INTRODUCTION:

Butea monosperma (Palas), is a medium-sized deciduous tree be-longs to family Leguminosae-Papilioneae. This tree is also called ‘Flame of the Forest’ and Bastard Teak. It grows throughout the Indian sub-continent, especially in Indo-Gangetic plains. It is said that the tree is a form of Agnidev, God of Fire¹. It was a punishment given to Him by Goddess Parvati for disturbing her and Lord Shiva’s privacy. This tree gets up to 50 ft high, with stunning flower clusters. It loses its leaves as the flowers develop, January - March.

The trunk becomes twisted and gnarled by the wind, making it a conversation piece.² Use it as a specimen, or as a background component of the canopy. The plant is widely distributed in the country and called by various local names viz., Bastard Teak, Parrot Tree (Eng.), Chichratesu, desukajhad, dhak, palas, chalcha, kankrei (Hindi), Palashpapra (Urdu), Muthuga (Can.), Palas, Polashi (Beng.), Porasum, Parasu (Tam.), Muriku, Shamata (Mal.), Modugu (Tel.), Khakda (Guj.), Kela (Sinh.). It is a useful plant in many ways. Its leaves are essential for various religious rituals in Hindu homes. These are also used as cheap leaf plates and cups for rural feasts. In some parts of the country these are used for wrapping tobacco to make biddies. These are further used as packing material for parcels. The cattle also eat the palas foliage quite eagerly. The bark yields a kind of coarse and brown colored fiber, which is used for rough cordage³. Butea gum is a dried astringent juice obtained from incisions in the stem of the tree. The juice exuded by the bark hardens in to brittle ruby colored gum beads. This gum is sanctioned to be used as a substitute for the kino gum. It finds use forcaulking boats as well. The flowers yield an orange dye. A preparation of the same is used as an insecticide. The seeds are used in Ayurvedic and Unani medicine for treating a number of human mala-dies. The tree acts as a host for lac insect and is, therefore, useful in producing natural lac. It is a sacred tree, referred to as a treasurer of the gods, and used in sacrifice related rituals. From its wood, sacred utensils are made⁴. The flowers are offered as in place of blood in sacrifice rituals to goddess Kali. The dry stem pieces are used to make sacred fire. It is an anthro-pogenic tree of several castes. ‘Chakradatta’ mentions the use of itsgum in external astringent application. The leaves are believed to have astringent, depurate, diuretic and aphrodisiac properties. It pro-motes diuresis and menstrual flow. The seed is anthelmintic. When seeds are pounded with lemon juice and applied to the skin the act as a rubefacient.⁵

Table 1.

1	Kingdom	Plantae – Plants
2	Sub-kingdom	Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
3	Super-division	Spermatophyta – Seed plants
4	Division	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
5	Class	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
6	Subclass	Rosidae
7	Order	Fabales
8	Family	Fabaceae – Pea family
9	Genus	Butea Roxb.ex Wild. – Butea
10	Species	Monosperma (Lam.) Taubert – Bengal kino

MORPHOLOGY:

It is an erect, medium sized tree of 12-15 m high, with a crooked trunk and irregular branches. The shoots are clothed with gray or brown Silky pubescence. The bark is ash coloured. The leaves 3 foliate, large and stipulate. Petiole is 10-15 cm long. Leaflets are obtuse, glabrous Above, finely silky and conspicuously reticulately veined bbeneat with cunnate or deltoid base. From January to March the plant is bald. Flowers in rigid racemes of 15 cm long, densely brown velvety on Bare branches. Calyx is dark, olive green to brown in colour and densely velVety outside. The corolla is long with silky silvery hairs outside and bright orange red⁶. Stamens are diadelphes, anthers uniform. Ovary2 ovule, style filiform, curved and stigma capitate. Pods argenteo-Canesent, narrowed, thickened at the sutures, splitting round the Single apical seed, lowest part indehiscent. The seeds are flat, reni-Form, curved. The bole is twisted and gnarled and the branching too follows noParticular pattern. It is slow growing and attains a height of about 5 to 8 m and diameter of about 20 to 40 cm when mature at the age of aboth50 years or so⁷. The bark of palas is fibrous and bluish gray to light Brown in color. It exudes a kind of red juice when injured. The leaves are compound. Each has three leaflets. The texture of the Leaflets is fairly tough. These are coriascious with the surface gla-Brescent above and hairy silken beneath. The size varies from 15 cmTo 20 cm by 10 cm x 15 cm. The shape is obliquely ovate and broadly Elliptic. The leaves fall off by December and reappear during spring. When the tree is leafless, it bears flaming orange to red-colored flower. These flowers start appearing in February and stay on nearly up to the end of April. The size is nearly 2 to 4 cm in diameter. These tend to be densely crowded on leafless branches. The calyx i.e. the lower Whorl of the flower tends to be darkish gray like the supporting branch Itself⁸. The upper parts are brick red. These give the plant so hand-Some a look despite it is leafless during spring season when entire Terrain having palas trees wears a kind of exquisite orange and redHue. The flowers form a gorgeous canopy on the upper portion of the Tree, giving the appearance of a flame from a distance. The fruit of palas is a flat legume; a pod, nearly 15 cm long and 3 to 5Cm wide. Young pods have a lot of hair — a velvety cover. The mature Pods hang down like peculiar legumes. The seeds are flat, from 25 to40 mm long, 15 to 25 mm wide, and 1.5 to 2 mm thick. The seed-coat is Reddish-brown in color, glossy, and wrinkled, and encloses two large, Leafy, yellowish cotyledons. The hilum is conspicuous, and situated near the middle of the concave edge of the seed. The odor is faint, and the taste slightly acrid and bitter. The wood is greenish white in color. It is porous and soft in texture and has annual rings though not very distinct. The wood is soft and Weighs about 14 to 15 km per cubic foot. It generally perishes fast when used at sites open to vagaries of weather, but lasts much longer When used under water. It is therefore used for making well curbs and Piles.⁹

Butea monosperma

PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS:

The main constituent of the flower is butrin (1.5%) besides butein (0.37%) and butin (0.04%). Also contains flavonoids and steroids. Other than these in flowers, coreopsin, isocoreopsin, sulphurein (glycoside) and other two with monospermoside and isomonospermoside Structures are also identified. Roots contain glucose, glycine, gluco-Sides and aromatic compounds. Tetramers of leucocynidin are isolated from gum and stem bark. Seed contains oil. The bright colour The flower is attributed to the presence of chakones and aurone.¹⁰

PHARMACOLOGY:

A fraction containing sodium salt of phenolic constituent isolated from the bark has shown potential as an anti-asthmatic agent and Estrogenic activity in mice. Aqueous extract of the flowers show significant anti-implantation activity. Hot alcoholic extract of the seeds Showed significant anti-implantation and anti-ovulatory activity in Rats and rabbits. It also showed abortive effect in mice. Butrin and Isobutrin has proven to have antihepatoxic activity. The fresh juice is applied to ulcers and for congested and septic sore throats. The gumIs a powerful astringent given internally for diarrhea and dysentery, Phthisis and hemorrhage from stomach and the bladder, in leucorrhoa, Ringworm and as a substitute for gum Kino. The bark is reported to Possess astringent bitter, pungent, alliterative, aphrodisiac and anthelmintic properties. Bark is also useful in tumors, bleeding piles and Ulcers. The decoction of bark is useful in cold, cough, fever and menstrual disorders. Roots are useful in elephantiasis and in curing nightblindness and other eyesight defects. Also cause temporary steril it in women. Also applied in sprue, piles, ulcers, tumors and dropsy. Leaves have astringent, tonic, diuretic and aphrodisiac properties. They are also used to cure boils, pimples and tumors hemorrhoids and piles. Also used as beedi wrappers. Flowers are reported to pos-Sess astringent, diuretic, depurative, aphrodisiac and tonic proper-Ties. They are used as emmenagogue and to reduce swellings both in Human and veterinary applications.

PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF DIFFERENT PART:

Different part of Butea monosperma possess various biological activities such as Antimicrobial, antifertility, anticonvulsive, antihelmintic, antidiarrhoeal, antimicrobial, wound Healing, antigiardiasis and hepatoprotective, antihypertenstive, antitumor, antidiabetic, anti-Inflammatory, free radical scavenging activity.^11,12

· LEAVES:

Antidiabetic activity:

Single dose treatment Ethanolic extract of Butea monosperma of (200 mg/kg, p.o.) Significantly improved glucose tolerance and caused reduction in blood glucose level in Alloxan-Induced diabetic rats. Repeated oral treatment for 2 weeks significantly reduced blood glucose, Serum cholesterol and improved HDL-cholesterol and albumin as compared to diabetic control Group. Ethanolic extract of leaves also have antidiabetic and antioxidant potential in Alloxan-Induced diabetic mice. Ethanolic extract of seeds (300mg/kg b.w.) exhibited significant Antidiabetic, hypolipidemic and antiperoxidative effects in non-insulin dependent diabetes Mellitus rats. Aqueous extract significantly decreases blood glucose level both in normal (p<0.01) and Alloxan induced diabetic (p<0.001) mice at 2 and 5 hr respectively. However, the Hypoglycemic effect is peaked at 90min and is not sustained as observed for the standard drug Metformin¹³. The effect of Butea monosperma (Lamk.) Taub on blood glucose and lipid profiles in Normal and diabetic human volunteers was evaluated which indicated a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in 2 h post- prandial blood glucose (mg/dl) on 21^st day in the diabetic subgroups treated with 2 g and 3 g of powdered Butea monosperma (Lamk.) Taub. A significant decrease in total Cholesterol (mg/dl) was observed in normal and diabetic subgroups on day 21^st post treatment. Both normal and diabetic groups exhibited a significant decrease in total lipids on day 21^st. This Study indicates that B. monosperma (Lamk.) Taub might possess important hypoglycemic and Hypolipidemic properties.¹⁴

Anti-inflammatory activity:

The leaves of Butea monosperma exhibit ocular anti-inflammatory activity in rabbits. The anti-inflammatory activity of Methanolic extract of Butea monosperma evaluated by Carrageenin induced paw edema and cotton pellet granuloma. In carrageenin induced pawEdema at 600 and 800 mg/kg inhibition of paw edema, by 26 and 35% and in cotton pellet Granuloma inhibition of granuloma tissue formation, by 22 and 28%.¹⁵

Sr. no	Plant Parts	Type of active principles	Example
1	Flowers	Triterpene	Butrin, isobutrin, coreopsin, sulphurein, isocoreopsin, monospermoside, chalcones, isomonospermoside, steroids.
2		Glycoside	5,7-Dihydroxy -3,6,4-trimethoxy flavone-7-O-α-L xylopyranosyl (1→3)-O-α-Larabinopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-β-D galacto pyranoside.
3	Gum	Tannins	Mucilaginous material, pyrocatechin
4	Seed	enzymes	Polypeptidase, lipolytic enzymes, proteinase and proteolytic enzymes
5	Resin	esters	Jalaric esters I, II and laccijalaric esters III, IV α amyrin.
6	Saponin	polyphenols	Chalcones, butein, butin
7	Leaves	Fatty acid	Kino-oil containing oleic, linoleic acid, lignoceric acid.
8	Bark	Amino acids	Allophanic acid, butolic acid, shellolic acid, butrin, alanind, palasitrin, cyanidin, histidine
9	Stem	steroids	Stigmasterol-β-D-glucopyranoside and nonacosanoic acid

CONCLUSION:

Roots are used in treatment of night blindness, other site defects and elephanthiasis. The bark is acrid, bitter, oily appetizer, aphrodisiac, laxative, antihelmintic, useful in fracture of Bones, diseases of anus, dysentery, piles, hydrocele, cures ulcer and tumours. The leaves are Good for diseases of the eye, used as strong astringent, antibacterial, tonic and cure for Pimples. The gum is astringent to the bowels, used in treatment of dysentery, stomatitis, Cough, pterygium, corneal opacities, cures excessive perspiration and flowers are sweet, bitter, Acrid, astringent to bowls, increase “vata” and decrease “kapha”, leprosy, strangury, gout, skin Diseases, thirst, burning sensation. A decoction of flowers is given in diarrhea and haematuria. The juice is useful in eye diseases. The fruit and seeds are dry, digestible, antihelmintic, Aperients, and used in urinary discharges, piles, skin diseases, tumors, abdominal troubles, Given for scorpion string. Stem bark has antifungal properties.

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Received on 02.02.2023 Modified on 25.02.2023

Res. J. Pharmacology and Pharmacodynamics.2023;15(2):69-72.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5836.2023.00014