Ixora coccinea L.

Family : Rubiaceae

Synonym(s) : Ixora bandhuca Roxb., Ixora grandiflora Bot.

English Name : Jungle Flame Ixora, flame flower, Flame of the Woods, or Jungle Geranium

Origin : West Coast of India and Sri Lanka

Description

A glabrous , 0.6 to 1.0 m tall. Leaves opposite, sessile, elliptic ovate or obovate, 5 to 10 cm long, apex obtuse, base rounded, stipules with a long, rigid, cuspidate point. Flowers numerous bright scarlet or sometimes pink or yellow, borne in dense terminal corymbose cymes; calyx 2.5 mm long, triangular, acute; corolla tube upto 3.8 cm long, lobes elliptic-oblong, subacute. Fruit berry globose, 0.6 cm in diameter reddish or purplish when ripe. Seeds ventrally concave.


Habitat

Southwestern peninsular India, it grows naturally in Puerto Rico in areas that receive around 1800 mm of annual precipitation.


Parts Used : Flower, root, bark and aerial part

Herb Effects

Astringent, hypothermic, coagulates semen and depresses the central nervous system (aerial part), antiseptic, sedative, stomachic.


Active Ingredients

Leucocyanidin (flower) and octadecadieonic acid (root bark).

Medicinal Use

In dysentery, diarrhea and leucorrhea (flower); scabies (aerial part); for sores and ulcers (decoction of flower and bark); used in hiccup, fever, gonorrhoea, loss of appetite and abdominal pain(roots).

Reference