Unani Reethaa.
Siddha/Tamil Puvamkottai, Mani pungu.
Action Fruit—astringent, emetic, detergent, anthelmintic. Pulp— aqueous solution used as nasal drops in migraine, epilepsy and hysteria. Root—used for gout, rheumatism and paralysis.
Sap onin from pericarp of nuts yielded the genins, methylhedragenate, sapindic acid and methyl oleanolate.
Dosage Fruit—3—6 g powder. (CCRAS.)
Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.
Family Sapindaceae.
Habitat Native to China and Japan; distributed in the Himalayas from Himachal Pradesh eastwards and in Ass am.
English Chinese Soap Berry, Soap Nut tree of North India.
Ayurvedic Arishtaka, Phenila. Folk Reethaa.
Action Fruits—emetic and expectorant; used in excessive salivation, chlorosis and epilepsy. The plant yielded triterpenoid glycosides, sapindosides, derived from hederagenin. Saponins exhibit hyp otensive, anticholesterolemic, spermicidal and antimicrobial properties.
Saponin A and C sapindoside A and B, extracted from the fruit rind, showed antifungal activity. Hederagenin, isolated from the fruit rind or pericarp, is used in skin-lightening and anti- inflammatory cosmetics.
Other constituents from the plant are flavonoids—quercetin, kaempferol, apigenin and rutin.
Sapium indicum Wild.
Family Euphorbiaceae.
Habitat Moist parts of India,
especially along sea-coasts and back waters.
Siddha/Tamil Pencolum.
Folk Hurnaa (Maharashtra).
Action Root bark—emetic, acrid and purgative.
The fruit contains aesculetin. A lactone and an alcohol has been isolated from the bark.
Sapium sebiferum Roxb.
Family Euphorbiaceae.
Habitat Native to China; introduced at various elevations in northern
India, chiefly on ravine lands in the foothills. Planted throughout India as ornament.
