ABSTRACT
The family Anisophylleaceae comprises the genera Anisophyllea, Poga, Combretocarpus, and Polygonanthus with approximately 40 species of trees or shrubs known to abound with tannins, including ellagic acid. The Anisophylleaceae Family are recognized in the field by the architecture of their branches, which often consist of two ranks of closely packed alternate small leaves which are asymmetrical and mem-branaceous. Anisophyllea disticha Hook. f. is a treelet that grows to a height of 7m in the lowlands to the forests in Malaysia, Sumatra, the Lingga Islands, and Borneo. The stems are hairy, fissured, brown, and zigzag-shaped with 4–5mm-long internodes. The leaves are simple, alternate, and exstipulate. Malays call the plant raja berangkat or kayu ribu-ribu, and eat the leaves to stop diarrhea and dysentery. In Sumatra, the roots are boiled with other herbs to make a drink used to relieve weariness.
