Butea monosperma (Lam.)Taubert: A Review

Abstract

The traditional systems of medicine together with homoeopathy and folklore medicine continue to play a significant role largely in the health care system of the population. Butea monosperma (Palas) belonging to the family leguminaceae grown wildly in many parts of India. The plant is highly uses by the rural and tribal people in curing various disorders. The present paper enumerates various traditional and medicinal utility of the plant and Attempt was made to gather information about the chemical composition and pharmacological aspects of the plant.

Full text

Journal of Pharmacy Research Vol.2.Issue 7.July 2009
D. Jhade et al. / Journal of Pharmacy Research 2009, 2(7),1181-1183
Review Article
ISSN: 0974-6943
Butea monosperma (Lam.)Taubert: A Review
D. Jhade 1*, D. Ahirwar1, N. K. Sharma1, R. Jain1 and S. Gupta2
1, Dept. of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Chouksey Engg. College, Bilaspur, (C.G.) – India
2, Dept. of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Chouksey Engg. College, Bilaspur, (C.G.) – India
Received on: 27-02-2009; Accepted on: 29-04-2009
ABSTRACT
The traditional systems of medicine together with homoeopathy and folklore medicine continue to play a significant role largely in the health
care system of the population. Butea monosperma (Palas) belonging to the family leguminaceae grown wildly in many parts of India. The
plant is highly uses by the rural and tribal people in curing various disorders. The present paper enumerates various traditional and medicinal
utility of the plant and Attempt was made to gather information about the chemical composition and pharmacological aspects of the plant.
Keywords: Butea mosperma, palas, medicinal uses
*Corresponding author.
Tel.: + 91-09302409980
E-mail: herbal0914@rediffmail.com
INTRODUCTION
Butea monosperma (Palas), is a medium-sized deciduous tree be-
longs to family Leguminosae-Papilioneae. This tree is also called ‘Flame
of the Forest’ and Bastard Teak. It grows throughout the Indian sub-
continent, especially in Indo-Gangetic plains. It is said that the tree is
a form of Agnidev, God of Fire. It was a punishment given to Him by
Goddess Parvati for disturbing her and Lord Shiva’s privacy. This
tree gets up to 50 ft high, with stunning flower clusters. It loses its
leaves as the flowers develop, January - March. The trunk becomes
twisted and gnarled by the wind, making it a conversation piece. Use
it as a specimen, or as a background component of the canopy. The
plant is widely distributed in the country and called by various local
names viz., Bastard Teak, Parrot Tree (Eng.), Chichra tesu, desuka
jhad, dhak, palas, chalcha, kankrei (Hindi), Palashpapra (Urdu),
Muthuga (Can.), Palas, Polashi (Beng.), Porasum, Parasu (Tam.),
Muriku, Shamata (Mal.), Modugu (Tel.), Khakda (Guj.), Kela (Sinh.).
It is a useful plant in many ways. Its leaves are essential for various
religious rituals in Hindu homes. These are also used as cheap leaf
plates and cups for rural feasts. In some parts of the country these are
used for wrapping tobacco to make biddies. These are further used as
packing material for parcels. The cattle also eat the palas foliage quite
eagerly. The bark yields a kind of coarse and brown colored fiber,
which is used for rough cordage. Butea gum is a dried astringent juice
obtained from incisions in the stem of the tree. The juice exuded by
the bark hardens in to brittle ruby colored gum beads. This gum is
sanctioned to be used as a substitute for the kino gum. It finds use for
caulking boats as well. The flowers yield an orange dye. A prepara-
tion of the same is used as an insecticide. The seeds are used in
Ayurvedic and Unani medicine for treating a number of human mala-
dies. The tree acts as a host for lac insect and is, therefore, useful in
producing natural lac.1,2
It is a sacred tree, referred to as a treasurer of the gods, and used in
sacrifice related rituals. From its wood, sacred utensils are made. The
flowers are offered as in place of blood in sacrifice rituals to goddess
Kali. The dry stem pieces are used to make sacred fire. It is an anthro-
pogenic tree of several castes. ‘Chakradatta’ mentions the use of its
gum in external astringent application. The leaves are believed to
have astringent, depurate, diuretic and aphrodisiac properties. It pro-
motes diuresis and menstrual flow. The seed is anthelmintic. When
seeds are pounded with lemon juice and applied to the skin the act as
a rubefacient. .3,4
MORPHOLOGY
It is an erect, medium sized tree of 12-15 m high, with a crooked trunk
and irregular branches. The shoots are clothed with gray or brown
silky pubescence. The bark is ash coloured. The leaves 3 foliate, large
and stipulate. Petiole is 10-15 cm long. Leaflets are obtuse, glabrous
above, finely silky and conspicuously reticulately veined beneath
with cunnate or deltoid base. From January to March the plant is bald.
Flowers in rigid racemes of 15 cm long, densely brown velVety on
bare branches. Calyx is dark, olive green to brown in colour and densely
velVety outside. The corolla is long with silky silvery hairs outside
and bright orange red. Stamens are diadelphes, anthers uniform. Ovary
2 ovule, style filiform, curved and stigma capitate. Pods argenteo-
canesent, narrowed, thickened at the sutures, splitting round the
single apical seed, lowest part indehiscent. The seeds are flat, reni-
form, curved.
The bole is twisted and gnarled and the branching too follows no
particular pattern. It is slow growing and attains a height of about 5 to
8 m and diameter of about 20 to 40 cm when mature at the age of about
50 years or so. The bark of palas is fibrous and bluish gray to light
brown in color. It exudes a kind of red juice when injured.
The leaves are compound. Each has three leaflets. The texture of the
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Journal of Pharmacy Research Vol.2.Issue 7.July 2009
D. Jhade et al. / Journal of Pharmacy Research 2009, 2(7),1181-1183
leaflets is fairly tough. These are coriascious with the surface gla-
brescent above and hairy silken beneath. The size varies from 15 cm
to 20 cm by 10 cm x 15 cm. The shape is obliquely ovate and broadly
elliptic. The leaves fall off by December and reappear during spring.
When the tree is leafless, it bears flaming orange to red-colored flower.
These flowers start appearing in February and stay on nearly up to
the end of April. The size is nearly 2 to 4 cm in diameter. These tend to
be densely crowded on leafless branches. The calyx i.e. the lower
whorl of the flower tends to be darkish gray like the supporting branch
itself. The upper parts are brick red. These give the plant so hand-
some a look despite it is leafless during spring season when entire
terrain having palas trees wears a kind of exquisite orange and red
hue. The flowers form a gorgeous canopy on the upper portion of the
tree, giving the appearance of a flame from a distance.
The fruit of palas is a flat legume; a pod, nearly 15 cm long and 3 to 5
cm wide. Young pods have a lot of hair — a velvety cover. The mature
pods hang down like peculiar legumes. The seeds are flat, from 25 to
40 mm long, 15 to 25 mm wide, and 1.5 to 2 mm thick. The seed-coat is
reddish-brown in color, glossy, and wrinkled, and encloses two large,
leafy, yellowish cotyledons. The hilum is conspicuous, and situated
near the middle of the concave edge of the seed.
The odor is faint, and the taste slightly acrid and bitter.
The wood is greenish white in color. It is porous and soft in texture
and has annual rings though not very distinct. The wood is soft and
weighs about 14 to 15 km per cubic foot. It generally perishes fast
when used at sites open to vagaries of weather, but lasts much longer
when used under water. It is therefore used for making well curbs and
piles.5-8
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS
The main constituent of the flower is butrin (1.5%) besides butein
(0.37%) and butin (0.04%).Also contains flavonoids and steroids.
Other than these in flowers, coreopsin, isocoreopsin, sulphurein (gly-
coside) and other two with monospermoside and isomonospermoside
structures are also identified. Roots contain glucose, glycine, gluco-
sides and aromatic compounds. Tetramers of leucocynidin are iso-
lated from gum and stem bark. Seed contains oil. The bright colour of
the flower is attributed to the presence of chakones and aurones.9-12.
PHARMACOLOGY:
A fraction containing sodium salt of phenolic constituent isolated
from the bark has shown potential as an anti-asthmatic agent and
estrogenic activity in mice. Aqueous extract of the flowers show sig-
nificant anti-implantation activity. Hot alcoholic extract of the seeds
showed significant anti-implantation and anti-ovulatory activity in
rats and rabbits. It also showed abortive effect in mice. Butrin and
isobutrin has proven to have antihepatoxic activity. The fresh juice is
applied to ulcers and for congested and septic sore throats. The gum
is a powerful astringent given internally for diarrhea and dysentery,
phthisis and hemorrhage from stomach and the bladder, in leucorrhoa,
ringworm and as a substitute for gum Kino. The bark is reported to
possess astringent bitter, pungent, alliterative, aphrodisiac and an-
thelmintic properties. Bark is also useful in tumors, bleeding piles and
ulcers. The decoction of bark is useful in cold, cough, fever and men-
strual disorders. Roots are useful in elephantiasis and in curing night
blindness and other eyesight defects. Also cause temporary sterility
in women. Also applied in sprue, piles, ulcers, tumors and dropsy.
Leaves have astringent, tonic, diuretic and aphrodisiac properties.
They are also used to cure boils, pimples and tumors hemorrhoids
and piles. Also used as beedi wrappers. Flowers are reported to pos-
sess astringent, diuretic, depurative, aphrodisiac and tonic proper-
ties. They are used as emmenagogue and to reduce swellings both in
human and veterinary applications. .13,14,15,16,17,18,19
MEDICINAL USES
Butea monosperma as astringent antidiarrheal antidysenteric feb-
rifuge aphrodisiac purgative anthelmintic properties. It is used for
timber, resin, fodder, medicine, and dye. The bark and the flowers and
the leaves and the gum and even the seeds are used to prepare herbal
remedies. The gum from the tree, called kamarkas in Hindi, is used in
certain food dishes. The gum is also known as Bengal Kino, and is
considered valuable by druggists because of its astringent qualities,
and by leather workers because of its tannin. .20,21,22,23,
CONCLUSION
Herbs are the natural drugs used to regain the alterations made in
Figure1: Butea monosperma (Whole Plant and Flowers)
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Journal of Pharmacy Research Vol.2.Issue 7.July 2009
D. Jhade et al. / Journal of Pharmacy Research 2009, 2(7),1181-1183
normal physiological system by foreign organisms or by any mal-
functioning of the body. In every ethnic group there exists a tradi-
tional health care system, which is culturally patterned. In rural com-
munities, health care seems to be the first and foremost line of de-
fense. The WHO has already recognized the contribution of tradi-
tional health care in tribal communities. It is very essential to have a
proper documentation of medicinal plants and to know their potential
for the improvement of health and hygiene through an eco friendly
system. Thus importance should be given to the potentiality of
ethnomedicinal studies as these can provide a very effective strategy
for the discovery of useful medicinally active identity. A detailed and
systematic study is required for identification, cataloguing and docu-
mentation of plants, which may provide a meaningful way for the
promotion of the traditional knowledge of the herbal medicinal plants.
The present review reveals that the plant Butea monosprema is used
in treating various ailments. It elicits on all the aspects of the herb and
throws the attention to set the mind of the researchers to carry out the
work for developing its various formulations, which can ultimately be
beneficial for the human beings as well as animals.
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Source of support: Nil, Conflict of interest: None Declared
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