The Dutch teak plant is native to South America, Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia, and northward throughout South and Central America to Mexico. Dutch teak has a long history of herbal use and is widely used in modern herbal medicine in South America. In Indonesia, this plant is used as an ingredient in slimming tea. The bark is used to treat everything from pneumonia to hemorrhoids. Leaf extract can be used to help treat dysentery and wound healing. The seeds are also used to treat constipation. This plant is widely cultivated in India and Sri Lanka, and is often planted as a shade tree and ornamental plant.

Dutch teak thrives at altitudes of 1-1,200 m above sea level. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are between 22-32 °C. It prefers an average annual rainfall of 700-1,500 mm and prefers a sunny position. This plant adapts to alluvial and clay soils. It thrives in a variety of soils but is most common where the pH is higher than 5.5. It prefers a pH range of 6-7 and tolerates 5-7.5.

• The taproot is brownish-white.

• The stem is hard, round, rough, and grooved, woody, branched, and whitish-green.

• The leaves are oblong to broadly ovate, 4-16 cm long, with pointed tips, rounded to heart-shaped bases, and toothed edges.

• The flowers are small, yellowish-green or whitish, sweet-scented, and found in the leaf axils.

• The fruit is a hard, almost round or oval capsule, 2-3.5 cm in diameter. Unripe fruit is green and black when ripe.

• The seeds are small, hard, 2.5 mm in diameter, and brownish.

• Generative propagation uses seeds. Seed propagation requires scarification before planting. Pour boiling water over the seeds, let them sit for 30 seconds, then drain. With fresh seeds, germination occurs in 7-14 days with a germination rate of 60-80%. Seedlings are ready to be planted once they reach a height of 30-40 cm (approximately 15 weeks). This plant can also be planted by direct sowing.

• Vegetative propagation uses stem cuttings.

• Helps cure malaria, skin diseases (leprosy, acne, boils), syphilis, wounds, elephantiasis, chest diseases, bronchitis, diarrhea, dysentery, colds, coughs, bruises, topical medicine for hair loss and baldness, cures uterine fibroids, loses weight (ingredient in slimming tea), pneumonia, hemorrhoids, alopecia, fever, asthma, constipation, infections, bleeding, type 2 diabetes, acts as a diuretic.

• Alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, and steroids, acids (tartaric, kaurenoic, asparaginic), flavonoids (kaempferol, procyanidin B2, procyanidine B5, procyanidine C1), gums (xanthan gum), purines (theobromine, caffeine), tannins (catechin, colatannins), octacosanol, friedelin- 3a, 3ß-ol, ß-sitosterol, friedelin, farnesol, taraxerol, colestin.