Botanical name : Lagerstroemia speciosa (L.) Pers (L. flos-reginae
Retz.)
Family : Lythraceae
SANSKRIT SYNONYMS
Arjuna
AYURVEDIC PROPERTIES
Rasa : Tikta, Kashaya
Guna : Lakhu.
Virya : Seeta
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
English : Giant Crape-myrtle, Queen's Crape-myrtle, Banaba Plant, Pride of India
Hindi : Jarul, Banaba pet
Malayalam : Poomarutu, Neermarutu (misnomer) Poolamarutu
Distribution – Throughout India, cultivated as well as growing wild.
PLANT DESCRIPTION
A moderate sized tree grows up to 25 meters in height with smooth, flaky bark. The leaves are deciduous, oval to elliptic, 8-15 cm long and 3-7 cm broad, with an acute apex. The flowers are produced in erect panicles 20-40 cm long, each flower with six white to purple petals 2-3.5 cm long. Fruits round, dehiscent pods, contain numerous small winged and laterally compressed seeds.
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Plant pacifies vitiated kapha, vata, Diabetes, urinary retention, renal calculi, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, seeds process narcotic action. This plant is widely adulterated with Terminalia arjuna.
Useful part : Bark, Leaves, Seed.
CHEMICAL CONTENTS
A decoction of the leaves, also of dried fruits, is used like tea for diabetes mellitus in Philippines. Mature leaves and fruits, in fresh condition, exhibit hypoglycaemic activity experimentally. The potency decreases on storing the material. The leaf extract, when administered as powder and as tannin-free extract, showed hypoglycaemic activity in mice. Amino acids constitute the insulin-like principle. The plant contains triterpenoids, colocolic acid and maslinic acid. Colocolic acid is known to possess hypoglycaemic activity. Leaves contain lageracetal and sitosterol. Ellagitannins have been isolated from fruits and leaves.
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