Terminalia chebula

English Name Chebulic Myrobalan
Synonyms

Family Combretaceae

Distribution & Propagation

It occurs throughout India in deciduous forests on dry slopes up to 900 m especially in Bengal, Tamilnadu, West Coast and Western Ghats. 11 15 propagated by seeds.

Description

A moderate-sized, deciduous tree. Leaves simple, ovate, elliptic or obovate, glabrous to tawny-villous beneath with a pair of large glands at the top of the petiole, flowers yellowish-white.in terminal simple spikes, fruits glabrous, shining ellipsoidal, obovoid or ovoid drupes, yellow to orange brown in colour, faintly angled, upto 3 75 cm long: seeds hard, pale yellow Flowering-fruiting March to December.

Chemical Constituents

Fruit contains tannic acid 20-40%. gall, acid, resin, anthraguinone derivative. Chebulin. chebulinic acid, chebulic acid, etc. Seeds contain oil.

Parts Used      Mature and immature fruits

Properties

Fruits – are astringent, sweet, acrid, bitter, sour, thermogenic, diuretic, anodyne, anti-inflammatory, vulnerary, alternate, stomachic, lexative. carminative, digestive, anthelmintic, carcliotonic. aphrodisiac, antiseptic, febrifuge, depurative and tonic.

Usages

Fruits -are useful in vitiated conditions of tridosha. gout, rheumatism, wounds, ulcers. sore throat. constipation, gas. piles, anaerrtla flatulence, elephantiasis, indigestion, hydrocele, fevers, inflammations. gastropathy. splenopathy, pharyngodynia. hiccough, cough. uropathy, vesical and renal calculi, cephalalgia, epilepsy. ophthalmopathy, skin diseases, leprosy. intermittent Fever cardiac disorders, stomatitis, neuropathy, general debility. anorexia, worms, leucorrhoea. tymphanites, flatulence, asthma, etc.