Buffalo Milk Fruit

      Buffalo Milk Fruit   

      Buffalo Milk – uvaria rufa blume

A wild fruit, harvesting in the jungle, especially in the area of Thailand and Cambodia.  This fruit is a rare, evergreen, scrambling or climbing, woody shrub to    5 m tall with elliptic leaves and small, pubescent, purple to dark red flowers followed by curious, clustered, finger-like, edible fruits with sweet, granular flesh. Uvaria rufa is widely distributed in open forests in southern and eastern tropical Asia. Other name Buffalo Teat Fruit.

A climbing shrub, the younger parts of which are densely hairy.  The leaves are alternate, hairy, pointed at the tip, somewhat heart-shaped at the base, and from 8-16cm in length. The fruits are borne in rounded clusters, are oval, hairy, red, and usually about 1.5 – 2 cm in diameter. Fruit contains 2 rows of flat, semi-circular seeds, edible, and has an agreeable flavour.

It is a green fruit when it is raw. Then once it became ripe, its colour change to red. It tastes like a “guyabano” fruit but less syrup and fiber with smaller seed.    Usually this fruit grows on mountain. It’s a vine but grows big like a shrub. Mostly this fruit cannot be found in the market.

This is a species of vines or shrubs and commonly known as Wild Cat Milk, Water Buffalo Nipple, Susung-kalabaw ('Carabao teats' or buffalo teats), Torres Strait scrambler, Lam Ling, Tingtang, Foot Tong Kruea, Phi Phuan, Si Muan, Alagat, Hilagak, Batag-Batag Kabalang, susong damulag, susung-kabayo, susung-kalabau, Allagat, Batag-kabalang, Hinlalagak, Iniu, Pedped, Xiao hua zi yu pan, Carabao’s teats (Engl.)  Indonesia: kalak (Java), turalak (Sundanese), larap nyapa (Lampung). Malaysia: larak, pisang-pisang, Thailand: nom khwaai (general), nom maeo (central), bu ngaa yai (northern) Al-tagat (Pangasinan) (all are local regional names).  On the other hand the yellow colour fruit is commonly known as “susung baka”. It has the same taste with water buffalo nipple. It is sweeter than sour.   It grows naturally in Cambodia, Thailand, New Guinea, Philippines, more widely in Malaysia and Australia.

Uvaria rufa are monoecious evergreen trees which grow to a height of 4 to 6 meters. Their deep green leaves are arranged alternately and have a heart-shaped base. The surface is velvety and coarse to the touch. The flowers are small and have deep red waxy petals.

The fruits, which appear from May to August, are aggregates of round or oblong berries coloured deep orange or a rich red.  Each contains numerous seeds encased in a translucent pulp.  This fruits are edible, having a sharp sweet-sour taste. They are known colloquially as susong kalabaw or susung-kalabaw ('Carabao teats') because of its physical appearance.

This tree is a wood in the ylang ylang family and It can be found in mixed forests. It looks like a creeping shrub with a height of 4-6 meters. The branches have reddish brown hairs.   2 - 3 flowers clustered on the branches.  Crimson petals Has a strong fragrance at night.

Flowers: Inflorescence opposite a leaf, i.e. leaf-opposed.  Flowers about 19-30 mm diam. Sepals clothed in stellate hairs. Petals 3 + 3, in  two whorls, each petal about 10 x 7 mm, pinkish orange to dull red  in colour, densely stellate hairy on both the inner and outer  surfaces.  

Fruit size: 2-6 cm long, each bunch has 4-20 fruits. Before it turns yellow and when it is old, it will be dark red.  The flesh inside the fruit is opaque white, covered with black seed, 1-4 cm long stalk with 10-20 seeds.

When cooked, it tastes sour and can be eaten, which must be peeled off and can peep both seeds.  Because the pulp and seeds stick together can be propagated by seeds.

Medicinal properties:  boiled water essence. Solve fever, eating slang root can be used to cure thinness and thinness for women who cannot live after childbirth and nourishes milk. Studies have suggested anti-diabetic, anti-tubercular, antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial, anti-prostatic hyperplasia, antispasmodic properties.

Alcoholic tincture of the roots used as an ecbolic (promoting labor by increasing uterine contractions.  - Ati Negritos use decoction of dried stems for post-partum hemorrhage.  Also, decoction of dried stems used postpartum as wash or external application.  In Thailand, Uvaria rufa is macerated and mixed with Corvus macrorhynchus, Xanthophyllum glaucum, and Oryza sativa with potable water, and taken orally for skin allergy (rash and redness). Decoction of wood drunk for fever.    Root decoction drunk during pregnancy. 

Studies

Essential Oil / Sesquiterpene: Uvaria rufa yielded an oil rich in sesquiterpene, in which the principle component as [alpha]-humulene (50%). Benzyl benzoate was also present at 5%.

Flavonoid Glycosides / Advanced Glycation End-Products Inhibition / Anti-Diabetic / Leaves: Study yielded five flavonol glycosides: rutin, isoquercitrin, kaempferol 3-O-ß-galacto-pyranoside, astragalin, isoquercitrin-6-acetate. Prolonged hyperglycemia in diabetic patients leads to the formation of advanced glycationed products (AGEs), which contribute to the development and progression of diabetic complications and aging.  Isoquercitrin and its 6-acetate derivative showed an ability to inhibit the formation of AGEs in the bovine serum albumin-glucose assay. 

Polyoxygenated Cyclohexene Derivatives / Aerial Parts: Study yielded four new polyoxygenated cyclohexene derivatives, uvarirufone A, uvarirufols A-C, along with 10 known compounds from the aerial parts of Uvaria rufa. 

Antitubercular: Study evaluated various extracts, fractions, and secondary metabolites against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H(37)Rv. Results demonstrated a potential source of compounds with promising antitubercular activity. Also, polar pigments enhanced inhibition against M. tuberculosis H(37)Rv. 

Roots / Alkaloids: Study for alkaloidal compounds from the roots yielded compounds including oxoanolobine, lanuginosine, and roemeroline. 

Flavanol Derivatives / Anti-tubercular: Study yielded a mixture of 1:1 flavonols kaempferol and quercetrin. Microplate Alamar Blue Assay showed moderately strong antitubercular activity from these flavonol derivatives. 

Attenuation of Prostatic Hyperplasia: Study evaluated the therapeutic potential of Uvaria rufa on BPH using in vitro and in vivo models. UR-EtOAc exhibited highest potency of inhibition of 5aR and possessed potent antioxidants rich in phenolic and flavonoid contents. The active compound by HPLC analysis was ß-sitosterol. UR-EtOAc and finasteride treated groups showed increased prostatic and serum testosterone levels.  At all treatment doses used, no toxic effects were observed on vital organs and serum biochemical parameters. 

Antibacterial / Twigs: In a study of 31 samples of crude extracts from 24 species of mangrove and beach forest plants, Uvaria rufa (twigs) was one of the plants that showed potent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. 

Antioxidant / Roots: In a study of of 40 Thai medicinal plants for antioxidant activity using DPPH as stable radical, CHCl and butanolic extracts of Uvaria rufa roots showed promising activity.  Chromatographic separation of the two extracts isolated 15 known compounds. Compound 8 (2,5-dihydroxy-6,7-dimethoxy flavanone) showed the highest scavenging activity on DPPH and superoxide radicals with IC50 of 0.16 and 1.03 mg/mL, respectively. 

Antioxidant / Leaves: Study evaluated ethyl acetate and hexane extract of leaves of Uvaria rufa for antioxidant activity.  The EA extract showed strong antioxidant activity with IC50 57.87 µg/ml while the hexane extract showed weak antioxidant activity. DPPH radical scavenging of standard ascorbic acid was IC50 3.781 µg/ml. 

Liignan Glycoside / Cytotoxicity / Roots: Study of aerial parts yielded one new lignan glycoside, ufaside, along with six known compounds, oxoanolobine, ergosta-4,6,8, 22-tetraen-3-one, catechin, epicatechin, daucosterol, and glutin-5-en-3-one.  In cytotoxic analysis using nine human cancer cell lines, compounds 2 and 3 exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against human lung adenocarcinoma cell line (LU-1) with IC50 of 9.22 ± 1.02 µg/mL 10.21 ± 1.16 µg/mL, respectively.

Antispasmodic / Stems: Study evaluated the antispasmodic activity of ethanolic extracts of stems of Uvaria rufa and Anomianthus dulcis on isolated rats' ilia, with atropine as standard drug. Both plants exhibited antispasmodic efficacy at all test concentrations on excised rats' ilia. Uvaria rufa produced highest relaxation of 98.53 ± 0.61%, compared to atropine standard of 112.84 ± 5.61% at concentration of 10.0 µg/ml. Results suggest potential for both plants as antispasmodic agents for IBS treatment. 

Effect on Male Reproductive Organs of Alopecia-Induced Rats / Stems: Study evaluated the effects of EA extract of stems of Uvaria rufa on male reproductive organs of rats with androgenic alopecia induced by testosterone propionate. There was an increase in relative weight of epididymis and increased weight of seminal vesicles, with 4% and 2% UREtA concentrations, along with dead spermatozoa in the epididymis lumens. Results suggest 2% and 4% EREtA have adverse effects on male reproductive organs. 

Seeds (Uvaria rufa) are available in the cyber market.

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