anjan, jamla (Mar.); Sâdado, arjun sâdado (Guz.) ; Maddi, tormatti, holematti, billi matti (Kan.).
Habitat:— Very common in the Sub-Himalayan tracts of the North- West Provinces and Deccan.
A large deciduous tree, with huge, often buttressed, trunk, attaining 60-80 ft. Bark ⅓in. thick, smooth, pinkish grey, the old layers peeling off in thin flakes. Sapwood reddish-white ; heartwood brown, variegated, with darker, coloured streaks, very hard. Glabrous ; only the inflorescence is slightly pubescent. Leaves generally sub-opposite, hard coriaceous, oblong, sometimes spathulate-oblong, often campanulate blade 3-6, petiole ¼in. long. Petiole rarely more than ½in., with two glands near its apex often very short. Flowers bisexual, dull, yellow, in erect terminal panicles. Bracteoles very small. Calyx-teeth nearly glabrous, both within and without. Young ovary very short, covered with crisped brown or rufous hair. Fruit lin. long, with 5-7 narrow angles, ¼in. broad, irregularly marked with ascending lines.
Use : — The Sanskrit writers consider the bark to be tonic, astringent and cooling, and use it in heart diseases, contusions, fractures, ulcers, &c. In fractures and contusions, with excessive ecchymosis, powdered arjun bark is recommended to be taken internally with milk. A decoction of the bark is used as a wash in ulcers and chancres (Dutt).
The bark is astringent and febrifuge, the fruit tonic and deobstruent, the juice of the fresh leaves is a remedy for ear-ache.
The bark useful in bilious affections, and as an antidote to poisons (Baden-Powell's Punj. Prods.) In Kangra, the bark is used to sores, &c. (Stewart).
Regarding the physiological action of this drug, Dr. Lal Mohan Ghoshal writes : —
(1) The drug (Terminalia Arjuna) acts as a cardiac stimulant and tonic, increasing the force of the beats of the heart, but slowing their number, but never completely stopping it. The diastole is more or less prolonged.
(2) The blood pressure is increased due to the contraction of the peripheral arterioles caused by the action of the drug on the vasomotor nerve possibly.
(3) It acts as a powerful hœmostatic ; only drawback for this action is the rise of blood pressure.
