| Plant Category | : | Tree |
| Melghat's Flora's Serial No. | : | 109 |
| Synonym | : | Butea braamania DC.;
Butea frondosa Roxb.;
Butea frondosa Willd.;
Butea frondosa var. lutea (Witt.) Maheshw.;
Butea monosperma Kuntze;
Erythrina monosperma Lam.;
Plaso monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze;
Plaso monosperma var. flava Kuntze; Plaso monosperma var. rubra Kuntze; Rudolphia frondosa (Willd.) Poir.; |
| Plant Common Name | : | Dhak, Palas K-Pharsa, G-Palasa, Mur, Flame of the Forest, bastard teak, battle of Plassey tree, Bengal kino, palas tree, parrot tree |
| Plant Family | : | Fabaceae |
| Description | : | Native to India, Flame of the Forest is a medium sized tree, growing from 20 to 4O feet high, and the trunk is usually crooked and twisted with irregular branches and rough, grey bark. The leaves are pinnate, with an 8-16 cm petiole and three leaflets, each leaflet 10-20 cm long. The hindi phrase ("Dhaak ke teen paat") comes from the prominent three leaflets of this tree. It is seen in all its ugliness in December and January when most of the leaves fall: but from January to March it truly becomes a tree of flame, a riot of orange and vermilion flowers covering the entire crown. These flowers, which are scentless, are massed along the ends of the stalks--dark velvety green like the cup-shaped calices--and the brilliance of the stiff, bright flowers is shown off to perfection by this deep, contrasting colour. Each flower consists of five petals comprising one standard, two smaller wings and a very curved beak-shaped keel. It is this keel which gives it the name of Parrot Tree. In olden days, the flowers of Tesu were used to make color for the festival of Holi. In Manipur, there is an interesting cultural use of the wood of this tree with beautiful flowers - when a member of the Meitei community dies and, for some reasons, his body cannot be be found, the wood of this tree is cremated in place of the body. |
| Plant Location in Melghat | : | |
| Medicinal Use / Activity | : | Diebities, Urinal Problems, Dye for Skin diseases. The root paste is applied on neck, below the ear in thyroid problem. Flower soaked in cold water for night, mixed with little quantity of sugar and is given in kidney stone and bleeding during urination. Flowers used in almost all diseases of women also make the uterus strong. Anti-cancer; Prophylactic; anti-oxidant; anti-inflammatory; anticonvulsant activities; anti-diabetic; Hepatoprotective effects; |
| Plant's Phytochemicals | : | COMPOUNDS: Butein; monospermoside; isoliquiritigenin; formononetin; afrormosin; formononetin-7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside; butrin; iso-butrin; iso-coreopsin; ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (3): Liquiritigenin; Isoliquiritigenin; Butein; |
| Plant's Current Status | : | Common |
| Plant's Cross Database Reference | : | 259142 |
| Reference | : | Dhore M. A. (1984) The flora of melghat tiger reserve
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19336944
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4389396/ |
| Reference | : | ~ Chandra Prakash Kala; "Aboriginal uses and management of ethnobotanical species in deciduous forests of Chhattisgarh state in India"; Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2009); 5(20): 1-9 PMID : ~ Dhore MA and Joshi PA; "Flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; Directorate, Project Tiger, Melghat (1988); PMID : ~ Omesh Bajpai, Jitendra Pandey and Lal Babu Chaudhary; "Ethnomedicinal Uses of Tree Species by Tharu Tribes in the Himalayan Terai Region of India"; Research Journal of Medicinal Plant (2016); 10(1): 19-41 PMID : ~ Shubhangi Pawar and D A Patil; "Observations on folkloric medicinal plants of Jalgaon district, Maharashtra"; Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge (2004); 3(4): 437-442 PMID : ~ Kavishankar, G.B; Lakshmidevi, N.; Murthy, S.M.; Prakash, H.S. and Niranjana, S.R.; "Diabetes and medicinal plants-A review"; Int J Pharm Biomed Sci (2011); 2(3): 65-80 PMID : |
| Kingdom | : Plantae - Plants |
|---|---|
| Phylum | : Tracheophyta |
| Subkingdom | : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | : Spermatophyta - Seed plants |
| Division | : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants |
| Class | : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons |
| Subclass | : Rosidae |
| Order | : Fabales |
| Family | : Fabaceae / Leguminosae - Pea family |
| Genus | : Butea Roxb. ex Willd. - butea |
| Species | : Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taubert - Bengal kino |
