Botanical Name
Putranjiva roxburghii Wall.
Family
Synonyms
Cyclostemon racemosus Zipp. ex Span., Drypetes roxburghii (Wall.) Hurus., Drypetes timorensis (Blume) Pax & K.Hoffm., Nageia putranjiva Roxb., Putranjiva amblyocarpa Müll.Arg., Putranjiva sphaerocarpa Müll.Arg., Pycnosandra timorensis Blume.
Regional Name
English : Lucky bean tree, Child life tree, Hindi : Jaiaputa, Jivaputrak, Jaipota, Jaiputa, Putajan, Putajen, Putijia, Putra-jiva, Putrajiva, Putranjiva, Sanskrit :Putrajiva, Putranjiva, Urdu: Paishandia, Tamil : Karupalai, Karuppilai, Karuppilaia, Kannada : Aman, amani, Putrajiva, Putrajivi, Putranjivi, Malayalam : Pongalam, Pongolam, Ponkolam, Telugu : Kadrajuvi, Kudrajinic Kudurujivi, Marathi : Jewanputr, Jivputrak, Putajan, Putranjiv, Gujarati : Putranjiva.
Part Used
Seed.
Description
It is native to India and found wild or cultivated in almost all parts of the country at an altitude up to 3000 feet. It is also found in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia. It is a moderate sized evergreen tree up to 12m height with pendent branches and dark grey bark having horizontal lenticels. Leaves are simple, alternate, distichous, stipule triangular, acute, caduceus, petiole 0.4-1 cm long, nearly glabrous, planoconvex in cross section, lamina 5- 9.5 x 1.5-3.5 cm. Fruits are ellipsoid or rounded drupes, white velvety; seed normally one, stone pointed, rugose, very hard.
Phytoconstituents
It contains fatty oil and kernel contains an essential oil with mustard smell, isothiocyanate, glycosides, glucoputranjivin, glucocochlearin, glucojiaputin and glucocleomin. The essential oil contains isopropyl and 2-butyl isothiocyanates as the main constituents and 2-methylbutyl isothiocyanate as a minor component. It contains β-amyrin, amentoflavone, putranflavavone, putranjivic acid, putrol, putrone, saponins a, b, c, d, stigmasterol.
Ayurvedic Properties
Rasa : Madhura , Katu, Guna : Guru, Pichchila, Virya : Sheeta, Vipaka : Madhura.
Ayurvedic Applications
Pachana, Depana, Medhya, Vrushya, Garbhashaya Vishodhana, Jwara, Sotha, Antrasula.
Medicinal Uses
Seeds are used for different diseases like Vata and Pitta dosha, intestinal gas, burning sensation, constipation, excessive thirst, liver diseases, fiver, inflammations, headache and powdered seed used for knee pain and infertility. These are also used to treat sterility, azoospermia, and habitual abortions (recurrent miscarriage). It strengthens the uterine musculature and helps a woman to get pregnant. It is also used in aphrodisiac as spermatogenic actions, so it is beneficial in male impotence and infertility. It induces spermatogenesis, improves the total sperm count and increases the count of healthy sperms in the semen. It improves eyesight, immunity and physical strength and endurance.