Common name: Chinaberry tree, Persian lilac,
Pride of India, Bead tree, Lilac tree • Hindi: Bakain बकैन • Manipuri: Seizrak • Marathi:
Bakan-nimb बकाणनिंब
• Bengali: Bakarjam • Tamil: காட்டு வேம்பூ
Kattu vembhu
Botanical name:
Melia azedarach
Family: Meliaceae (Neem family)
Synonyms: Melia azedarach var. japonica,
Melia toosendan
Geographical distribution
The plant occurs
throughout India in tropical and subtropical regions and also planted along
roadsides
Introduction: The
Persian lilac tree is frequently confused with Neem. However, the structure of
the leaves and the color of the flowers, white in Neem and lilac in Persian
lilac, are sufficient to distinguish between the two. A large evergreen tree
native to India, growing wild in the sub-Himalayan region. In India, Muslims
are credited with the spread of the tree. The bark is reddish brown, becoming
fissured on mature trees. The deciduous leaves are bipinnate (twice
feather-like) and 1-2 ft long. The individual leaflets, each about 2 in long
and less than half as wide, are pointed at the tips and have toothed edges. In
spring and early summer, Persian lilac produces masses of purplish, fragrant,
star shaped flowers, each about 3/4 in in diameter, that arch or droop in 8 in
panicles. They are followed by clusters of spherical, yellow fruits about 3/4
in in diameter that persist on the trees even after the leaves have fallen. All
parts of Persian lilac tree are poisonous. Eating as few as 6 berries can
result in death. Birds that eat too many seeds have been known to become
paralyzed.
Medicinal
uses: Bark
and fruit extract is used to kill parasitic roundworms. In Manipur, leaves and
flowers are used as poultice in nervous headache. Leaves, bark and fruit are
insect repellant. Seed-oil is used in rheumatism. Wood-extract is used in
asthma.
Chemical composition
The bark contain ajwaridin and parosin.
The fruit contain bakayanin, azaridin (mardgocin, stero), banning glucose and
starch.
Therapeutic uses
The leaves are antilithic, diuretic and
emmenagogue; their juice is given in one to two gm. doses. In leprosy and
scrofula; the leaves and the bark are useful, a decoction of the leaves is
given in doses of 10-20 ml. The bark of the stem is anthelmintic, stimulant and
antispasmodic.
Folk medicinal uses
The leaf juice is applied for resolving
cold swellings. A poultice of the leaves is used locally in nervous headache. Decoction
of the root bark is given to children in doses 10 ml at an interval of three
hours till the worm is expelled. A paste of the flowers is used to kill head
lice and for eruptive skin diseases.
Flowers: March-May
Fruits: May-July
