Useful plants of Heteromerae (B.&H.)
1. Family Ericaceae
1. Wintergreen(Gaultheria procumbens Linn.-Ericaceae)
This plant is an evergreen shrub, a native of North America.
The leaves contain gaultherin, a phenolic glycoside that, in the presence of water, is acted upon by an enzyme gaultherase to produce a volatile oil consisting of methyl salicylate (98%), and a sugar, primeverose.
The other constituent of the oil is an ester of enanthic alcohol. Wintergreen oil is used in medicine and flavoring.
2. Bilberry, Huckleberry, (Vaccinium myrtillus Linn. .-Ericaceae)
Bilberry is a small branched shrub with black globular (having a flat top) berries containing many small red seeds of a sharp sweet taste.
It is a native of Northern Europe and North America. Bilberry
contains at least 15 anthocyanins based on malvidin, cyanidin and delphinidin, flavonoids such as quercitrin, isoquercitrin, hyperoside and astragalin, catechol tannins, glycoquinic acid, ursolic acid, phenolic acids (caffeic and chlorogenic acids) and pectins.
Bilberry anthocyanins are used for improving the eyesight as increased night vision, delayed cataract and other eye disorders.
This is especially useful for age-related macular degradation (AMD), which is the cause of blindness in people over the age 55 and regenerate
rhodopsin.
2. Sapotaceae
1. Sapodilla is the fruit of Achras sapota Linn (Sapotaceae)..
Contains sugars, flavonoids, tannins, vitamins (A, C, folate, niacin, and pantothenic acid), minerals (Cu, K, and Fe), sugars, ascorbic acid and fat.
The fruit is used as a table fruit and also in the preparation of jams.
The bark yields latex which contain gutta-percha (chicle gum) and tannins.
2. Shea butter ( Butyrospermum parkii Kotschy)
Seeds yield a fat from the seeds known as Shea butter containing 40 % stearic acid.
It is used for manufacture of chocolates and soaps.
The latex
is the source of gutta-percha used for making chewing gum.
3. Madhuca: (Madhu = honey in Sanskrit, due to the sweet corolla)
Mowra fat (Madhuca. indica Gmel. and M. longifolia Macb).
Seeds yield containing upto fat consisting of 50 % palmitic and stearic acids.
This edible oil is converted to margarines The sweet flowers of Madhuca are used for the manufacture of alcohol by fermenting the same to prepare a beverage mowdi.
This is also a source of bioethanol.
. M. butyracea yield Phulwara butter from seeds.
3. Ebenaceae
1. Divine fruit, Japanese persimmon Diospyros: (Greek dios= divine; pyros = grain, for edible fruits) D.
kaki yields the fruit which is a popular fruit in Europe.
The fruits (immature) contain tannins which include both gallotannins and proanthocyanidins.
The ripe fruit is rich in sugars (up to 15%) mannans, carotenoids and phlobaphenes.
The rich antioxidants, help reduce the risk of many serious health conditions including cancer and stroke.
They can also prevent hypertension and aids healthy vision, reduce sugar levels and inflammations.
The tannins present in the unripe fruit are used for dyeing.
Native persimmon of USA is obtained from D. virginiana.
The latter plant also yields a tough wood.
D. montana Roxb. contains diospyrin (6, 2-bis-7-methyl juglone) in its bark and wood.This naphthoquinone is used as a dye.
2. Ebony, a wood highly valued in India is from D. ebenum.
This wood, rich in ulmic substances, is brittle and delicate to work with.
Ebony is very resistant to insect and white ant attack.
It is used for preparation of fancy articles such as carving, marquetry and musical instruments. D. abyssinica F.White yield a hard jet black wood streaked with grey and brown, used as an ornamental timber for carving and inlaying.
4. Styraceae
1. Benzoin Styrax spp.)
Benzoin is the balsamic resin obtained from various species of Styrax such as S. benzoin Dryand, S. paralleloneurus Perkins (Sumatra benzoin) and S. tonkinensis Craib (Siam benzoin).
All these plants are native of S. E. Asia and East Indies. Benzoin is a pathological product induced by the continuous incisions and subsequent fungal attack.
Sumatra benzoin occurs in the form of yellow irregular pebbles with a milky centre embedded in a reddish brown translucent resinous matrix and possesses agreeable odour and an acrid taste.
Benzoin contains up to 20% free balasmic acids in which cinnamic acid amounts to 10% and benzoic acid 6%.
Also present in the resin are the esters of benzoic and cinnamic acids, triterpene acids like 19- hydroxy oleanolic acid (Siaresinolic acid), 6-hydroxy oleanolic acid (Sumaresinolic acid), traces of vanillin and phenyl ethylene.
Siam benzoin occurs as concavo-convex yellow brown tears with a milky white centre embedded in a glossy reddish brown matrix and possesses a vanilla like odour and balsamic taste.
The important constituents of this resin are coniferyl benzoate (70%), benzoic acid (10%) a triterpene siaresinol (6%) and vanillin (in traces).
Benzoin is a stimulant, expectorant and used in the preparation of perfumes, soaps, tooth powders and cosmetic lotions.
5. Symplocaceae
1. Lodhra(Symplocos cochinchinensis Moore - Symplocos)
Lodhra is a medium-sized tree native to South East Asia, common in forests.
The bark is an acclaimed remedy for menstrual disorders, uterine problems and urinogenital diseases.
It is a specific uterotonic and is useful in menorrhagia, leucorrhoea, diarrhoea, dysentery, fever, cough and gum diseases.
S. paniculata Miq (Syn. S. crataegoides Buch-Ham.) also used as Lodhra in North India.
6. Myrsinaceae
1. Vavding(Embelia ribes Burm.f. (, Embelia)
E. ribes is a large woody scandent shrub with small globose 1-seeded fruit tipped with persistent style.
Seen throughout India in forests. The fruits, the drug, contain a benzoquinone, embelin (2,5-diOH-3-undecyl-1,4- benzoquinone). Embelin and Embelia are well-known anthelmintics esp. for tapeworm. The fruits are effective in cystic and abdominal tumours. WithPiper longum and asafetida, it forms a well-known contraceptive. Embelia is a male contraceptive plant in that embelin impaired spermatogenesis to the level of infertility (effect is reversible). Embelin exhibited significant anti-implantation and post-coital antifertility activity also in animals.
With leaves of Ficus religiosa and borax in cow’s milk, is a quick aborticide.
7. Plumbaginaceae
A. Medicinal plants
1. Chitrak(Plumbago indica Linn. Plumbago)
P. indica, an erect branched shrub with long tuberous roots, is a native Sikkim, cultivated throughout for medicinal purposes and as an ornamental. Root bark contains a napthaquinone, plumbagin (0.91%), sitosterol, and tannins. Roots are highly valued for their curative action on leucoderma and other skin diseases.
They are digestive stimulants, diuretic, germicidal, vesicant and abortifacient.
Chitrak is also used for haemorrhoidal inflammation of anus, diabetes, diarrhoea and elephantiasis.
Plumbago zeylanica Linn., a perennial herb with ovate leaves having an amplexicaul leaf base and white flowers, is used as a substitute of chitrak.
Source:
Useful Herbs of the Planet Earth, M. Daniel, (2012), Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, Pages 710.
Mammen Daniel
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