Common Name: Dhak, Palash,
English Name: The Forest Flame
Botanical Name: Butea frondosa Koen.ex Roxb.
Family: Fabaceae
Description: Butea monsperma isa smal tomedium-size deciduous tree, 5-15 (max. 20) mt, up to 43 cm dbh; trunk usually crooked and tortuous, with rough greyish-brown, fibrous bark showing a redish exudate; branchlets densely pubescent. B. monsperma is a tree of tropical and subtropical climate. Found throughout he drier parts of India, often gregarious in forest, open grasslands and wastelands.
Chemical Constituents: The flowers are also good source of flavonoids. The contents of flowers are Butein, Butrin, Isobutrin, Plastron, coreipsin, and Isocoreipsin . Isolation of medicarpin with antifungal activity from this part of the plant has also been reported. The Euphane triterpenoid 3a-hydroxyeuph-25-ene and the alcohol 2, 14-dihydroxy-11, 12-dimethyl-8-oxo-octadec-11-enylcyclohexane has been isolated from the stem. The Imide palasimide has been isolated from the pods of this plant species.
Properties: Butea monosperma shows various biological and pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, antifertility, anticonvulsant, anti-helminthes, antidiarrhoeal, antimicrobial, wound healing, antigiardiasis and hepatoprotective, antihypertenstive, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenging activity.
Used in the following MITVANA product: