The Alagaw, or Premna odorata, is a small-sized hairy tree, commonly 3-8 meters high. Its leaves are described as ovate or broad ovate and range up to 10-20 centimeters long with a pointed tip, either a broad, rounded, or heart-shaped base, and have an aromatic scent when crushed. Its flowers are 4-5 millimeters long, which are either greenish white or nearly white, and are borne on terminal inflorescences that are 8-20 centimeters in diameter. The tree's fruits are fleshy, rounded, dark purple when ripe, and about 5 millimeters in diameter. Alagaw tree is commonly found in Batan Islands and provinces from northern Luzon to Mindanao, residing in thickets and secondary forests at low altitudes. Although mainly a Philippine native tree, it's reported to be seen in several neighboring Asian countries like Nepal, India, Myanmar, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, and even down under in Australia.
The tree doesn't only appeal to people because of its beauty, but also for its various uses. Its leaves are edible so it's used in culinary for Filipino dishes like "paksiw" and "bopis" and is sometimes eaten raw as a salad. It's excessively used for medicinal purposes, too. Decoction of its leaves is used as an ingredient for a tea that loosens up phlegm and is effective for coughs, or as a treatment for vaginal irritation. Its leaves can also facilitate urination and, through infusion, can be considered carminative (expels gas from the alimentary canal). It extends its healing properties by being used to cure fever, abdominal pains, dysentery, kabag, and cardiac troubles. It's also used in the fumigation of poultry houses to get rid of ticks and fleas.
Interesting details about the Alagaw tree can continue to range more and more, but its unfamiliarity with the public can potentially harm its population, because most people don't know that medicinal plants, like Alagaw, are continuously under threat of extinction. They are at risk because of overexploitation, population increase, unfriendly environmental practices, habitat destruction, and illegal trade.
Overexploitation refers to the over-harvesting of these plants for different purposes. Its population wouldn't get to bloom if they're overused, especially by academics who study its properties and potential in different fields of science. Its overexploitation is associated with illegal trade that excessively harvests them unlawfully for larger profits. Another threat to the Alagaw population is, obviously, humans. The fast population growth of people leads to more law-breakers committing unhealthy acts toward the environment that harm the ecosystem largely. It also causes more participation in illegal trade and the growing need for more human shelters, which lead to the destruction of animal and plant habitats.
These threats are evident in all native plant life, and we need to act now, even just locally, to secure their growth. The best step forward we can take is through education. Most environmental issues are ignored because Filipinos are clueless about what's happening. We need to educate people about the Alagaw tree's importance and role in medicine, cuisine, and biodiversity to preserve the beauty and benefits that it, and other Philippine native trees, bring. We need to be knowledgeable and acknowledge Alagaw's antimicrobial, antiviral, cardiotonic, anticoagulant, hepatoprotective, antitubercular, antitumor, antimutagenic, anti-parasitic, and antioxidant properties. These properties are being studied further by experts to fully expand their use in different areas of human, animal, and plant life.