The plant is an evergreen plant, which is slowly growing up to 15–18 m
in height on jungle slopes where they receive adequate shade and water.
The tree starts bearing fruits after 2–3 years, yet complete maturation
takes up to 25 years.
Eurycoma longifolia Jack or ‘Tongkat Ali’ is a herb
which has been claimed to possess various medicinal properties.
Traditionally, people believe that this herb can be used as an
anticoagulant for complications during childbirth, treatment for
dysentery, aphrodisiac, antibacterial, anticancer, antihyperglycemic,
anxiolytic, diarrhea, fever, hypertension, relief of pain in the
bone, and its pounded bark has been used to treat wounds,
syphilitic sores, and headache.
Eurycoma longifolia Jack has attained remarkable recognition
as a potential natural herbal medicine in the improvement of
male sexual disorders and infertility. The remarkable attention
of researchers to Eurycoma longifolia is based on its
aphrodisiac prospective, which is the ability to improve libido,
restore erectile dysfunction, and stimulate production of
testosterone, thus improving the overall male sexual well-being.
Phytochemical studies on this herb revealed that this herb possesses quassinoids which give the bitter taste. The roots of Eurycoma longifolia
contain a wide variety of chemical compounds including alkaloids,
quassinoids, quassinoid diterpenoids, eurycomaoside, eurycolactone,
laurycolactone or eurycomalacton
Eurycoma longifolia Jack is also claimed to have anti-malarial
properties and its effects have been extensively studied. The
results indicated that these quassinoids possessed anti-malarial
activity, higher than the anti-malarial property of chloroquine; the
most widely used anti-malarial drug.
Medicinal properties of Eurycoma longifolia
