A REVIEW ON THE MEDICINAL PLANT, FICUS MINAHASSAE

(HAGIMIT) LINN. (MORACEAE)

Author: Amoah, Daniel O.

De La Salle University Dasmarias

City of Dasmarias- Cavite

ABSTRACT

Ficus minahassae, popularly known as Hagimit is a plant species endemic to the

Philippines. It is normally found in primary forests especially along streams. It is
spread throughout the country from low altitudes up till higher altitudes of about
1350 meters above sea level. It serves both a food crop and has an enormous
medical benefit to the human body. This wide canopy plant having papery flat
leaves and long reddish hairs has an anti-rheumatic, antimicrobial, antioxidant,
diuretic properties and can act as an astringent when applied to various body
parts. The plant exhibits these properties due to the presence of some important
secondary metabolites including tannins, steroids, terpenoids, cardiac glycoside
and flavonoids in it. This review is aimed to provide the general public with most of
the information available on this endemic plant and to boost the interest of scientist
and researchers to do more studies on the plant so as to bring to the view of the
world, its hidden potentials.
Keywords: Ficus minahassae, endemic anti-rheumatic, antimicrobial, antioxidant,
diuretic astringent, tannins, steroids, terpenoids, cardiac glycoside, flavonoids

INTRODUCTION
Ficus minahassae, also known as hagimit is a medicinal plant which belongs
to the family of Moraceae. This is the family of mulberry and figs which
normally possess multiple fruits formed from many flowers. The family
contains about 37 genera including the genus, Ficus. Ficus on the other hand
is a genus which covers about 850 species of trees, vines shrubs and
epiphytes.
Hagimit is widely distributed throughout the Philippines normally found along
streams in primary forests. It can survive at lower altitudes up to altitudes of
about 1350 meters above sea level. In the Philippines, most of these plants
are found in Mindanao.

Ficus minahassae has many common names apart from hagimit. Some the
common names of the plant in different dialect include; ayimit, ayumit,
haganit, hagumit, sabfog (Tag.); hagimit (Tag., Bis.); alomit (Ig.); arinit
(Ting.); businga (Ilk.); gimit (Sub.); hasimit, tambis-tambis (C. Bis.); lagumit
(Buk.); logemit (Hagaonon); malatungbog (Mbo.); matanug (Sul.); sangai
(Bag.); taisan (Yak.); tambuyogan (S.L. Bis.)
The taxonomy of Ficus minahassae is showed below.
TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom: plantae
Division: magnoliophyta
Class: magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: moraceae
Genus : Ficus
Species: F. minahassae

PLANT PHOTOGRAPHY
Ficus minahassae is wide canopy dicot tree with a stem which is buttressed
at the base. It grows tall to about 15 meters or more in height and produces
a lot of adventitious roots like many figs does. Below are the vivid description
of the various plant parts.
Roots
As a dicot plant the f. Minahassae has an extensive tap root system having a
primary roots, secondary roots rootlets and a lot of root hairs. It also has a lot
of buttress roots to help in support. The numerous buttress roots shows that
the plant is not deeply rooted like other dicots. The tap roots in addition to
its buttress roots gives the plant a better anchorage and firm support in the
ground.
Stem
The stem of the plant is woody in nature. It has a hard back with grey and
brown patches on the outside with a Diameter Breast Height (DBH) of about
34cm- 45cm in adult plants. The bark looks reddish on the inside and has a
lot of long briskly hairy branchlets attached onto it which normally suspends.
Leaves

The leaves of the plants mainly arise from the end of the twigs. The plant
shows an alternate leaf arrangement. Its broad flat papery leaves are about
10-20 cm in length and normally covered with long reddish brown hairs
especially on their underside. The leaf apex is acute while the base is
rounded and joint to the twig by a long haired petiole. It has an entire or
slightly toothed leaf margin and ovate in leaf shape. Its green leafs has a
netted leaf venation with the midrib bearing a pair of glands at their base.
Fruits and Flowers
Like most figs the fruits of F. minahassae are formed from the fusion of
several ovaries of different flowers and hence possess a multiple fruit type.
The fruit is succulent and possess no stalk for attachment into the branch.
They are small in size, angularly obovoid and occurs in nearly spherical
heads hanging on the branched twigs which grow in large numbers from the
trunk and other larger branches.
PHOTO GALLERY

ETHNOBOTANY
Ethnobotany, a branch of science dealing with the traditional knowledge,
customs and use of plants within a culture is much applicable to F.
minahassae. Traditionally, hagimit is mostly used as both food and for
medicinal purposes. As food, most tribes in the Philippines eat the fruits of
this plant. Its juicy and succulent nature in addition to its taste makes it one
of the fruits desired in some tribes in Mindanao.
However, what interests most natives about this endemic plant is not just its
ability to give edible fruits but more so, the fact that its freshly cut stem
gives water for drinking. This great property of it makes it a plant that
natives mostly hunters normally look for when they get thirsty in the forest.
The sap is as well used as a beverage.

However, in spite of its enormous use as both food and drink, its medicinal
uses are much greater. Almost all of its parts has medicinal values. The
leaves are used as anti-rheumatic. Thus, it is used to prevent rheumatism
which is very common in the aged. Rheumatism is an umbrella term used for
any disease marked by inflammation and pain in the joints, muscles, or
fibrous tissue. An example of rheumatism is rheumatoid arthritis. This can
lead to joint immobilization and deformity. The leaves of F. minahassae is
used to cure this problem. The leaves are also roasted, pounded, mixed with
oil and applied directly to heal boils and bruises.
Furthermore, the reddish color of the bark of its stem has astringent
properties when prepared as decoction. An astringent is a chemical
compound that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues. Some astringents
are used help reduce oiliness and perspiration while others are used to stop
bleeding in small cuts. Astringents which contains tannic acids like those
present in F. minahassae are even used to treat diarrhea. The reddish bark is
also used to treat kidney ailments like nephritis and kidney stones. Activation
of the Renin-Angiotensin system which lead to the formation of angiotensin II
is one of the pathways involved in the formation of calcium oxalate stones
which leads to kidney stones. Angiotensin II l lead to vasoconstriction which
in turn promote adrenal secretion of aldosterone. Aldosterone promotes
water reabsorption by kidneys but further increases the concentration of
sodium and calcium in urine which may later lead to urinary calculi or stone
formation [Kevin T. Patton, Gary A. Thibodeau]. In a study by Acosta et al.

(2013), the crude leaf extract of a Ficus. Sp. proved to prevent and treat the
ethylene glycol-induced urolithiasis (formation of stony concretions in the bladder)
in Sprague-Dawley rats, which was comparable to the activity of the lupeol
standard. According to that study, a therapeutic dose of 1000 mg/kg crude
dichloromethane extract of leaves of this Ficus spp. was able to significantly lower
serum creatinine and urine oxalate levels. F. minahassae, a member of the Ficus
family shows similar properties.

The roots are also very functional among some tribes. For instance, the
Higaonon tribe of Rogongo in lligan city, Mindanao use it to enhance milk
production in lactating mothers. The roots are boiled in water to form a
decoction and drank three times daily by these women to increase milk
production. In addition to enhancing lactation, the decoction from the roots is
also used as a relief to muscle pain or to reduce fatigue or "bughat" in
women among this same tribe. It is indeed true this this plant has many
medicinal values.
Methods of preparations of various parts
Almost all the parts of this plant are prepared herbally using decoction.
Decoction is a method of preparation normally used for hard parts of plant
such as stems of roots.

Decoction of the roots of F. minahassae is prepare by, obtaining some roots

of the plant. The roots are then washed and cut into small pieces. The pieces
are put in an earthen ware and water is added at the ratio; 1kg roots: 4kg
water. The earthen ware is put on low fire and allowed to boil for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes low fire boiling, the fire is put out and decoction is
allowed to cool. The decoction prepared from the roots is better served when
it is lukewarm. It can be drank 3 glasses daily by lactating women and people
with body pains.
The same procedure is used for the preparation of the leaves for antirheumatic purpose.
The reddish bark of the stem is what is used in the preparation of the stem
decoction. The bark can also be applied topically in affected areas if the need
arises.
PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND PHARMACEUTICALS
The ability of this plant to perform medicinal functions is due to the presence
of some secondary metabolites present in it. Secondary metabolites in plants
are organic compounds that are not directly involved in the normal growth,
development and reproduction of plants but mainly produced by plants as a
defense mechanism. They are also known as natural products.
F. Minahassae is rich in some natural products and this is why it is medicinal
in nature. A study conducted on Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity
screening of five Philippines medicinal plants, showed that these five plants
which Included F. minahassae contained natural antioxidants and free radical
scavengers [marvelous Grace L. Villazorda and Mylene M. Uy,D.Sc]. This was
due to the presence of some secondary metabolites in the plant.
An evaluation of the phytochemical constituents of the leaves of F.
Minahassae conducted showed that it contained high amounts of tannins,
steroids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides and flavonoids. [Rachel A. E. Lagunay,
Mylene M. Uy].
Tannins
Tannins are naturally occurring plant polyphenols which has a characteristic
of binding and precipitating proteins and many other organic compounds
including alkaloids. They contain sufficient hydroxyls and other suitable
organic groups such as carboxyls which helps it to form strong complexes
with various macromolecules. The binding precipitating nature of tannins
makes them function as a good astringent. It is therefore not surprising that
F. Minahassae is traditionally used as an astringent since it has high levels of
tannins. Other medicinal uses of tannins include its ability to be used as an
antiseptic, algicidals, antidote and anti-carcinogenic natural product. The
ability of the plants to heal wounds and boils may be derived from the

presence of tannins in its leaves. The chemical structure of a type of tannic

acid, the main component of tannins is shown below.

Steroids
The leaves of F. minahassae is also rich in steroids, one of the important
secondary metabolite. Steroids are organic compounds with four rings
arranged in a specific configuration. Its core structure is composed of
seventeen carbon atoms bonded in four fused rings made up of three sixmember cyclohexane rings and one five -member cyclopentane. A lot of
steroids are found in plants which include steroidal alkaloids, phytosterols
and brassinosteroids which may be also present in F. minahassae. These
normally function as signaling molecules and a major component of the
plasma membrane. Steroids serve as the precursor of many hormones in the
body and all these contained in F. minahassae making it a very useful herbal
plant. To top the list, steroids are potential treatment of autistic spectrum
syndrome and mercury toxicity [Geier MR & Geier D.A] and such secondary
metabolites are abundant in F. minahassae. Below are shown some plant
steroids found in F. minahassae.

Terpenoids
F. Minahassae is also rich in terpenoids, one of the main secondary
metabolites of plants. Terpenoids are aromatic compounds responsible for
several flavors and fragrances of plants. F. minahassae produce a unique
smell due to the presence of its unique terpenoid. This terpenoid present in F.
minahassae is one major antioxidant in the body. The antioxidant property of
F. minahassae may be due to the presence of high levels of terpenoids in it.
Terpenoids also has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antitumor
properties [De las Heras & Hortelano] which help to protect various body
parts and some of this properties are exhibited by F. minahassae.
Cardiac Glycoside
The heart is one of the most important organs in the body. However, for the
heart to function normally, organic compounds like cardiac glycoside is much
needed. Cardiac glycoside are organic compounds and secondary plant
metabolites which contains sugars called glycoside that act on the
contractile force of the cardiac muscles. These secondary metabolites are
important in the treatment of congestive heart failures. They also stimulate
diuresis and removal of fluids from tissues and circulatory system. Normally
plant containing cardiac glycosides are mostly toxic, however since F.
minahassae leaves are not toxic and yet rich in these metabolites, it is a
proof that F. minahassae is a good plant for cardio stimulation. Some
chemical structures of cardiac glycosides are shown below.
Flavonoids
Flavonoids, a group of plant metabolites known to provide cell signaling
pathways and antioxidant effect are also found in F. minahassae. They have
a lot of functions and medicinal uses. To mention a few, flavonoids are antiinflammatory, anti-microbial, antibacterial, anti-diarrheal and antioxidant. F.
minahassae has high levels of this important natural product and may show
some if not all of the above properties. The chemical structure of some
flavonoids are shown below.

CONCLUSION

It is an indisputable fact that this Philippines endemic plant, Ficus minahassae

mostly known as Hagimit is a very important and valuable herbal plant. It has been
used traditionally by natives for many years to cure many diseases. Its fruits are
eaten, leaves are used as an anti-rheumatic herbs, stem is used as both as an
astringent and a treatment to kidney problems and a decoction of the roots helps to
enhance milk production, heal body pains and refreshes the body from fatigue. The
presence of tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids and cardiac glycoside in this
endemic herbal plant makes it perform such wonderful functions in the body.
Indeed, a herbal plant whose fruits are edible, sap used as beverage, and all of its
parts used for medicinal purposes is not something to be taken lightly. I therefore
edge the general public to take notice of this plant and to make use of it in various
healing processes. More so I entreat all scientist and other researchers to make
more studies about F. minahassae so that other hidden medicinal functions of the
herbal plant can be as well discovered.

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