Gen info
- Parartocarpus is a genus of trees in the family Moraceae. It is judicious, with male and female flowers borne on separate parts.
- The genus contains two species: Parartocarpus bracteata (King) Becc. and P. venenosa (Zoll.& Moritzi) Becc.
- The subspecies Parartocarpus venenosus papuanus is locally cultivated in the Philippines for its edible seeds. (2)
- The wood is a source of terap timber and is traded.

Botany
• Small sub-canopy tree (up to c. 27 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 60 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 18 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown, cream-coloured, or red (often patches), rough, finely fissured or pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) orange (streaks) or white; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-20.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale red or pink, with stripes (orange), fibrous; inner blaze pale red or pink, with stripes (orange), fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, flowing, color not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves. Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs sparse to dense. Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle, (10.0-) 14.0-20.0 cm, (4.5-) 6.0-10.0 cm; symmetric (to very slightly asymmetric), entire, not dissected or lobed, sub rounded or slightly acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) sparsely present or absent, indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, small or large (up to 5 mm long), not persistent (soon deciduous). Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers arising from a single point (female flowers) or flowers on an unbranched axis (male flowers), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, not stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 1.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (up to c. 1 mm diam.); perianth absent; stamens 1, present, free of each other; ovary inferior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary, 1. Fruits: Infrutescence single (multiple fruit) or arising from single point ('fruitlets'), fruit 20.0-45.0 mm long, 20.0-45.0 mm diam., brown, not spiny, fleshy, multiple (syncarp), indehiscent, berry (syncarp); seeds 100 (fruit irregular in shape as seeds mature from base to apex of syncarp), about 10 mm long (8-10 mm long, protruding from syncarpous fruit), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (6-8 mm diam.). (3)

• Tree up to 35 m tall, sometimes with low buttresses. Leaves spirally arranged; stipules 0.2-0.4 cm long, whitish puberulous, caducous. flowers numerous; processes apiculate to conical, umbonate, 0.5-3 mm high, connate in groups of 2-4 or free, glabrous or minutely puberulous to muriculate; stamens (1 or) 2 (or 3), 6-8 mm long, filaments partly connate or free, anthers 1.5-2.5 mm long, apiculate or not. (Flora Malesiana)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- Also native to Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand. (1)
- Occur scattered in lowland to submontane, or rarely montane, primary, evergreen forests, up to 1800 m altitude. Typical of peat swamp, freshwater, and tidal forests.

Constituents
- No studies found.

Parts used
Seeds, latex, leaves.

Uses
Edibility
- Ripe fruit is edible; unripe fruits, poisonous.
- Pale orange colored aril around the seed has a sweet-sour taste.
- Ripe, chestnut-like seeds are edible, roasted or stewed.
- In Kara, Australia, the seeds are eaten after leaching in sea water to remove toxins. (7)
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- The Maenge tribe apply grated seeds mixed with lime on sores.
- Latex used as insecticide.
Others
- Wood: Soft, not durable. Used for light construction, furniture, making boxes, crates, wooden pallets, and veneer; for joinery and paneling. Source of traded Terap timber. (2)
- Arrow poison: Tree latex used as arrow poison.

Studies
• Cytotoxicity / Leaves: Study of crude ethanolic extract of leaves for cytotoxicity against A549 and HCT116 cells showed low cytotoxicity, with IC50s of 42.4 and >50 µg/mL, respectively. (5)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Paratocarpus venenosus / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Paratocarpus venenosus / Ken Fern: Tropical Plants Database / Useful Tropical Plants
(3)
Parartocarpus venenosa / Botany
(4)
Parartocarpus (Parartocarpus venenosus) / ITTO
(5)
Cancer chemotherapeutic potential of endemic and indigenous plants of Kanawan, Morong, Bataan Province, Philippines / Reynand Jay Carillo Canoy, J Lomanta, Pinky M Ballesteros, Sonia Jacinto et al / Asia Life Sciences, 2011; 20(2): pp331-339
(6)
Maenge Gardens: A study of Maenge relationship to domesticates / Francoise Panoff
(7)
Australia's ever-changing forests / Edited by John Dargavel and Brenda Libbis / Proceedings of the 4thh National Conference on Australian Forest History
(8)
Parartocarpus / Wikipedia

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)