Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Adenanthera pavonia L.


Family : Mimosaceae

English Name : Coral Wood, red beadtree, barbados pride, beadtree, circassian bean, coral bean tree, false wiliwili, peacock flower-fence, Polynesian peanut, red sandalwood tree, red sanderswood, sandalwood-tree.

Origin : India

Description
Slender, medium-size tree, with rather wide-spreading branches, fine feathery foliage, small inconspicuous yellow flowers and thin shelled pods, brown outside but of a satiny straw colour inside, which when mature twist snake like and split to disclose small, lens-shaped, bright red bead like seeds.

Habitat
Forests; eastern subHimalayan region to West Bengal, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Assam, Maharashtra and southern India.

Parts Used : Seed, leaf and wood

Herb Effects
Inhibits trypsin and chymotrypsin (seed); emetic (root)

Active Ingredients
Stigmasterol and its glucosides and a polysaccharide (seed); stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol, octacosanol and a glucoside (leaf); dulcitol (seed and leaf).

Medicinal Use
Curing eye diseases (wood paste) and in rheumatism, gout, haematuria and haematemesis (leaf decoction).

Reference

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