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Litsea cubeba Pers.

Litsea (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Laurales > Lauraceae > Litsea

Characteristics

Deciduous shrubs or small trees, 8-10 m tall. Branchlets glabrous or sericeous-pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 6-20 mm, glabrous; leaf blade lanceolate, oblong, or elliptic, 4-11 × 1.1-2.4 cm, glabrous on both surfaces or sericeous-pubescent abaxially, glaucous and sericeous-pubescent when young abaxially, lateral veins 6-16 pairs, base cuneate, apex acuminate or acute. Umbels solitary or clustered, 4-6-flowered, flowering before leaves or with leaves; peduncle 2-10 mm, reflexed or straight, glabrous or sericeous-pubescent. Male flowers: perianth segments 6, broadly ovate; fertile stamens 9; filaments hairy below middle, of 3rd whorls each with 2 shortly stipitate glands at base; rudimentary pistil glabrous. Fruit subglobose, ca. 5 mm in diam., black at maturity; fruiting pedicel 2-4 mm. Fl. Feb-Mar, fr. Jul-Aug.
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A small tree. It loses its leaves during the year. It grows up to 10 m tall. The branches are black and hairy. The leaves are alternate. The leaf stalks are 6-20 cm long. The leaf blade is oblong and 4-11 cm long by 1.1-2.4 cm wide. The leaves are wedge shaped at the base and taper to the tip. There are 6-16 pairs of side veins on each side of the midrib. The leaves have a lemon scent. Flowers are separately male and female. The berries are black. They are 5 mm across.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 7.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) 0.4
Flower color -
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a tropical plant. In southern China it occurs on sunny slopes near water between 500-3200 m altitude. In Yunnan.
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Sunny slopes, thickets, sparse forests, roadsides, watersides at elevations from 300-3,200 metres.
Sunny slopes, thickets, sparse forests, roadsides, watersides at elevations from 300-3,200 metres.
Light 4-9
Soil humidity 4-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The fruit are used as a spice in place of Piper cubeba. It is used to flavour goat's meat and fish. It is used for pickles. The flowers cam be eaten or used for tea. The roots are cooked with pork. The fruit, bark and leaves are used as a curry ingredient by the Karen. They have the smell of lemon grass when crushed.
Uses cosmetics essential oil food fragrant oil material medicinal perfumery poison shade spice tea wood
Edible barks flowers fruits leaves roots
Therapeutic use Muscular injury (bark), Cough (bark), Cystitis (bark), Dizziness (bark), Fractures, bone (bark), Gonorrhea (bark), Hepatitis (bark), Hypertension (bark), Hysteria (bark), Neoplasms (bark), Skin diseases (bark), Vertigo (bark), Muscular injury (fruit), Abdominal pain (fruit), Amnesia (fruit), Asthma (fruit), Cholera (fruit), Common cold (fruit), Constipation (fruit), Cough (fruit), Cystitis (fruit), Diuretics (fruit), Dizziness (fruit), Dysentery (fruit), Expectorants (fruit), Fever (fruit), Flatulence (fruit), Foodborne diseases (fruit), Gonorrhea (fruit), Headache (fruit), Heart diseases (fruit), Hepatitis (fruit), Hypertension (fruit), Hysteria (fruit), Nausea (fruit), Neoplasms (fruit), Pain (fruit), Paralysis (fruit), General tonic for rejuvenation (fruit), Sleep hygiene (fruit), Stomach diseases (fruit), Vomiting (fruit), Irritant (fruit), Abdominal pain (leaf), Cystitis (leaf), Dysentery (leaf), Fever (leaf), Gonorrhea (leaf), Headache (leaf), Hemostasis (leaf), Hypersensitivity (leaf), Skin diseases (leaf), Wounds and injuries (leaf), Anthelmintics (seed), Cholera (seed), Foodborne diseases (seed), Headache (seed), Pharyngitis (seed), Stomach diseases (seed), Typhoid fever (seed), Muscular injury (shoot), Dizziness (shoot), Hepatitis (shoot), Hypertension (shoot), Hysteria (shoot), Neoplasms (shoot), Wounds and injuries (stem), Headache (unspecified), Expectorant (unspecified), Flu (unspecified), Hysteria (unspecified), Medicine (unspecified), Paralysis (unspecified), Rheumatism (unspecified), Stomach (unspecified), Swelling (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Ache(Stomach) (unspecified), Arthritis (unspecified), Memory (unspecified), Parturition (unspecified), Vertigo (unspecified), Cholera (unspecified), Cystitis (unspecified), Digestive (unspecified), Dyspepsia (unspecified), Stomachic (unspecified), Carminative (unspecified), Bronchitis (unspecified), Diuretics (unspecified), Expectorants (unspecified), Flatulence (unspecified), General tonic for rejuvenation (unspecified), Irritant (unspecified), Antifungal agents (whole plant excluding root), Antineoplastic agents (whole plant excluding root), Diuretics (whole plant excluding root), Parasympatholytics (whole plant excluding root)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown by seeds.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Litsea cubeba unspecified picture

Distribution

Litsea cubeba world distribution map, present in Brunei Darussalam, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan, Province of China, and Viet Nam

Conservation status

Litsea cubeba threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:465621-1
WFO ID wfo-0000365367
COL ID 6QKQM
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lindera citrata Malapoenna cubeba Malapoenna oliveriana Tetranthera cubeba Actinodaphne citrata Litsea citrata Laurus piperita Litsea cubeba Litsea mollifolia Malapoenna citrata Benzoin aromaticum Benzoin cubeba Benzoin oxyphyllum Tetranthera diepenhorstii Tetranthera polyantha Tetranthera citrata Lindera aromatica Lindera reticulosa Daphnidium cubeba Aperula oxyphylla Tetranthera floribunda Litsea cubeba f. obtusifolia Lindera dielsii Litsea piperita Daphnidium oxyphyllum Litsea dielsii Litsea mollifolia var. glabrata Litsea mollis var. glabrata Laurus cubeba Litsea cubeba var. cubeba Persea cubeba Cubeba pipereta

Lower taxons

Litsea cubeba var. formosana
WorldFloraDB 2024