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Gal karanda |
| Synonyms: Pongarnia glabra Vent. | |
| Vernacular Name: Sinhala: Gal karanda; Eng: Indian beech, Pongam oil tree, Karanj | |
| Description: A medium-sized semi-evergreen glabrous tree with a short bole and spreading crown upto 18 m or more in height, bark greyish green or brown, very often mottled with bark brown dots, specks, lines or streaks; leaves compound, leaflets 5-7, ovate acuminate or elliptic; flowrs lilac or pinkish white, fragrant in axillary racemes; fruits thick woody, smooth, compressed, with a short curved beak, seeds 1 or 2 per pod, reniform to nearly round, smooth or wrinkled. | |
| Propagation: By seeds and vegetative method. | |
| Parts Used: Root, bark, leaves, flowers, seeds oil. | |
| Chemical Consistuents: Pongaglabrone, diketonepongamol, glabrin, karanjin, pongapin, kanjone. | |
| Uses: The roots are good for cleaning foul ulcers, cleaning teeth, strengthening gums and gonorrhoea. A root paste is sued for to local application in scrofulous enlargements. The fresh bark is sweet and mucilaginous to taste, soon becoming bitter and acrid. It is anthelmintic and alexeteric and is useful in haemorrhoids, beneri, ophthalmopathy, dermatopathy, vaginopathy and ulcers. Leaves are digestive laxative and anthelmintic, and are good for flatulence, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, leprosy, gonorrhoea, and cough. A hot infusion of the leaves is good for rheumatalgia and for cleaning ulcers and wounds. Flowers are useful to quench dipsia in diabetes and for alleviating vata and kapha. The seeds are anthelmintic, haematinic, bitter, acrid and carminative. They are useful in inflammations, otalgia, lumbago, pectoral diseases, chronic fevers, hydrocele, haemorrhoids and anaemia. The oil is anthelmintic, stypic and depurative and is recommended for scabies, opthlarnia, leprosy, haemorrhoids, ulcers, herpes and lumbago. | |
