Botanical Name

Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile

Family

Leguminosae

Synonyms

Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd, Acacia vera Willd, Mimosa arabica Lam, Mimosa nilotica L, Mimosa nilotica Thunb, Mimosa scorpioides L.

Regional Name

English : Babula tree, Indian gum arabic tree, Hindi :Babula, Babura, Kikar, Sanskrit : Bavari, Kinkirata, Punjabi :Kikkar, Assamese : Babala, Bengali : Babla, Gujrati : Baval, Kaloabaval, Kannada : Sharmeeruka, Kari Jail, Kari gobli, Pulai Jali, Kashmiri : Sak, Malayalam : Velutha Karuvelan, Marathi : Babhul, Babhula, Oriya : Babula, Babala, Tamil : Karuvelan, Karuvel, Telugu : Nallatumma, Thumma.

Part Used

Stem Bark, Leaves, Seeds, Gum.

Description

The plant is a perennial tree native to Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan .It is also cultivated in Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. It is a small tree growing to a height of up to 8-10 m., commonly found in dry forest areasparticularly in Punjab, Rajasthan and Southern states of India.The tree has thin, straight, light, grey spines in axillary pairs,  5 to 7.5 cm (3 in) long in young trees. The leaves are bipinnate, with 3–6 pairs of pinnulae and 10–30 pairs of leaflets each, tomentose, rachis with a gland at the bottom of the last pair of pinnulae. Flowers in globulous heads 1.2–1.5 cm in diameter of a bright golden-yellow colour, set up either axillary or whorly on peduncles 2–3 cm long located at the end of the branches. Pods are strongly constricted, hairy, white-grey, thick and softly tomentose.

Phytoconstituents

Tannins (25-60%), gum & mucilage (20-30%), resins .The bark and pods contains 12-20% of tannin.The gum resin of the plant contains galactose, aldobiouronic acid and arabinobioses.  It also contains about 52% of calcium and 20% of magnesium. The flowers contain flavonoids- kaempferol-3-glucoside, isoquercitrin and leucocyanidin.

Ayurvedic Properties

Rasa (taste) – Kashaya, Virya – Seeta, Guna (qualities) – Guru, Vipaka- Katu, Karma- Kapha.

Ayurvedic Applications

Kasa, Kustha, Krmiroga, Atisara.

Medicinal Uses

Babul is used for gargling in the diseases of mouth ulcer and bleeding gums. wound and injury , diarrhea and to treat intestinal worms. treat excessive bleeding during menstruation. treat bleeding piles and haemorrhoids, spermatorrhoea / Dhat syndrome or nightfall, oozing eczemas,  rectal prolapsed, control bleeding, cough, cold with sputum and heaviness, burning sensation in eyes, relieves pain.