Sunday, February 15, 2009

Entada pursaetha DC.


English Name : Garbee Bean

Family : Mimosaceae

Origin : Tropical Africa and the Indian Subcontinent

Description
A gigantic, umarmed climber, with twisted, angled stems, and glabrous branches; bark brownish, fibrous, often rough at the base. Leaves bipinnate, ending in a woody tendril; petioles 5 to 9 cm long; leaf rachis 15 cm long; pinnae 2 to 3 pairs, 10 cm long; leaflets 3.8 to 7.5 cm long and 2 to 3.2 cm wide, elliptic-obovate, glabrous, subaucte or emarginate at apex. Flowers yellowish-white, borne in peduncled, simple or panicled spikes up to 30 cm wide. Fruits (pods) woody, jointed, up to 1.5 m long and 10 cm wide; seeds 5 to 30, circular, flattened.
Habitat
Forests and hills; Bihar, Orissa, eastern Himalayas and southern India.

Parts Used : Seed, plant and its aerial part

Herb Effects
The seeds are used as a tonic, emetic, antiperiodic, and anthelmintic; stimulates the central nervous and cardiovascular systems (aerial part); alleviates spasms. (seed)

Active Ingredients
A saponin of entagenic acid, L-tyrosine-O-glucoside, beta-sitosterol, entamin, quercetin, gallic acid, alpha-amyrin, lupeol and cyanidin chloride (seed).

Medicinal Use
Epilepsy, cancer, anasarca and dropsy (plant); its paste is applied locally to relieve inflammatory and glandular swellings and also used as an emetic. The juice extracted from the bark and wood is applied externally to relieve ulcers.

Reference

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