Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Simarubeæ
N. 0. SIMARUBEÆ
243. Ailanthus glandulosa, Desf. ; h.f.b.i., i. 518.
Eng. Syn. : — Japan Varnish Tree.
Habitat : — Northern India.
A lofty tree ; leaves pubescent or sub-glabrous ; leaflets very coarsely toothed at base, very numerous, divided very unequally by the midrib, paler beneath. Flowers small, in much-branched panicles. Filaments elongate, filiform, exserted, several times exceeding the anther. Fruit about 3 membranous, linear-oblong samaras, about 1¼ by ⅓in. Seed near the centre of the samara, about ¼ by 1/1in.
Part used : — The bark.
Medicinal uses : — According to Professor Hetet, the bark is an active vermifuge ; in powder it has a strong, narcotic, nauseating odour. It exerts a powerful, depressing influence over the nervous system similar to that of tobacco.
Leaves used as an atringent in China,- — (Ph. J., 20th, December 1884.)
Useful in dysentery.— (I. M. G., March 1877, p. 83.)
It contains ellagic acid, and a colouring matter, quercetin (C lS H 10 07). On fusion with alkali, protocatechnic acid (in. p. 194-196°) and phloroglucinol (m. p. 210°) were identified as the principal products of the decomposition of qu rcetin.
{{smaller|The aqueous filtrate from the quercetin was found to contain a large quantity of gallic acid. The tannin of the Ailanthus glandulosa is evidently gallotannic acid.
A tannin analysis gave the following result :—
| Item | Percentage. |
| Tanning matter | 11.2 |
| Soluble non-tannins | 20.4 |
| Insoluble at 60° F | 60.0 |
| Water | 8.4 |
| Total. | 100.0 |
J. Ch. S. T. 1898, p. 381.
244. — A. excelsa, Roxb. h.f.b.i. i. 518.
Sans. : — Mâdalâ, Aralu. Atarusha.
Vern. : — Maharukha, mahârukha, limbado (Hind.); Adulsa, Adusa, Maharuka, Mahânimb (Mar.) ; Mahanim, mâhâla, gormi- kawat (Uriya) ; Ghorkaram (Palamow) ; Moto aduso (Guz.) ; Varul, mahârukh (Dec.) ; Arua (N.-W. P. and Mewar) ; Peru, pee, perumaruthâ (Tam.) ; Pedu, pey, pedda, peddâ mânu putta (Tel.); Perumarum (Mal.)
Habitat: — Common in the North- Western Provinces, Behar, the Western Peninsula, and the Carnatic, in the Bombay Presidency, widely distributed over the Thânâ, Kaira, Panch Mahals and Guzerat districts, occasionally met with in Rajputana, common on the Coromandel Coast.
A tree 60-80ft. Leaves 1ft or more, glandular-hairy ; leaflets very numerous, very coarsely toothed, on long petioles, very unequal at base. Flowers larger than in A. glandulosa, on longish pedicels, in large lax often on very much branched, panicles. Petals ovate-lanceolate, commonly reflexed. Filaments short, half the length of anthers. Samara large copper-red longer than in A. glandulosa, 2in. by ¼in., strongly veined, blunt or pointed at both ends, always once or twice twisted at base.
Parts used : — The bark and leaves.
Medicinal uses : — The bark is aromatic and used for dyspeptic complaints. It is also regarded as a tonic and febrifuge in cases of debility. Expectorant and anti-spasmodic, given in chronic bronchitis and asthma.
" In Bombay the bark and leaves are in great repute as a tonic, especially in debility after child-birth. In the Concan the juice of the leaves is usually administered in khir, or the juice of the fresh bark is given with cocoanut juice and treacle, or with aromatics and honey ; it is said to stop after-pains" (Dymock.)
Used also as an astringent in diarrhœa and dysentery.
" Mr. Narayan Daji separated an acid principle which he named Ailanthic acid. This acid may be given in doses of 1 to 3 grains, and is said to be tonic, and alterative. In large doses, it causes nausea and vomiting, and is purgative. He recommended its use in dyspepsia with constipation" (G. Bidie.)
Its bark is used as a febrifuge and tonic. Narain Daji isolated from it an acid principle which he named ailanthic acid. He also found a bitter, non crystallisable principle. It belongs to a neutral class of substances related toquassin, and may probably prove to be identical with cedrin and samaderin, which have been obtained from other members of the Simanibaceae.
J. Ch. Industry, 1895, p. 985,
245. — A. malabarica, D. C. h.f.b.i., i. 518.
Vern. of the resin : — Mudde-dhûpa, bâgâ-dhupa (Bom.); Peru, peru-marattup-pattai, maddi-pâl (Tam.); Perumarum, pedda-mânu-patta, maddi-palu (Tel.) : Mattip-pâl (Mâl.) ; Guggula- dhûp, ud (Mar.); Dhûp, baga-dhûp (Kan.); Ladan (Dec.) Kumbalu, Walbilin (Sin.)
Habitat : — Western Peninsula, in Canara. Ceylon low country of the moist regions. Cochin China.
A lofty tree, with straight trunk and rough bark ; branch-lets, with large closely placed leaf-scars. Young parts pubescent, with fine simple stellate hairs. Wood very light soft spongy. Leaves very large, 1½-2ft., crowded, spreading, pinnate ; rachis cylindric, with a raised line along upper side, very finely stellate- pubescent, much thickened at base ; leaflets 16-20, distant, opposite or sub-opposite, shortly stalked, 3-5in., ovate-oblong, tapering, acute, unequal at base, with upper half larger and rounded, and lower half acute, entire, margin slightly reflexed, glabrous, glaucous beneath, rather thick. Flowers white, small ; the bisexual, rather larger than the male, numerous, pedicellate, in long, loose, stalked, axillary panicles. Calyx small, hairy, segments acute. Stamens exceeding petals. Ovary ovoid, glabrous. Samara 2½-3in., flat, oblong, obtuse at both ends, papery, glabrous, with the seed about the middle. Seed much compressed, circular.
Trimen says : " The bark is tonic and febrifuge. A brown, fragrant, resinous exudation is given by the inner bark, and is used in Dysentery as well as material for incense."
Parts used : — The bark, fruit and gum.
Uses : — The bark is given in dyspepsia, and is also considered a valuable tonic and febrifuge. It yields a fragrant resin, which, reduced to powder, mixed with milk and strained, is given in small doses in dysentery, and also in bronchitis, and is reputed to be an excellent remedy, chiefly owing to its balsamic properties. " The fruit, triturated with mango, and mixed with rice, is reckoned useful in cases of ophthalmia, and the juice of the fresh bark, in 1 ounce doses with an equal quantity of curds, is said to be a valuable remedy in dysentery" (Dymock.)
"The resin is terebinthinate-stimulant, its action being chiefly directed to the mucous surface of the genito-urinary organs and of the large and small intestines ; and the bark is tonic and demulcent.
"The resin, particularly its first or soft variety, possesses a great control over acute dysentery and diarrhœa. In gonorrhœa, gleet, chronic bronchitis and cystitis also it proves very useful and exercises a distinct beneficial influence. As a tonic, the bark resembles calumba and quassia, and like them it is administered with the preparations of iron, since it contains no tannin and is devoid of astringency.
" Remarks. — : There are three varieties of the resin of A. malabarica, which, for the sake of convenience, may be called the first or soft, the second or flat, and the third or hard. The resin of the first variety is collected in bamboo-joints, one of which I have received from the Annamullay forests in the Coimbatore district. This variety is never found in the bazaars of Madras or any other place, as far as my knowledge extends, but is occasionally supplied by special request to exhibitions and to medical men requiring to examine or use it, by the Forest Department. When new, the resin in this variety is grey, very soft, viscid, plastic, opaque, and bears a great resemblance in its appearance to the birdlime prepared from the milky juice of Ficus glomerata. It retains its grey color internally for a long time, but every part of it which comes in contact with the atmosphere becomes reddish-brown in a few hours and then deep-brown. The resin has an agreeable aromatic or balsamic odour, and though it is not soluble in saliva, it produces a terebinthinate taste in the mouth when chewed. The resin is neither soluble nor miscible in cold or hot water. It is, however, miscible with the aid of rubbing and grinding in alcohol, ether and many fixed and essential oils, as cocoanut, olive, turpentine, cajuput, anise, &c. After the lapse of some, months, the resin, if exposed to the air, becomes much harder and feels as tough as wax ; and after a few months more, it is as hard as a stick. The second or flat variety is extremely rare and occurs in flat and circular pipes, varying in diameter from two to three inches, and in thickness from ¼ to ½ inch. The pieces are more or less soft like the first variety in all other characters.
" The third or hard variety (No. 159), which is by far. the most common, occurs in small balls generally about the size of a small orange. The balls are very hard, smooth, dark-brown in color, both externally and internally, and possess the same kind of smell and taste, but in a much slighter degree. It contains a great deal of impurities (about 80 per cent.) as earth, sand, fragments of wood, &c, upon which its hardness chiefly depends.
" With regard to the therapeutic use of the resin of A. malabarica, its first variety, if fresh, has a very remarkable control over dysentery and diarrhœa, as though it possesses some specific action over the mucous coat of the large and small intestines, and therefore deserves some special attention of the profession. In some ordinary cases of acute dysentery and diarrhoea, two or three doses of the resin, in the form of emulsion, with the mucilage of gum acacia, and with from 5 to 10 minims of Tinctura opii in each dose, were sufficient to nip the diseases in the bud. There were no more motions, tormina or tenesmus after the second or third dose for 10 or 12 hours, and when the bowels did begin to move again after this period, the evacuations were always healthier and soon became natural without further treatment. In more severe cases, however, the medicine had to be repeated three or four times in the 24 hours and continued for two or three days before the cure was effected. In still more severe or serious and complicated cases, it was necessary to resort to some other medicines, including astringent enemata, &c, to assist the resin according to the condition and symptoms of each individual case. Matti-pal is also useful in gonorrhœa and gleet, and to the same extent as the Copaiba and Gurjun-balsam" (Moodeen Sheriff.)
246. — Samadera indica, Gœrtn. h.f.b.i, i 519.
Vern :— Karinghota (Mal.) ; Niepa (Tam.); Samadara (Sin.). Habitat : — Western Peninsula, throughout the South Con can and Malabar. Moist low country. Ceylon.
A small glabrous tree, 30-35ft., with stout branches. " Bark pale, transversely cracked. Wood light yellow, soft, no heart- wood. Pores small, very scanty. Medullary rays very fine, uniform, closely-packed " (Gamble). Leaves simple, 8 by 3in. or larger, blunt, with short thick petioles, coriaceous, elliptic — oblong, shining, quite entire. Flowers numerous, bisexual, 4- merous, pinkish yellow, in dense pedunculate umbels, short-stalked. Calyx small, thick, ciliated, persistent in fruit. Petals narrowly oblong, often spiculate, f-lin. long. Stamens twice as many as petals ; filaments, with a small hairy scale at base, very long. Ovary on a gynophore, usually deeply lobed. Fruit oval, 1½in. by lin. (Bennett), of one carpel, thickly coriaceous, shining, compressed, keeled, 2 by 1½in. (Brandis.)
Parts used : — The bark, leaves, seeds and oil.
Use : — " The bark is used by the natives as a febrifuge. An oil extracted from the kernels of the fruit forms a good application in rheumatism. The bruised leaves are externally applied in erysipelas. The seeds are worn round the neck as a preventive of asthma and chest affections. An infusion of the wood is also taken as a general tonic" (Rheede and Drury).
The root is used medicinally by the Singhalese. An infusion of leaves is a good insecticide and destructive to white ants (Trimen.)
" An infusion of the wood is taken as a general tonic. This drug may well be used as a substitute for quassia" (Dymock .
From the seeds were obtained :— (1) A fatty oil, forming 63 p. c. of the whole, and consisting of triolein 88, tripalmitin 8, and tristearin 4 p. c; (2) a proteid, soluble in alcohol and in water, and containing 18 p. c. of nitrogen ; (3) sucrose ; (4) a sugar that reduces Fehling's solution directly ; (5) inositol ; (6) a crystalline bitter substance.
From the bark :— (1) The same bitter substance as from the seeds; (2) a crystalline bitter substance crystallising in yellow plates, probably an anthraquinone derivative ; (3) atannic acid belonging to the group of phloro-glucotannoids ; (4) ellago tannic acid ; (5) a tannic acid closely resembling tannin ; (6) a large amount of inorganic salts.
From the wood :— (1) A bitter substance crystallising in yellow, rhombic prisms; (2) a bitter substance very closely allied to quassin. The bitter substance that occurs in both seeds and barks crystallises in monoclinic plates, melts at 255° and decomposes at 260°, and has n1.624 and [a]D+250°. It contains no water of crystallisation, and has the composition C29H34O11. With phenylhydrazine, it yields a yellowish, crystalline substance, melting at 214°; no methoxyl or ethoxyl group is present. It gives a violet coloration with strong sulphuric acid, and has a poisonous action on frogs, less so on guinea pigs and rabbits. Most probably it is identical with the samaderin of Rost Van Tonningen. (By J.L. Van Der Marck, Arch. Pharm. 1901, 239, 96-113.) J. Ch. S. LXXX., pt, II., p. 334.
The seeds of Samadera Indica contain 63 p. c. of fat, which consists of 87.7 p. c. of triolein, 8.41 of tripalmitin, and 3.89 of tristearin. The alcoholic extract contains an alkaloid which appears to be identical with gliadine and a resin ; glucosides and a bitter principle are present in the seeds. The bitter principle is also contained in the bast and is accompanied by tannic acid; it is somewhat soluble in alcohol and acetone, melts at 255°, and is apparently identical with Rost Van Tonningen's samaderin. It contains carboxyl groups, but neither a methoxy, nor an ethoxy-group, and, when administered to cold- blooded animals, causes paralysis of the voluntary nerves and death.
A second bitter principle is found in the roots ; it melts at 209°, is soluble in alcohol and sodium hydroxide solution, and is apparently identical with quassin.
J. Ch. S. Vol. LXXX. pt, II. p. 71.
247. — S. lucida, Wall. h. F. b. i, i. 519.
Vern. : — Ka-thay (Burm.)
Habitat: — Burma and Andaman Islands.
Very nearly allied to S. indica, and perhaps only a variety. Leaves a paler green, sometimes larger, with longer petioles. Peduncles of umbels shorter than the leaves. Umbels sometimes almost sessile. Fruit strongly reticulated, smaller, pear-shaped, dark brown, glabrous, with a narrow wing.
Use : — The leaves are intensely bitter and taste like quassia.
248. — Picrasma quassioides, Benn. H. F. B. I., I. 520.
Syn. : — Simaba quassioides, Ham. Nima quassioides, Ham. mss.
Vern. : — Bharangi or baringi (H.) ; Puthorin, bera, mâthu, bering, pesho, kashbar, birgo (Pb.) Himalayan names, ; Shama baringi (Nepal). Habitat: — Sub-tropical Himalaya, from Jammu to Nepal. Garwhal and Bhutan.
A tall, scrambling tree, with stout, often spotted, branches. Bark very bitter ; light brown, rather smooth, shining, thin. Wood bright yellow, moderately hard ; sapwood white. Annual rings well-marked by a line of pores in the autumn wood. Pores moderately sized, unevenly scattered, except on the line of the annular rings. Medullary rays fine to moderately broad, short, distant, forming on a radial section a pretty silver-grain (Gamble). Leaves pubescent, a foot or more long, of 9-15 leaflets, the lowest pair much smaller and stipuliform ; leaflets 6-4 pair, obovate, acuminate, serrate, opposite, nearly sessile. Flower polygamous, in pubescent panicles ; small greenish, generally pentamerous. Calyx-segments small, imbricate. Petals ovate or obovate, persistent in female and hermaphrodite flowers. Much enlarged and coriaceous in fruit ; filaments strap-shaped, equalling the petals, villous, about the size of a pea, ¼in diam., black, each containing one erect seed.
Parts used : —The bark, root and leaves.
Use : — Dr. Royle draws attention to the bark, wood and root of this plant as quite as bitter as the quassia of the West Indies, for which it would doubtless prove an excellent substitute. The Pharmacopoeia Indica regards this bark as worthy of further attention.
The leaves, according to Stewart, are applied to itch.
248a. — P. javanica, Bl. h. f. b. i., i. 520.
This large tree is common in the Ataran Forest Division, Tenasserim where it is called by the Karens "Napaw-ow." The bark is exceedingly bitter and is used by the Karens as a febrifuge instead of quinine. The bark contains a bitter principle allied to quassin, and has an advantage in containing no tannin. There is no alkaloidal principle such as quinine in the bark.
249. — Brucea Sumatrana Roxb., h. f. b. i i. 521. Roxb. 151.
Vern. : — Ampadoo-Barrowing (Mal).
Habitat :— Assam ; Eastern Peninsula ; Tenasserim ; and the Andaman Islands. A large evergreen shrub, with bitter and somewhat fetid properties. Branchlets, leaves, and inflorescence tawny-pubescent. Leaves very large, often more than a foot long, " covered with a dense yellow pubescence, especially on the veins beneath " (Alfred V. Bennett). The lowest leaflets sometimes compound, the upper ones numerous, very closely toothed or serrate, villous beneath and opposite, 4-6 pair, ovate-lanceolate. Flowers purple, in small distant racemiform panicles, often as long as leaves. Flowers usually hermaphrodite ; Calyx very minute. Petals larger than the Calyx-segments, linear, spathulate. Stamens short, not exceeding the petals in length. Ovary deeply 4-lobed. Drupes entirely free, black, ovoid, ¼in. long (Brandis. , 1/6-⅛in. (Bennett;, glabrous, reticulated. Albumen 0.
Uses : — Roxburgh wrote : " From the sensible qualities of the green parts of this plant being somewhat fetid, and simply, though intensely, bitter, it promises to be as good an antidy-senterical medicine as Bruce's Abyssinian Wooginos itself."
Dr. Mougeot, whose investigaiions into the subject of a cure for dysentery have been attracting attention in Saigon for sometime past, now claims to have discovered a remedy for the disease. This is the seed of the plant named Brucea Sumatrana, belonging to the family Simarubaceœ, which is found in those parts of Southern China, Lower India, the island of Sunda and tropical America where the malady prevails in its more virulent form. Both the tree and its seed are known in the vernacular of its habitat by the name of kosu or kosam. It may be remembered that several years ago the scientist, Roger, discovered a bacillus which was held to be the cause of dysentery. In experiments which he conducted upon animals, Dr. Mougeot found that, wherever these bacteria were most numerous iu the bowels, the use of the kosu seed, which, by the way, is about a centimetre in length and lies hidden within a small oily kernel, led to their utter destruction. He usually administered from six to ten seeds on the first day and twelve on the second, in which time a change for the better generally became apparent. Eight hundred and seventy-one out of eight hundred and seventy-nine cases experimented upon by Dr. Mougeot, proved successful. — Indian Lancet for 10th June, 1901.
Messrs F. B. Power and F. H. Lees find that the seeds contain a small quantity of a hydrolytic enzyme, but no alkaloid ; they contain 1.8 per cent, of tannin. The combined alcoholic and petroleum extracts of the seeds yielded the following substances : (1) A small quantity of a mixture of esters, probably of one of the butyric acids, and having the odour of the crushed seeds ; (2) a very small amount of free formic acid ; (3) 20 per cent, (on the weight of the seeds) of a fatty oil consisting chiefly of the glycerides of oleic, linolic, stearic, and palmitic acids, together with a saturated hydrocarbon, hentriacontane, C31H64 m. pt. 67°-68°C., and a crystalline substance, C20H34O, m. pt. 130°-133° C ., [a]23°D =—37.7° allied to the cholesterols, and agreeing in composition with quebrachol, cupreol, and cinchol ; (4) Two bitter principles. The bitter principles are found in the aqueous layer of the residue from the steam-distillation of the combined alcoholic and petroleum extracts.; the solution also contains a quantity of reducing sugar, and a very small amount of a substance which gives a deep green colour with ferric chloride. One of the bitter principles (a) is completely extracted by chloroform from the aqueous solution and can subsequently be obtained from ether, in which it is sparingly soluble, as a light-coloured amorphous powder. The other bitter principle (b) could only be obtained as a brown extract. The authors could obtain no evidence of the presence of quassin as stated by Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen, nor of the glucosidal bitter principle, named " kosamiue" by Bertrand.—J. S. of C. I. September 15, 1903, page 1013.
The bark of Brucea Sumatrana yielded an amorphous, bitter principle, volatile acids {formic, acetic, and butyric), proteins, and an acid which was probably behenic acid— (Ph. J. 1907 Vol. 79 pp. 126-130).
250.- — Balanites Roxburghii, Planch. H. F. B. I., i. 522.
Syn. :— Ximenia Ægyptica, B. Ægyptica, Wall.
Sans : — Ingudi-Vrikshaka.
Ver : — Hingan, ingua, hingol, hingota (H.) ; Egorea, hinger (Guz.) ; Hingon (B.) ; Hinganbet, hingan (Dec) ; Garah, (Gondi) ; Nanjunda (Tam.) ; Manchuta (Mal.) ; Gari ; gara-chethi, ringri (Tel). Hingoriyun (Porebunder and Guz.)
Habitat: — Drier parts of India, from Cawnpore to Sikkim, Behar, Guzerat, Khandeish and the Deccan. Mhasvad Road, Satara district. Burmah.
A scraggy shrub ; in favourable situations, a small tree, 30ft. high, with glabrous puberulous branches, ending in very strong, sharp, ascending spines. Wood yellowish white, moderately hard. Bark yellow or cinereous. The roots spread far and throw up root-suckers at a considerable distance from the trunk. Leaves of two elliptic or obovate puberulous, entire coriaceous leaflets. Cymes 4-10-flowered. Flowers white or green, fragrant. Sepals and petals ovate, velvety-pubescent, more than an inch long. Drupes ovoid, l½-2in. long, 5-grooved ; pulp bitter, with an offensive greasy smell. Stone hard, tubercled.
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