Friday, March 27, 2009

Pterocarpus santalinusLinn.f.

English Name : Red Sandal, Red Sanders, Ruby Wood

Family : Fabaceae

Origin : India and East Indies

Description
Tree standing as high as 25 ft (it is different from Pterocarpus marsupium because it has wider leaflets. which are always trifoliate). Bark is blackish-brown, deeply cleft into rectangular plates, and exudes a deep red juice when cut; leaves are usually imparipinnate; leaflets are 3 but rarely 5; flowers are yellow and are arranged in simple or sparingly branched racemes; pods are 5 cm in diameter including the wing, the central hard and long portion containing the seed; seeds are reddish brown, smooth and leathery.


Habitat
Grows typically on dry, hilly, often rocky ground and is occasionally found growing on precipitous hillsides.


Parts Used : Heartwood, wood, bark and fruit

Herb Effects
Coagulates semen (stem bark); alleviates spasms (stem); astringent, tonic, diuretic and diaphoretic

Active Ingredients
Beta-amyrin, beta-sitosterol, liquiritigenin, stigmasterol (plant); pterocarpolone, cryptomeridiol, pterocarpol and eudesmol (heartwood); betulin, lupenone, lupeol, epilupeol (bark); beta-eusdesmol, gallic acid, pterostilbene (wood).

Medicinal Use
For skin diseases, boils and scorpion stings (heartwood); dysentery (fruit); as an astringent, for bleeding piles and to eyes in ophthalmia and to sour eyes (powder), used in cephalalgia, odontalgia, hemicrania, vomiting, diarrhea and dysentery.

Dosage
Oil: 1–1.5 grams daily in enteric-coated form for supportive treatment of urinary tract infections.
For external use in skin conditions, a few drops of the oil are added to a cup of water.

Reference

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Liquiritigenin is a natural flavonoid compound found in the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. Liquiritigenin exhibits anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic and antiallergic activities. Liquiritigenin