Oroxylum indicum (L.) VENT.

Oroxylum indicum (L.) Benth. ex Kurz

Bignonia indica L.

BIGNONIACEAE

                                                                                                         

Vernacular names:

Hindi                - Arlu, Urru, Sauna

Kannada           - Alangi, Bunepaale, Pathagani

Malayalam         - Palakappayyani, Vella pathiri

Marathi             - Titu, Ulu

Sanskrit            - Syonakah

Tamil                - Achi, Pana, Pei maram, Vanga maram, Peru
                          vaagai

Telugu               - Dundilamu, Pampini, Nemali chettu

 

Threat status:

Vulnerable (A 1 c) - KA

Endangered (A 1 c) - KL

Data Deficient - TN

 

Habit: Tree

 

Habitat: Dry deciduous to moist deciduous forests

 

Altitude: 75 - 1000 m

 

Distribution: Global: India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia and Malacca. National: Occurs throughout the warmer parts of India. Regional: In Karnataka, recorded in moist deciduous forests of Chikmagalur, Dakshina and Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Coorg districts. In Kerala, recorded in the lower Ghats of Cannanore, Palakkad and Nilambur. In Tamil Nadu, reported only from the extreme west of the Thekkady forests.

 

Description: A medium sized deciduous tree, growing 5-10 m tall, about 75 cm girth. Bark about 6 mm thick, rough, surface brownish grey. Blaze yellowish green. Wood yellowish white, soft. Branchlets robust, with prominent corky lenticels, hairless. Leaves opposite, 2-3 pinnate, 1-1.8 m long; each pinnae opposite; leaflets 3-9, odd-paired, each egg-shaped-elliptic, 7-15 x 5-8 cm, base unequal, rounded or sometimes heart-shaped, apex acuminate, margin entire, hairless. Flowers bisexual, in large erect terminal racemes; peduncle stout, robust, up to 1 m long; calyx up to 3 cm long, dark purple, bell-shaped; corolla reddish purple outside, pinkish yellow inside, about 5 cm across, tube about 8 cm long. Capsules large, flat, linear, 50-100 x 8-10 cm, brown, tapering at both ends, hairless. Seeds many, 5-7 x 2-4 cm, rectangular, flat, winged all around except the base.

 

Phenology: Flowering: September to November; Fruiting: December to July

 

Medicinal uses: The roots are one of the ingredients of the well known Ayurvedic formulation dasa moola, which is used as anti-inflammatory, appetizing, digestive, carminative, antiperiodic, tonic, anthelmintic. Also used for treatment of inflammations, sprains, hiccough, cough, asthma, bronchitis, indigestion, diarrhoea, dysentery, gout, vomiting, leucoderma, wounds, rheumatoid arthritis and fever. Leaves are reportedly used for the treatment of ulcers and headache.Tender fruits are useful in treating cough, bronchitis, indigestion and leucoderma. Mature fruits are used in the treatment of intestinal worms, bronchitis and bleeding piles. The seeds are purgative.

 

Trade information: Local and regional. Root bark constitutes the drug Shyonaaka that is sold under the trade name Shyonaaka mool chaal or Sonaapaathaa mool chaal. The material is sometimes adulterated with stem bark of the same species. A commonly used substitute, in Rajasthan and Gujarat, is the root and root bark of Ailanthes excelsa, known as Arluka or Arlu. Roots were priced at Rs.3/Kg. (Kerala, 1993).

 

Mode of propagation: By seeds and root-suckers

 

Special characters: This tree can easily be recognized in the field by its 2 to 3-branched large leaves, strikingly large purplish flowers and huge sword-like flat woody fruits.

 

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