KARANJWA

I NFORMATION OF KARANJWA (CAESALPINIA BONDUCELLA) AND IT'S UNANI USES

INTRODUCTION

Plants have played a significant role in maintaining human health and improving the quality of human life for thousands of years and have served humans well as valuable components of medicines, seasonings, beverages, cosmetics and dyes.

Bonducella” the name of the species is derived from the Arabic word “Bonduce” meaning a “little ball” which indicated the globular shape of the seed

The seeds are grey coloured and resemble eyeballs, which explains the Sanskrit name kuberakshi, meaning eyes of kubera, the Hindu God of wealth and also medicine system of Pakistan

Caesalpinia bonducella is an Indian herb, commonly called as Karanjwa.

It is a well known herb of Unani system of medicine

 TAXONOMIC POSITION

 Kingdom : Plantae Phylum : Magnoliophyta Division : Magnoliopsida Class : Angiospermae Order : Fabales Family : Fabaceae / Caesalpiniaceae Genus : Caesalpinia Species : bonducella

REGIONAL / VERNACULAR NAME

Tamil Name According to Singh and Raghav  following regional and vernacular names have been used to describe this plant.

Hindi Name : Kantkarej, Kantikaranja, Sagar Gota.

English Name : Fever nut, bonduc nut, nicker nut, nicker seed

Sanskrit Name : Kakachika, Kantakikaranja, Kantakini, Karanja, Krakachika, Kuberaksah, Kuberakshi, Kuberaksi, Latakaranja, Prakirnah, Tirini, Valli, Varini, Vitapakaranja. Manikandaselvi

Urdu Name : Akitmakit Persian Name: Khayahe-i-iblas

Bengali Name : Nata

Marathi Name : Gajaga

Kannada Name : Gajjiga, Kirigejjuga, Gajikekayi

Malayalam Name: Ban-karetti, Kaka-moullou, Kazhanji, Kalanci, Kajanchikkur

French Name : Bois

Telugu Name : Mulluthige, Gaccakayai: Kalarciver,

HABIT AND HABITAT

 Generally found up to an altitude of 1,000 m in Himalaya and wild throughout the plains on waste lands or coastal areas of India. It is also found in deltaic region of western, eastern and southern India. Found particularly in the seacoast throughout the hotter parts of India, Burma and Sri Lanka and tropical countries of the World. 

MAJOR CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS

 Fatty oil yields glycerides of palmitic, stearic, lignoceric, oleic, and linoleic acids, two phytosterols and a hydrocarbon similar to heptacosane.Study isolated four known cassane-type diterpenes and three new norcassane-type diterpenes Study yielded ten new furanocassane-type diterpenes, caesalpinins H-P and norcaesalpinin F36 from seed kernels, together with 13 known diterpenes.37Seeds contain stearic, palmitic, octadeca -4, octadeca-2, ligoceric, linolenic and oleic acids. They also contain bonducellin, arginine, citrulline and aspartic acid.The seed

PHARMACOLOGICAL STUDIES

Although a lot of pharmacological investigations have been carried out based on the ingredients presence a lot more can still be explored, exploited and utilized

ANTIPYRETIC PROPERTY

Bonduc fruit is also known as a fever nut due to its antipyretic property it is also useful for chest complaints, chronic fevers, earache, hydrocele,  it is also considered a good substitute for quinine

 ANTIDIABETIC / HYPOGLYCEMIC

 Seed extract of Caesalpinia bonducella were subjected to screening of antidiabetic activity in alloxan induced hyperglycemia. The antihyperglycemic action of the extract may be due to blocking of glucose absorption. The drug has the potential to act as antidiabetic as well as antihyperlipidemic activity. Both the aqueous and ethanolic extracts showed potent hypoglycemic activity in chronic type 2diabetic model. Both fractions could increase secretion of insulin from isolated islet. Antidiabetic study of ethanolic and aqueous extracts showed significant blood sugar lowering effect of C. bonducella in the type 2 diabetic 

ADAPTOGENIC ACTIVITY

 Caesalpinia bonducella seed coat as well as kernel extracts showed significant antistress activity when administered orally at a dose of 300 mg / kg b.wt.

 ANTIFILARIAL ACTIVITY

Caesalpinia bonducella seed kernel extract and fractions indicating the potential of this plant in providing a lead for new antifilarial drug development.

ANTIESTROGENIC ACTIVITY

 Alcohol seed extract of Caesalpinia bonducella has antiestrogenic property, possibly acting via inhibition of estrogen secretion.

ANTI -INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY

The anti-inflammatory activity was studied in rats using the formalin arthritis and granuloma pouch methods. At a dose of 250 mg/kg the extract was found to be effective in the granuloma pouch model and compared favourably with phenylbutazone. The seeds showed a 50% inhibitory activity against carrageenan-induced edema

.Seed oil of karanjwa for massage over pain full joint

.Bandage leaves of karanjwa is useful for inflamed area

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT C.BONDUCELL

--It is very bitter in taste that is why it is colloquially called karwa badam in hindi

 --C. bonducella is used by traditional Siddha practitioners in Malabar regions 

      for psoriasis treatment

 --Flower of c.bonduce is used for treatment of ascitis

 --Root of c.bonduc is used for ulcers take c.bonduc (karanjwa) root

   bark grind add water to make paste apply over ulcers                                   

 -- seeds of karanjwa with a glass of goat milk is useful for liver  

   disease

 --Extract or karanjwa or seed oil of karanjwa with lukewarm oil is

   usefull of paralysis

-- The oil is popular in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of  biliousness.

 --Karanjwa is used to promote wound healing and is traditionally 

   applied as an efficacious remedy for rheumatic joints, scurvy

 --Diseases of the scalp, and psoriasis.

Dr. SYED ABDUL RASHEED
BUMS (INDORE)

AMALTAS (CASSIA FISTULA)

AMALTAS

( CASSIA FISTULA)                * املتاس ،خیارشنبر

INTRODUCTION 

Amaltas is also known as "Aragvadha" in sanskrit language Khiyar shambar in unani language or Cassia fistula (botanical name) which literally means to kill diseases. It belongs to fabecaeae family. It is one of the most popular herbal plants known for its medicinal worth. It has got very effective detoxifying properties for the body, not only externally when applied to the skin but also internally. Every part of this plant contains various phytochemicals. ”

IT has been extensively used in unani system of medicine for various ailments.

·         Leaves – tannins, rhein, glucoside and sennosides.

·         Stem bark – fistucacidin, tannins, rhein and barbaloin.

·         Pulp – carbohydrates, proteins, leucin, tryptophan and glutamic acid.

·         Seeds – vermolic, sterculic and galactomannan

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THIS HERB

In India this golden flower tree is state flower of state Kerala. Flowers have religious importance in Vishnu festival. Image of this tree is painted on Indian 20 rupees. Yellow flower of amaltas represents the Thai royalty and it is also national flower of Thailand.

HABITAT

It is deciduous and mixed-monsoon forests throughout greater parts of India, ascending to 1300 m in outer Himalaya and associated regions of south East Asia. It is also found in Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka. In India it is easily available in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is famous ornamental and medicinal plant

CLASSIFICATION

·         Kingdom- Plantae

·         Order - fabaels

·         Family - fabaceae

NAMES

·         English name – Purging Cassia  Laburnum 

          

·         Hindi name – Amaltas,

          

·         Sanskrit name – Aragvadha, Chaturangula, Rajvraksha, Shampaka, Suvarnaka,            Deerghafala, Swarnabhushan.

          

·         Bengali name – Sondal

          

·         Marathi Name –Bahva

          

·         Punjabi name – Girdanali

          

·         Arabic name – Kattan

          

·         Gujarati name - Garmalo

·         Telugu name – Rela

          

·         Tamil Name - Kondrem

·         Farsi name – Khiyar

*TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION* 

Kingdom  - Plantae Subkingdom  –  Tracheobinota Super Division -  Spermatophyta Division  -  Mangoliophyta Class   –  Magnoliopsida Sub Class  -  Rosidae Order   -  Fabales Family  -  Fabacae Genus   -  Cassia  Species  -  fistula  

MEDICINAL PROPERTY

 Amaltas widely used in UNANI system of medicine in India has been reported to possess hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antitussive, antifungal and used also check wounds healing, antibacterial and regulates the hormonal imbalances 

ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTY

The antioxidant properties of 90% ethanol extracts of leaves, and 90% methanol extracts of stem bark, pulp and flowers from Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula L.) were investigated. The antioxidant activity power was in the decreasing order of stem bark, leaves, flowers and pulp and was well correlated with the total polyphenolic content of the extracts. The reason for low antioxidant activity in 

ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTY 

C. fistula leaves was analyzed for antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Formulated ointment was topically applied on the infected wound.  the healing potential of C. fistula provides a scientific rationale for the traditional use of this plant in the management of infected dermal wound and can be further investigated as a substitute to treat infected wounds without using synthetic antibiotics.

ANTIBIOTIC PROPERTY

 All the extracts exhibited antibacterial activity against Gram-positive organisms with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) between 0.078 and 2.5 mg/ml. Among the Gram-negative bacteria, only Pseudomonas aeruginosa was susceptible to the extracts

ANTIFUNGAL

A extract of c. fistula is isolated, which was confirmed as 4-hydroxy benzoic acid hydrate using X-ray crystallography. It exhibited antifungal activity against Trichophyton mentagrophytes (MIC 0.5 mg/ml) and Epidermophyton floccosum (MIC 0.5 mg/ml)

Dr. SYED ABDUL RASHEED
BUMS (INDORE)

MEDICINAL PROPERTY OF NEEM

NEEM

The neem tree, Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (also referred to as Melia azadirachta L.,Melia indica Brandis, Indian lilac, Pioneering work on the isolation and identification of neem constituents was initiated in India in 1942 and has continued.

Leaves have been shown to contain crude fibre (11-24%), carbohydrates (48-5 1%), crude protein (14-18%), fat (2.3-6.9%), ash (7.7-8.5%), calcium (0.8-2.4%), and phosphorus (0.134.24%) (Keher and Nagi, 1949), as well as a number of amino acids including the 10 essential ones (Dakshinmurthi 1954; Mitra and Misra 1967).

Neem oil is rich in fatty acids (Skellon et al. 1962), and neem cake (the solid residue following explusion of the oil) has a high sulphur content relative to other oil cakes (Sinha 1960).

Constituents have been isolated from different parts of the tree and their structures have been elucidated. These include protolimonoids, limonoids or tetranortriterpenoids, pentanortriterpenoids, hexanortriterpenoids, and nontriterpenoidal constituents.

PharmacoIogicaI properties

Neem oil and its isolates, nimbidiol, nimbidin, and diethyl sulfides, are well known to control mycobacteria (Murthy and Sirsi 1958a; Virtanen 1965) and pathogens, including

Certain organosulphur compounds,such as the sulfom dapsone,have been found to be potent antileprotic agents. These sulfones (Gupta and

Joshi 1983) along with aqueous leaf extracts at 0.1-0.2 gkg (oral dose in mice) also act as antimalarial substances(Obaseki and Jegede-Fadunsin 1986).

Analgesic and antipyretic effects of neem components are also encouraging.

Anti-Viral properties

Aqueous neem leaf extract exerts antiviral activity against Vaccinia virus, Chikungunya and measles virus in vitro (Rao et al).

Anti-Fungal properties

The antifungal activity of neem has been attributed to volatile sulfides, and the limonoid gedumin.

Anti-Bacterial properties

The oil from the neem leaves is recognized to possess antibacterial activity against a wide spectrum of Gramnegative and Gram-positive microorganisms, including M.tuberculosis and Streptomycin-resistant strains.

The antipyretic effect of neem leaf extract has been attributed to nimbidine.

Anti-cancer properties

Neem leaf preparations have been reported to possess anticancer properties. queous as well as alcoholic  extracts of neem leaf effectively suppressed DMBA-induced HBP carcinogenesis by modulating the cellular redox status as well as carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes in the target organ, as well as in host liver and blood.

Antihypertensive and Antihyperglycaemic Effects

An alcoholic extract of neem leaf has been reported to produce a significant and dose-related fall in blood pressure.

Aqueous neem leaf extract has been found to reduce blood glucose levels and prevent adrenaline and glucose induced hyperglycaemia.

Van der Nat et al suggested that the antidiabetic effect of neem maybe attributed to the release of endogenous insulin by a mechanism similar to that reported for sulphonylurea.

Dr. SYED ABDUL RASHEED
BUMS (INDORE)