gallery
References
- ↑ Template:GRIN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The evaluation of the acute toxicity and long term safety of hydroalcoholic extract of Sapthaparna (Alstonia scholaris) in mice and rats. Toxicology Letters({Template:Date).
- ↑ Alschomine and isoalschomine, new alkaloids from the leaves of Alstonia scholaris.. Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin({Template:Year).
- ↑ The evaluation of the acute toxicity and long term safety of hydroalcoholic extract of Sapthaparna (Alstonia scholaris) in mice and rats. Toxicology Letters({Template:Date).
- ↑ Neuropharmacological studies on strictamine isolated from Alstonia scholaris. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology({Template:Year).
- ↑ Alkaloids from leaves and bark of Alstonia scholaris in the Philippines. Phytochemistry({Template:Date).
- ↑ Picralinal — A key alkaloid of picralima group fromAlstonia scholaris R. Br.. Experientia({Template:Date).
- ↑ Template:Cite report
- ↑ Why the Saptaparni is called the devil's tree. The Hindu(22 October 2019). Retrieved 14 February 2023.
- ↑ Hoa sữa vẫn nồng nàn trong thi ca. Thời báo văn học nghệ thuật. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
- ↑ Hoa sữa - từ nồng nàn trong thơ ca đến nỗi ám ảnh mùi nồng nặc muốn chặt bỏ. VIET NAM MOI(30 November 2017). Retrieved 25 September 2025.
- ↑ Tonanont, N. Wood used in pencil making. Vanasarn 1974 Vol. 32 No. 3 pp. 225–227
- ↑ A Modern Botanical{{#if:Grieve|, Grieve}(1931)
- ↑ The Useful Native Plants of Australia, (Including Tasmania){{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. The Technological Museum of New South Wales(1889)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Alstonia species: are they effective in malaria treatment?. Journal of Ethnopharmacology({Template:Date).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 In vitro antiamoebic and antiplasmodial activities of alkaloids isolated from Alstonia angustifolia roots. Phytotherapy Research({Template:Date).