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| Latin Names |
English Names |
Sanskrit Names |
Sesbania sesban
Merrill. (Papilionacae) /
S. aegyptiaca Pers.
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Common Sesban,
Egyptian Rattle Pod |
Jayantika,
Jayanti |
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| History |
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It was
a superstition, that sighting the seeds of this plant would remove
the pain of a scorpion sting1. The Egyptians used the seeds
for their astringent properties. It has found mention in Arab and
Persian literature.
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| Habitat |
It is
found cultivated throughout India. It is a main shade crop in tea,
turmeric, pan leaf and sweet orange plantations. It is also grown
as a perennial green manure crop.
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| Morphology
Description (Habit) |
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It is
a soft-wooded, quick-growing short-lived shrub. The leaves are long,
and paripinnate. The leaflets are 8.20 pairs, linear-oblong, glabrous,
entire, mucronate to acuminate. The flowers are yellow or yellow spotted,
red to purple or with standard petals colored purple or brown from
outside, in 8-10-flowered, lax, axillary racemes. Pods are pendulous,
weak, distinctly torulose, twisted, sharply beaked, 20-30-seeded and
septate. On the basis of the flower color it has three varieties2.
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| Principal
Constituents |
Kaempferol-3-O-a-L-rhamnosyl
(1®2)3-(a-L-rhamnosyl (1®6)-b-D-galactoside4
was isolated.
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| Pharmacology |
It has
antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.
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| Toxicology |
There
are no adverse effects reported on use of this plant as drug or as
food.
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| Indications |
In indigenous medicine
it is used for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. In
the form of ointment, it is used to cure itching and various skin
eruptions.
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| References |
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- Anonymous, 1972, The Wealth of India, Vol. IX, PID, CSIR, New
Delhi.
- Chatterjee, A. and Pakrashi, S.C., 1997, The Treatise on Indian
Medicinal Plants, National Institute of Science Communication,
New Delhi.
- Gamble, J.S., 1997 (Reprinted Edition), Flora of Madras, Vol.
I-III, Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.
- El Sayed, N.H., 1991, A rare Kaempferol Trisaccharide anti-tumor
promotor from Sesbania sesban, Pharmazie, 1991, 46, 679 William
D. 1890, Pharmacographia indica, Vol. I, Trench, trubner &
Co., Ltd., London.
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