Morinda citrifolia

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Morinda citrifolia is a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. There are over 100 names for this fruit across different regions, including great morinda, Indian mulberry, noni, beach mulberry, vomit fruit, awl tree, and cheesefruit.<ref name="names">Template:Cite web</ref>

Native to Southeast Asia and Australasia, the species was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors. It is now cultivated throughout the tropics and is widely naturalised.

The plant contains anthraquinones, which can be harmful to human health. Although the fresh fruit is edible, its pungent odour makes it worthwhile only as a famine food. It is also used in traditional medicine and processed into products such as juices.

Common names

Chinese: Hai ba ji, Wu ning (Singapore), Luo ling (Singapore, Taiwan)<ref name="ctahr">Template:Cite web</ref>
Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga: Nonu, noni, nenu, nano, nonu atoni, gogu atoni
English, Tahiti: Canary wood (Australia), Indian mulberry, Large-leaved Morinda, Noni (Hawaii), Noni fruit, Noni plant, Pain killer tree (Caribbean), Pain Bush, Pain Killer Bush<ref name="ctahr"/>
Fiji: Kura<ref name="ctahr"/>
Flores island: keloré (in Lamalera)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
French: Nono (Tahiti)<ref name="ctahr"/>
Federated States of Micronesia: Nen (lagoon Chuukese), Weipwul (Pohnpei), Ii (Kosrae), Mangalweg (Yap), Nopur (Chuuk)<ref name="ctahr"/>
Guam, Northern Marianas: Lada, Ladda<ref name="ctahr"/>
Kiribati: Non<ref name="ctahr"/>
Marshall Islands: Nen, nin<ref name="ctahr"/>
Malay: Bengkudu, Bengkudu daun besar, Bengkudu laki-laki, Mengkudu (Indonesia), Pacel (Indonesia), Mengkoedoe, Mengkudi, Mengkudi Besar,<ref name="ctahr"/> Mengkudu besar, menkudu<ref name="ctahr"/><ref name="npark">Template:Cite web</ref>
Palau: Kesengel, lel, ngel<ref name="ctahr"/>
Rotuma: Ura <ref name="ctahr"/>
Spanish: Mora de la India, Noni (Puerto Rico)<ref name="ctahr"/>
Tamil: Munja pavattay<ref name="ctahr"/>
Telugu: Maddi chettu, Molagha<ref name="ctahr"/>
Vietnamese: Nhàu, Nhàu Lớn, Nhàu Núi

Some other names<ref name="ctahr"/>

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awl tree<ref name="npark"/><ref name="ctahr"/>
Ba Ji Tian
Ach
Baga
Bangkoro
Bilimbi
Boi Doieur
brimstone tree<ref name="npark"/>
Bumbo
Bungbo
Bunuela
Canoe Plant
Cheese fruit,<ref name="npark"/> Cheesefruit<ref name="ctahr"/>
Coca
Doleur
Feuille Douleur
Dye Tree
Feuille Froide
Forbidden Fruit
Fromagier
Gardenia Hediona
Grand morinda<ref name="ctahr"/>
Great morinda<ref name="npark"/><ref name="ctahr"/>
Headache Tree
Hog Apple
Huevo de Reuma
inda<ref name="npark"/><ref name="ctahr"/>
Leichhardt's Tree
Limburger Tree
Mirier de Java
Mona
Monii
Nho
Nhor Preyu
Nhor Thom
Nigua
Nino
Nona
Nuna
Nony
Och
Pina de Puerco
Pinuela
Pomme Macaque
Rubarbe Caraibe
Ruibarbo Caribe
Togari Wood
Urati
Wild Pine
Yor Ban

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Description

Morinda citrifolia is a shrub or small tree up to Template:Convert tall, with grey-brown bark. The twigs are more or less square in cross-section and often fleshy. Stipules are present, very broad and obtuse at the apex, measuring up to Template:Convert wide and long. The large Template:Botanygloss leaves are arranged in opposite pairs on the twigs, reaching up to Template:Convert long by 13 cm wide. They are elliptic to ovate in shape and have 6–9 pairs of lateral veins. Domatia are usually present as dense tufts of hairs in the junctions of the lateral veins with the midrib.Template:R

The inflorescences are dense heads of flowers produced at the apex of the branch. They are leaf-opposed, replacing one leaf in the pair. There may be up to 90Template:Ndash100 flowers in the head, but only a few open at a time. The flowers are white and tubular with five lobes, measuring about 15 cm long and across.Template:R

The fruit is a multiple fruit consisting of fused drupes, each containing four seeds. They are initially green, transitioning through pale yellow to white or grey, and when ripe they emit a pungent odour similar to blue cheese. They are irregularly ellipsoid or ovoid, and may reach up to 9x6 cm.Template:R

Phenology

The plants flower and fruit throughout the year. It is common to see flowers and fruit in varying stages of development on a plant at any given time.Template:R Template:R

Chemistry

Morinda citrifolia fruit contains diverse phytochemicals, including anthraquinones, lignans, oligo- and polysaccharides, flavonoids, iridoids, such as deacetylasperulosidic acid, fatty acids, scopoletin, catechin, beta-sitosterol, damnacanthal, and alkaloids.<ref name=hepa>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="levand, etal">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Distribution and habitat

Native to Southeast Asia and Australasia, the species was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is now cultivated throughout the tropics and is widely naturalised.<ref name="nelson">Template:Cite web</ref>

Morinda citrifolia grows in shady forests and on open rocky or sandy shores.<ref name="culture">Template:Cite web</ref> It takes 18 months for the plant to mature, and yields Template:Convert of fruit per month throughout the year. It is tolerant of saline soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils. It can be found in various environments including volcanic terrains and clearings or limestone outcrops, as well as in coral atolls.<ref name=culture/> It can grow up to Template:Convert tall and has large, simple, dark green, shiny, and deeply veined leaves.

Ecology

Morinda citrifolia is attractive to weaver ants, which make their nests by using the leaves of this tree.<ref name=culture/> These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects. The smell of the fruit also attracts fruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds. Drosophila sechellia, a type of fruit fly endemic to the Seychelles, feeds exclusively on these fruits.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Health concerns

Consumption of M. citrifolia products, such as supplements, beverages, powders, oils or leaves, has the risk of causing liver disease through exposure to anthraquinones.<ref name=hepa/>

Uses

A variety of beverages (juice drinks), powders (from dried ripe or unripe fruits), cosmetic products (lotions, soaps), oil (from seeds), and leaf powders (for encapsulation or pills) have been introduced into the consumer market.<ref name="PAR"/>

Culinary

Indigenous peoples used the fruit as emergency food during famines.<ref name="PAR"/> Therefore, it is also called "starvation fruit". Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit was nevertheless eaten as a famine food,<ref name=krauss>Template:Cite book</ref> and, in some Pacific Islands, even as a staple food, either raw or cooked.<ref name=morton>Template:Cite journal</ref> Southeast Asians and Aboriginal Australians consume fresh fruit with salt or cook it with curry.<ref name=crib&crib>Cribb, A.B. & Cribb, J.W. (1975) Wild Food in Australia. Sydney: Collins.Template:Page needed</ref> The seeds are edible when roasted. In Thai cuisine, the leaves known as bai-yo are used as a leaf vegetable and are the main ingredient of Kaeng bai-yo, cooked with coconut milk. The fruit luk-yo is added as a salad ingredient to some versions of green papaya salad.

In Cambodia, the leaves are an essential part of the national dish fish amok.Template:R

The fruit powder contains carbohydrates and dietary fibre in moderate amounts.<ref name=powder>Template:Cite web</ref> These macronutrients reside in the fruit pulp, as M. citrifolia juice has sparse nutrient content.<ref name=juice>Template:Cite web</ref>

Traditional medicine

Green fruit, leaves, and root or rhizomes might have been used in Polynesian cultures as a general tonic, in addition to its traditional place in Polynesian culture as a famine food.<ref name="PAR"/> Although Morinda is considered to have biological properties in traditional medicine, there is no confirmed evidence of clinical efficacy for any intended use.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2018, a Hawaiian manufacturer of food and skincare products based on this fruit was issued an FDA warning letter for marketing unapproved drugs and making false health claims in violation of the US Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Dyes

The fruit has traditionally been used by Austronesian peoples mainly for producing dyes. It was carried into the Pacific Islands as canoe plants by Austronesian voyagers. Morinda bark produces a brownish-purplish dye that may be used for making batik. In Hawaii, yellowish dye is extracted from its roots to dye cloth.Template:R Yolngu artists at Bula'Bula Arts in Ramingining, in central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia, use the roots and bark of djundom, as it is known to them, to dye the fibres of pandanus to create a wide variety of artifacts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Applying a mordant to the fabric before dyeing is necessary when using extracts of this plant as a dye. This process can be labor-intensive if the goal is to achieve shades and hues with the morinda dye.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>