Mimusops elengi

Mimusops elengi is a medium-sized evergreen tree found in tropical forests in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. It is commonly known as bakul and Spanish cherry, and its English names also include bullet wood. The tree reaches a height of about 15 m. Its timber is valuable and its fruit is edible.

The flowers are very small, about 1.2 cm wide, creamy-white and star-shaped, and borne in small clusters on the leaf axils. The flowers open at twilight and gradually become very fragrant through the night, until the next morning when they are shed. The fruits are oval and pointed, 2-3 cm long, and turn from green to orange-red when ripe.

The plant is native to South and Southeast Asia, particularly the coastal areas of the Indian subcontinent, Vietnam and Myanmar, as well as Northern Australia. It is cultivated in India and generally reared in gardens for the sake of its fragrant flowers. In Singapore it is commonly planted along roadsides.

The flowers are valued for making garlands and are sometimes used for stuffing pillows. In India the flowers are used for adornment and to distill scented water. Water distilled from the flowers is in use among the natives of Southern India both as a stimulant medicine and as a perfume. In Thailand the flowers are sun dried and used to make floral infusions and as an addition to green tea. A fixed oil is obtained from the seeds by expression and is used for culinary purposes, for burning and for medicine.

The flowers contain volatile oil. Extracts of the flowers were rich in benzenoids (61.7%), the major compound being phenyl ethyl alcohol (23.6-32.5%). The ether extract of fresh flowers mainly contained 2-phenylethanol, 4-hydroxybenzenemethanol and cinnamyl alcohol, at 10.49, 8.69 and 6.17%, respectively. In dried flowers the main constituents were a long chain carboxylic acid ester and (Z)-9-octadecenoic acid, at 5.37 and 4.71% of the ether extract, respectively. The liquid CO2 extract of fresh flowers contained 32.5% 2-phenyl ethyl alcohol, against 5.8% in the extract of dry flowers. The dry flowers may have lost the volatile compounds during drying.

Mimusops Elengi Flower Extract is the extract of the flowers of Mimusops elengi L., Sapotaceae. In the EU cosmetic ingredient inventory its function is skin conditioning.

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