FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
UNCARIA GAMBIER (Rubiaceae), GAMBIR
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of Malacca, Sumatra, Cochin China and other parts of eastern Asia;
largely cultivated in the Islands of Bintang, Singapore and Prince of Wales.
Gambir is prepared by boiling the leaves and evaporating the decoction until
it acquires the consistence of clay. This gambir is used for tanning leather,
also by dyers and curers, forming an article of export. Among the Malays,
the chief use is as a masticatory, in combination with the areca-nut and
the betel-leaf.
