Drumstick Tree

BOTANICAL NAME:

• Moringa oleifera

FAMILY:

• Moringaceae

SYNONYM(S):

• Moringa pterygosperma

URDU NAME:

• Sohanjna

REGIONAL NAME:

• Bengali: Sojna
• Pashto: Sohanjna
• Sanskrit: Sobhanjana
• Sindhi: Sohanjaro
• Punjabi: Soanjana
• Chinese: La Ken
• Hindi: Segva, Shajna, Soanjna.

UNANI/TIBBI NAME:

• Sahanjana

ENGLISH NAME:

• Indian Horseradish, Drumstick Tree

HABITAT:

• Cultivated from Rawalpindi and Eastward, also in Sindh

DESCRIPTION:

• A fairly large tree with a corky grey bark
• Roots are pungent with yellowish soft porous wood
• Bark light brown externally, white internally, thick, soft and reticulated.
• Leaves 3-pinnate, pinnae and pinnules opposite, deciduous.
• Flowers white, fragrant, grows in large puberulous panicles which are produced in abundance twice or thrice a year
• Petals spatulas and veined.
• Pods about 30 cm long. 9-ribbed.
• Seeds three angled.

PART USED:

• Flowers, roots, fruits and seeds

TASTE:

• Bitter, Sharp and Acrid

TEMPERAMENT:

• Hot 3°, dry 3°

PERIOD OF OCCURRENCE:

• Flowers from February to April
• Fruiting takes place during May to June

PROCEDURE & TIME OF COLLECTION:

• Flowers are collected on blooming and dried

CONSTITUENTS:

• Pterygospermin
• Alkaloids
• Moringine
• Moringinin
• Amorphous base

SUBSTITUTES:

• Nill

ACTIONS AND USES IN UNANI SYSTEM OF MEDICINE:

Pharmacological action:

Leaves:

• Abortifacient
• Carminative
• Diuretic
• Stimulant
• Stomachic
• Anthelmintic
• Astringent
• Cardiac tonic
• Circulatory tonic

Flowers:

• Stimulant
• Tonic
• Diuretic
• Cholagogue
• Anthelmintic
• Expectorant

Therapeutic uses:

Roots:

• Fever
• Epilepsy
• Hysteria
• Rubefacient
• In palsy
• Chronic rheumatism
• Sore mouth and throat
• Enlarged liver

Tincture:

• In fainting
• Giddiness,
• Nervous debility

 Flowers:  

• Increase the flow of bile
• Cure biliousness
• Bronchitis

DOSES:

• 20 g

CORRECTIVES:

• Vinegar

IMPORTANT UNANI FORMULATIONS:

• Murakkab-ul-Khuva

ASTROLOGY:

• Mars