Morinda citrifolia best for healthy skin

Benefits of Morinda:

Morinda citrifolia is a tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Its native range extends across Southeast Asia and Australasia, and the species is now cultivated throughout the tropics and widely naturalized.Among some 100 names for the fruit across different regions are the more common English names, great morinda, Indian mulberry, noni, beach mulberry, and cheese fruit.

The strong-smelling fruit has been eaten as a famine food or staple food among some cultures and has been used in traditional medicine. In the consumer market, it has been introduced as a supplement and has taken many forms.

Food:

A variety of beverages (juice drinks), powders (from dried ripe or unripe fruits), cosmetic products (lotions, soaps), oil (from seeds), leaf powders (for encapsulation or pills) have been introduced into the consumer market.Noni is sometimes called "starvation fruit".

Despite its extremely strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as a famine food,and, in some Pacific Islands, even as a staple food, either raw or cooked. Southeast Asians and Australian Aborigines consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry.The seeds are edible when roasted.In Thai cuisine, the leaves (known as bai-yo) are used as a green vegetable and are the main ingredient of kaeng bai-yo, cooked with coconut milk. The fruit (luk-yo) is added as a salad ingredient to some versions of somtam.

Growing Habitats:

Morinda citrifolia grows in shady forests, as well as on open rocky or sandy shores.It reaches maturity in about 18 months, then yields between 4 and 8 kg (8.8 and 17.6 lb) of fruit every month throughout the year. It is tolerant of saline soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils. It is therefore found in a wide variety of habitats: volcanic terrains, lava-strewn coasts, and clearings or limestone outcrops, as well as in coralline atolls.

 It can grow up to 9 m (30 ft) tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves.The plant bears flowers and fruits all year round. The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a pungent odour when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit. It is oval in shape and reaches 10–18 centimetres (3.9–7.1 in) size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens.

It contains many seeds.Morinda citrifolia is especially attractive to weaver ants, which make nests from the leaves of the tree.These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects. The smell of the fruit also attracts fruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds. A type of fruit fly, Drosophila sechellia, feeds exclusively on these fruits.