Alexandrian Laurel

Calophyllum inophyllum is native to the following regions as defined in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions:

East Tropical Africa: Kenya, Tanzania South Tropical Africa: Mozambique Western Indian Ocean: Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique Channel Islands, Rodrigues, Réunion, Seychelles China: Hainan Eastern Asia: Kazan-retto, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan Indian Subcontinent: Bangladesh, India, Laccadive Islands, Maldives, Sri Lanka Indo-China: Andaman Islands, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Islands South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam Malesia: Borneo, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera Papuasia: Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Islands Australia: Queensland North-Central Pacific: Hawaii Northwestern Pacific: Caroline Islands, Marianas, Marshall Islands South-Central Pacific: Cook Islands Southwestern Pacific: Fiji, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Samoa, Santa Cruz Islands, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Islands It has been introduced to Florida and some areas of Central America, the Caribbean and western Africa..

Now, it is widely cultivated in all tropical regions of the world. …

Aside from shipbuilding, tamanu oil extracted from the fruit kernels was important in Polynesian culture. The oils, as well as poultices made from leaves and flowers, are also commonly used for traditional medicine. The leaves contain coumarin derivatives compounds that are poisonous to fish and can be used as fish poison. The sap of the tree is poisonous and is used to make poison arrows in Samoa. The mature fruit is poisonous enough to use as rat baits. The nuts are dried before cracking, after which the oil-laden kernel is removed and further dried. The first neoflavone isolated from natural sources (1951) was calophyllolide from C. inophyllum seeds. The Mavilan, a Tulu-speaking tribe in north Kerala in India, use the bark to make a powder that they mix with water and apply to plants affected by a type of water-borne plant disease that they call neeru vembu. The fatty acid methyl esters derived from C. inophyllum seed oil meets the major biodiesel requirements in the United States (ASTM D 6751), and European Union (EN 14214). The average oil yield is 11.7 kg-oil per tree or 4680 kg-oil per hectare. In the northwest coastal areas of Luzon Island in the Philippines, the oil was used for night lamps. This widespread use started to decline when kerosene became available, and later on electricity. …