distribution
cultivation
The geographic origin of M. citrifolia is highly debated. Until recently, most scientists believe that the plant originated from Southeast Asia (SEA) and spread to the rest of the tropics (Fig. 5) by oceanic currents and/or domestication [20]. It was thought that the Southeast Asian ancestors of the Micronesian and Polynesian people brought along Noni fruits during their migration [20][21][22]. Others argued that M. citrifolia originated from India. They insisted that Noni’s medicinal properties have been documented in the ancient Aryan literature long before the Southeast Asians, Polynesians or Micronesians knew about its existence [23]. Systematists took a different approach to resolving this conflict. By putting phylogenetic trees onto maps, systematists are able to trace the biogeographic history of various Morinda taxa. Nonetheless, this is not a simple puzzle as two phylogenetic analyses by different systematists revealed different trees.