CLERODENDRUM PHLOMIDIS

Common name: Arni • Bengali: Ganiyari, Arani, Goniari • Gujarati: અરની Arani, અરનીમૂલ Aranimula •Hindi: अर्नी Arna • Kannada: Taggi gida • Malayalam: Munja • Marathi: तकालीमूल Takalimula • Oriya: Ganiary • Sanskrit: अग्निमंथा Agnimantha, जया Jaya, श्र्रीपर्णी Sriparni, गनिकारिका Ganikarika • Tamil: Taluddai, Tazhutazhai • Telugu: జయ చెట్టు, Taluki

Botanical name:   Clerodendrum phlomidis    Family: Verbenaceae (Verbena family)

Synonyms: Clerodendrum phlomidis var. rubrum

Geographical source: Distribution: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Burma.

Introduction: Arni is a fairly common shrub of arid plains, low hills, deserts of Sind, Punjab and Baluchistan,1.5-3 m tall, stem ashy-grey, branches velvety. Leaves are opposite, ovate to rhomboid-ovate, 1.5-5 cm long, 1-3 cm broad, entire to wavy-toothed, pointed to blunt. Leaf-stalks are up to 2.5 cm long. Flowers are creamy-white or pale yellowish, about 1.5 cm across. Flower-stalks are 5-10 mm long, densely hairy, bracts ovate lanceshaped. Calyx is bell-shaped, hairless, pale or somewhat yellowish green, somewhat inflated, 5-lobed, Sepals are 4-5 mm long, ovate-triangulate, Flower-tube is 2-2.5 cm long, much narrower than the calyx, velvety outside. Petals are 5, nearly equal, ovate-elliptic, 7-8 mm long, blunt. Drupe is obovoid, 8-12 mm long, black, wrinkled, usually 4-lobed, enclosed by the persistent calyx, seeds oblong, white.

Chemical Constituents: It was reported that pectolinaringenin, scutellarein, clerodin, clerodendrin, clerosterol, 24beta-ethylcholesta-5,22E,25-triene-3beta-ol, lup-20(29)-en-3-triacontanoate, 4,2',4'-trihydroxy-6'-methoxychalcone-4,4'alpha-D-diglucoside, 7-hydroxyflavone, 7-hydroxyflavanone-7-O-glucoside and alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-2)alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-7-O-naringin-4'-O-alpha-D-glucopyranoside-5-methyl ether had been isolated from this plant

Medicinal uses:  Root is bitter tonic and given in convalescence of measles. Juice of leaves is alterative and given in neglected syphilitic complaints. The root is given as a demulcent in gonorrhoea, and decoction of the plant is considered as an alterative. It helps cure stomach troubles and swellings in cattle.

Ayurveda uses: Sodha, Pandu, Arsha, Vatavikara, Vibandha, Agnimandya, Gulma, Mutrakruccha, Mutraghata.