Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Brucea javanica (L.) Merr. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)].
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Brucea javanica (L.) Merr. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu.
"Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian
Medicinal Plants. (1918)].
Pankaj Oudhia
Introduction
Based on Ethnobotanical
surveys since year 1990 in different parts of India Pankaj Oudhia has
documented vital information about Medicinal Plants mentioned in the famous
publication by Kirtikar and Basu (1918). Through this research document Pankaj
Oudhia has tried to present original document with additional notes. For
complete paper with pictures, Interactive Tables, Video and Audio clips please
visit pankajoudhia.com
For original publication by Kirtikar and Basu (1918) please visit https://archive.org/details/indianmedicinalp01kirt
249. — Brucea Sumatrana Boxb., h. f. b. i
i. 521. Roxb. 151.
Vern. : — Ampadoo-Barrowing (Mai).
Habitat :— Assam ; Eastern Peninsula ; Tenasserim ; and the
Andaman Islands.
^88 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS.
A large evergreen shrub, with bitter and somewhat fetid
properties. Branchlets, leaves, and inflorescence
tawny-pubescent.
Leaves very large, often more than a foot long, "
covered with
a dense yellow pubescence, especially on the veins beneath
"
(Alfred \V. Bennett). The lowest leaflets sometimes compound,
the upper ones numerous, very closely toothed or serrate,
villous
beneath and opposite, 4-6 pair, ovate-lanceolate. Flowers
purple,
in small distant racemiform panicles, often as long as
leaves.
Flowers usually hermaphrodite ; Calyx very minute. Petals
larger than the Calyx-segments, linear, spathulate. Stamens
short, not exceeding the petals in length. Ovary deeply
4-lobed.
Drupes entirely free, black, ovoid, Jin. long (Brandis. ,
J-Jin.
(Bennett;, glabrous, reticulated. Albumen 0.
Uses : — Roxburgh wrote : " From the sensible qualities
of the
green parts of this plant being somewhat fetid, and simply,
though intensely, bitter, it promises to be as good an
antidy-
senterical medicine as Bruce s Abyssinian Wooginos
itself."
Dr. Mougeot, whose investigaiions into the subject of a cure
for dysentery
have been attracting attention in Saigon for sometime past,
now claims to
have discovered a remedy for the disease. This is the seed of
the plant
named Brucea Sumatrana, belonging to the family Simarubacece,
which is
found in those parts of Southern China, Lower India, the
island of Sunda and
tropical America where the malady prevails in its more
virulent form. Both
the tree and its seed are known in the vernacular of its
habitat by the name
of kosu or kosam. It may be remembered that several years ago
the
scientist, Roger, discovered a bacillus which was held to be
the cause of
dysentery. In experiments which he conducted upon animals,
Dr. Mougeot
found that, wherever these bacteria were most numerous iu the
bowels, the
use of the kosu seed, which, by the way, is about a
centimetre in length and
lies hidden within a small oily kernel, led to their utter
destruction. He
usually administered from six to ten seeds on the first day
and twelve on the
second, in which time a change for the better generally
became apparent.
Eight hundred and seventy-one out of eight hundred and
seventy-nine cases
experimented upon by Dr. Mougeot, proved successful. — Indian
Lancet for lOtli
June, 1901.
[Pankaj
Oudhia’s Comment: In Indian Traditional Healing all parts of this species
are used as medicine both internally as well as externally. I have collected
exhaustive information about its medicinal properties and uses through
Ethnobotanical surveys. In over 36,000 Herbal Formulations Brucea seeds are
added as tertiary ingredient. These Formulations are used for blood related
diseases. According to the expert Traditional Healers all patients are not that
easy with Brucea based Formulations. Hence, its judicious use is required.
There are tens of Herbal Formulations for Brucea excess, overdose and Toxicity.
Brucea roots are added in over 15000 Herbal Formulations as nonary ingredient.
In cancer formulations it is added to increase the performance of primary and
secondary ingredients. It is preferred ingredient in Costus, Mucuna, Vanda,
Helicteres, Eulophia, Ficus, Cannabis and Bacopa based Formulations for
neurological disorders. Please see Tables Brucea-1 to Brucea-300 for details.]
Messrs F. B. Power and F. H. Lees find that the seeds contain
a small
quantity of a hydrolytic enzyme, but no alkaloid ; they
contain 1*8 per cent,
of tannin. The combined alcoholic and petroleum extracts of
the seeds
yielded the following substances : (1) A small quantity of a
mixture of esters,
probably of one of the butyric acids, and having the odour of
the crushed
seeds ; (2) a very small amount of free formic acid ; (3) 20
per cent, (on the
weight of the seeds) of a fatty oil consisting chiefly of the
glycerides of oleic,
linolic, stearic, and palmitic acids, together with a
saturated hydrocarbon,
N. 0. SIMARUBEA. 289
hentriacontane, C sl H fl4 m. pt. 67°-68°C., and a
crystalline substance, C 20 H 34 O,
in. pt. 130°-133 C C., [a] 23° D =—37 7% allied to the
cholesterols, and agreeing in
composition with quebrachol, cupreol, and cinchol ; (4) Two
bitter principles.
The bitter principles are found in the aqueous layer of the
residue from the
steam-distillation of the combined alcoholic and petroleum
extracts.; the
solution also contains a quantity of reducing sugar, and a
very small amount
of a substance which gives a deep green colour with ferric
chloride. One of
the bitter principles (a) is completely extracted by
chloroform from the
aqueous solution and can subsequently be obtained from ether,
in which it is
sparingly soluble, as a light-coloured amorphous powder. The
other bitter
principle (b) could only be obtained as a brown extract. The
authors could
obtain no evidence of the presence of quassin as stated by
Heckel and
Schlagdenhauffen, nor of the glucosidal bitter principle,
named " kosamiue"
by Bertrand.—J. S. of C. I. September 15, 1903, page 1013.
The bark of Brucea Sumatrana yielded an amorphous, bitter
principle,
volatile acids ^formic, acetic, an.l butyric), proteins, and
an acid which was
probably behenic acid— (Ph. J. 1907 Vol. 79 pp. 126-130).
E-documents on Brucea
Citation
Oudhia, Pankaj (2013).
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Brucea
javanica (L.) Merr. [Kirtikar,
Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)]. www.pankajoudhia.com
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