Every part of the Apta tree has some medicinal value in Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia. Its stem bark has been used to cure headache, fever, skin diseases, blood diseases, dysentery and diarrhea. It is said to possess anti- oxidant and hepatoprotective effects. A decoction of the bark has been used as a useful mouth wash for ulcers..
Apta tree Did you know that the Apta Tree, is the Bidi, Indian cigarette leaf tree, which is worshiped by the traditional Maharaj Gonds in Aheri in Maharashtra? Apta tree, a sacred tree in India, with the scientific name Bauhinia racemosa in the family Fabaceae, is widely known as the 'Bidi tree' as its leaves are used to make the poor man's Indian cigarette populalry smoked as Bidi, a thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco. Bidi is also made of tendu leaves which is Diospyros melanoxylon, known as the Coromandel ebony or East Indian ebony. Apta tree leaves are also called 'Son Patta' meaning "gold leaf" and symbolically given as a gift on the Vijayadashmi day of Dasara festival (Navaratri or Nine holy nights in the autumn month, in the bright half of the Hindu calendar month Ashvin, which typically falls in the Gregorian months of September and Octobe) celebrations in some regions of India. The folk lore or legend behi...
