MEDICINAL PLANTS OF SIKKIM

 

 

Basic Information

 

                  

   

Species                      :   Bauhinia variegata Linn.

Local Name               :   Koiralo(Nep), Ra, Rarkung(Lep)

Synonym                   :

Family                        :   Caesalpiniceae

Habitat                       : A medium sized, deciduous tree occurs wild in sub- Himalayan tracts and in  forests of India.

Distribution                : Distributed in temperate and subtropical region.

Sikkim                         : Singtam, Rhenock, Sosing-Legship, Rangpo- Rorathang road.

Out side                      : Outer Himalaya of Punjab, ascending to 4000 ft. from the Indus Eastwards, Kumaon between 1,000- 6000 ft, Himachal

                                    Pradesh, West- Bengal, Andhra Pradesh.

General                       : Himalaya, India, Myanmar, and China.

Morphological information

It is a medium sized tree with dark brown, nearly smooth bark. Leaves 10- 15 cm long, petiolate, divided into two lobes, usually deeply cordate, 11- 15 nerved. Flowers axillary or terminal, white or purple or of both colour, having five petals, 5- 6 cm long, obovate with rather long claws, one petal darker than the other with dark purple veins. Pods 15- 30 cm long and 1.8-  2.5 cm broad, flat; seeds 10- 15 in a pod.

Flowering      : February-May

Fruiting        : July-December

History       :

Parts          : Bark, root and bud.

Status       : Low risk.

Phytochemistry

The pale violet flowers contain cyaniding 3- glucoside, malvidin 3- glucoside, malvidine 3--diglucoside, peonidin 3- glucoside, peonidin 3-diglucoside, while the white flowers contain kaempferol- 3- galactoside and kaempferol 3- rahmnoglucoside (Rama Rao, 146; Haines II, 309; Hedrick 85, khan and Chughtai, Pakist 3 Sci Res, 1954, 6,54; Megoneisto & Rao, J econ taxon Bot, 1983, 4, 167; Salch & Ishak, Phytochemistry 1976, 15, 835;Chem Abstr. 1966, 65, 17362).

Agrocultivation

The plant is propagated from seeds.

 

Ayurvedic

An important ayurvedic preparation, "Kanchnar Guggal" contains ten parts bark of this plant, and part each of triphala, ginger, black pepper, long pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cinnamomum  tamala leaves, along with 15 parts of oleoresin of Commiphora wightii. Five- gram pills of this with decoction Triphala is given in chronic skin diseases, ulcers etc

Unani

The flowers are used in "Hab Mussafi Khun". for skin diseases. The bark is used in "Sufuj Kala" and aphrodisiac in “Arq Hara Bhara" which is a tonic for lung and liver, and "Majun Supari Pak", is used as tonic for the diseases of the urinogenital system of women.

Others

The root is carminative and is used in dyspepsia and flatulence. A decoction of the root prevents obesity. The bark is astringent, tonic and anthelmintic. It is useful in scrofula and skin diseases. The dried buds are used for the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery, worms, piles and tumors. The decoction of the buds is given in cough, piles, haematuria and menorrahgia.

 


Reference 

1. Anonymous. (1985). The Wealth of India (Vol. I A) Publications and Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi. 56- 57.

2. Bhujel, R.B. (1996). Studies on the Dicotyledonous Flora of Darjeeling District. Unpublished PhD Thesis University of North Bengal. 832.

3. Kirtikar, K.R. and B.D. Basu, (1980). Indian Medicinal Plants (Vol. II). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun. 898- 900.

4. Progress Report of the Project” Studies on Medicinal Plants of Sikkim" (1998- 2001). State Council of Science and Technology for Sikkim.

5. Thakur, R.S., H.S. Puri, Hussain, Akhtar (1998). Major Medicinal Plants of India, CIMAP. 103- 105.