Eurycoma longifolia

Eurycoma longifolia (commonly called tongkat ali or pasak bumi or malaysian ginseng) is a flowering plant in the family Simaroubaceae. It is native to Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) and to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The plant is a medium-sized slender shrub that can reach 10 m (33 ft) in height, and is often unbranched. The root of the plant has been used in folk medicine of the South East Asian region, and in modern times has common use as supplements, as well as food and drink additives. There is no clinical data supporting the effectiveness of Eurycoma longifolia for any health benefit. Eurycoma longifolia is also known by the common names penawar pahit, penawar bias, bedara merah, bedara putih, lempedu pahit, payong ali, tongkat baginda, muntah bumi, petala bumi (all Malay); Malaysian ginseng; bidara laut (Indonesian); babi kurus (Javanese); cây bá bệnh (Vietnamese); tho nan (Laotian); lan-don, hae phan chan, phiak, plaa lai phuenk, tung saw (all Thai); 'long jack' (US); langir siam (Bahrain). Many of the common names refer to the plant's medicinal use and extreme bitterness. Penawar pahit translates simply as 'bitter charm' or 'bitter medicine'. Older literature, such as a 1953 article in the Journal of Ecology, may cite only penawar pahit as the plant's common Malay name. As mentioned above, E. longifolia is known by common names 'tongkat ali' and 'pasak bumi' in the South East Asian region, but these names are also used for the physiologically similar species Polyalthia bullata. The bark and root of E. longifolia is more white/yellow-ish compared to the darker-colored P. bullata, which has led to the former being known as 'tongkat ali/pasak bumi putih' or 'tongkat ali/pasak bumi kuning', and the latter as 'tongkat ali/pasak bumi hitam'. ('Putih' means 'white', 'kuning' means 'yellow', and 'hitam' means 'black' in Malay/Indonesian.) Indonesia also has a red-coloured variety known as 'tongkat ali/pasak bumi merah' ('merah' meaning 'red'), which is being studied by researchers and has not had its species classified.