Planchonia valida (Blume) Blume

Planchonia valida or putat is a large tree distributed from the Malay Peninsula to Papua New Guinea and the Nicobar Islands, passing through much of the Indonesian archipelago. Its strong wood is widely used in building construction and wooden ships, its young leaves are commonly eaten as a raw side dish, while traditionally this plant is believed to be effective at addressing itchy skin, diarrhea, and as a stamina-boosting postpartum tonic.

The natural habitat of putat is generally found growing in moist areas, in undisturbed mixed dipterocarp forests at elevations up to 300 m asl or more. Mostly growing on hillsides and ridges, but also found along riverbanks, and alluvial sites. Putat prefers locations with mean annual rainfall ranging from 1,100 mm to 3,800 mm.

• Roots a taproot.
• Trunk straight, unbranched up to 20 m, rough bark, brownish green, while older trees have grayish brown bark. Its bark is very strong.
• Leaves single, green, but most turn orange or red to brown when old and fall off after drying, smooth texture. Young leaves (shoots) green, always rolled up. The earliest leaves grow resembling scales, subsequently paired, leaf arrangement scattered, petiolate. The first leaf blade elliptic, narrowly obovate, oblong; the second and subsequent leaf blades obovate, lanceolate, leaf length about 3-6.5 cm and width 1-2.5 cm, base pointed, tip forming a tail, margin toothed and often asymmetric. Number of lateral veins 7-9.
• Flowers arranged in racemes up to 13.5 cm long. Flowers pink, red, to white with conspicuous stamens.
• Fruit a berry, ovoid to ellipsoid shaped, pale green, about 6 cm long.
• Seeds ovoid shaped.

Plant propagation with seed.

Alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and steroids.

Treats skin diseases (itching), diarrhea, internal wounds, body aches, blood booster, increases stamina, a bath water additive after childbirth, an additive to cooling powder to protect the skin from sun exposure (while working in the field) and remove dark spots on the face.

• Prepare an adequate amount of fresh putat leaf shoots, wash clean with running water.
• Shred the leaves.
• Dry under the sun or with an oven at 40°C until the moisture content reaches 10%.
• Grind using a blender until it becomes powder.
• Store in a clean, airtight container.

Putat kebo (Jawa), Telisai, Kasui, Putat gajah, Putat paya, Selangan kangkong, Talisei, Talisai bukit, Talisai sugud (Kalimantan), Langaha (Sumba), Kutat (Bali).