Handbook of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants by L.D. Kapoor

Author:L.D. Kapoor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CRC Press

MIMUSOPS ELENGI Linn.

Family: SAPOTACEAE

Vernacular names — Sanskrit, Bakula; Hindi, Maulsari; Bengali, Bakul; Nepalese, Bakulapuspa; Sinhalese, Munemal; German, Affengesict; French, Karanicim; Unani, Moolsari; Burmese, Kaya; Malaysian, Enengi; Tamil. Magizh.

Habitat — Grows wild and is also cultivated for its ornamental appearance and fragrant flowers throughout India; west peninsula southward from Khandla Ghat on the west and the North Circars on the east side and Andamans. Widely cultivated in Deccan.460

Parts used — Bark, flowers, and fruit.

Morphological and pharmacognostical characteristics — An ornamental tree. Bark dark gray, scaly, rough, deeply furrowed, lenticles vertical, blaze pink with red streaks; wood dark red, hard, close grained; leaves shortly accuminate. elliptic, oblong, glabrous; flowers white, fragrant, in fascicles of 2 to6, calyx 8 lobed; corolla lobed with 24 appendages in 2 rows; stamens 8. resembling petals, clothed on back and margins with white hair; ovary 8 celled; fruit a berry. yellow, ovoid, about 2.5 cm long.

In transection, the root is of the normal dicot pattern, the primary root tetrarch with pith in center. The pith cells are polygonal in outline. The secondary growth produces annual rings. The wood is composed of xylem vessels with broad lumen and large number of fibers, interspersed in a ground tissue composed of parenchyma. From the protoxylem groups emerge one-celled wide, medullary rays, radially outward and extending up to the end of xylem region. Similar uniseriate, secondary xylem rays are abundantly present in the wood. Bordering secondary xylem is the cambium ring, followed by a zone of secondary phloem. Within cortex are found lignified fibrous cells. Crystals absent. Cambium 5 to 8 layered. Cork cells suberized. Stems have the usual dicot structure, showing formation of secondary growth. Pith broad. Presence of rectangular stone cells and 2- to 4-celled phloem rays. The bark liberates brown colored pigments in water.566

Ayurvedic description — Rasa—katu, kasaya; Guna—guru; Veerya — ushna; Vipak — katu.

Action and uses — Kapha pitta samak, mastiskya balya, grant, krimighan, hiridya, dant rakshak, rakt sthamvak. jwarghana.

Chemical constituents — Bark contains tannin, some caoutchouc, wax, coloring matter, starch, and ash. Flowers contain a volatile oil, and seeds a fixed fatty oil. Pulp of the fruit contains a large proportion of sugar and saponin. Seeds of M. elengi yielded quercitol, dihydroquercetin, quercetin, β-D-glucoside of β-sitosterol, and α-spinasterol and the flowers gave quercitol, ursolic acid, and lupeol.567, 568 The fatty oil from seeds consisted of capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, arachidic. oleic, and linoleic acids; the unsaponifiable matters from the seed fat consisted of βandγ-sitosterol.569 The bark and wood of stem of the plant yielded teraxerone, taraxerol, α-spinasterol, sodium ursolate, betulinic acid, β-D-glucoside of β-sitosterol and quercitol,570 and also meso-inositol. Chopra and Kapoor572 reported the presence of saponins which on hydrolysis yielded β-amyrin and basic acid.573 Quercitol, hentriacontane, β-carotene, and glucose were isolated from leaves568 and D-mannitol, β-sitosterol, β-sitosterol-β-D-gluco-side, and quercetin were also recovered from the leaves.571, 574 The root yielded lupeol acetate, taraxerol, a spinasterol, and β-D-glucoside of β-sitosterol.568

Pharmacological action—Anthelmintic, antihistaminic, astringent, aromatic, cardiotonic, and tonic. The leaf extract of M. elengi showed antibacterial activity575 and that of fruits and leaves exhibited a hypotensive effect in dogs.

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