Uncaria gambir

Uncaria gambir, the gambier or gambir, is a species of plant in the genus Uncaria found in Southeast Asia, mainly Malaysia and Indonesia.

Uncaria gambir
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Rubiaceae
Genus:	Uncaria
Species:	U. gambir
Binomial name
Uncaria gambir (W.Hunter) Roxb., 1824
Synonyms[1]
Nauclea gambir Hunter Ourouparia gambir (Hunter) Baill. Uruparia gambir (Hunter) Kuntze

Extract

Main article: Gambier (extract)

Gambier extract is used or has been used as a catechu for chewing with areca and betel, for tanning and dyeing, and as herbal medicine. Gambier extract was also used by native people as a medical treatment or prevention of diseases that were believed to be spread by the now obsolete medical theory of miasma.

The Indians invented paan, a gambir paste, that was believed to help prevent miasma; it was considered as the first antimiasmatic application. The gambir tree is found in Southern India and Sri Lanka.^[2]