Gmelina arborea L.

English Name : Candahar Tree and Coomb Teak

Family : Verbenaceae

Origin : Tropical moist forests from India, Burma, and Sri Lanka to southern China.

Description

It is an unarmed tree. The bark is smooth and whitish grey. The leaves are opposite, broadly ovate, cordate and glandular. The flowers are in terminal panicles and brownish yellow in color. The drupe is fleshy, ovoid with 1 or 2 seeds.

Habitat
Wet areas in forests of India

Parts Used : Bark, wood, root and leaf.

Herb Effects
Antiviral (stem bark); hypoglycemic (wood and bark); anthelmintic (leaf juice); laxative, blood purifier and hypothermic. It is bitter, appetiser, brain tonic, energiser, digestive, removes dropsy, alleviates thirst and burning sensation of body. Its fruits are unctuous, heavy, cooling, astringent, brain tonic, cardiotonic, aphrodisiac, increases semen, removes urinary troubles and impurities of blood. It is an antidote to snake bite and some other poisons.

Active Ingredients
Apigenin, quercetin, luteolin, beta-sitosterol and hentriacontanol (leaf); betulin, lignans (heartwood).

Medicinal Use

In rheumatism and stomach problems (root decoction); gonorrhea and as an anthelmintic (leaf juice); for cough (root decoction and leaf juice); making prosthetics (wood); increasing the secretion of gastric juices and as a tonic (bark); in fever (root decoction); for headache, anasarca, asthma, bronchitis, cholera, colic pain, diarrhoea, dropsy, dyspepsia, epilepsy, fever, phthisis, rheumatism, small pox, sore, spleen complaints, syphilis, throat swelling, urticaria, fever, urinary complaints, urticaria, consumption, wounds and leucorrhoea (herb).

Reference