Common Name: Sambhalu, Nirgundi
English Name: Five Leaved Chaste Tree, Indian Privet, Monk’s Pepper
Botanical Name: Vitex negundo Linn.
Family: Verbenaceae
Description: It is an erect, branched tree or shrub, 2 to 5 meters high. Leaves are usually 5-foliate, rarely with 3 leaflets only, and palmately arranged. Leaflets are lanceolate, entire, 4 to 10 centimeters long, slightly hairy beneath, and pointed at both ends, the middle leaflets being larger than the others, and distinctly stalked. Flowers are numerous, blue to lavender.
Chemical Constituents: Flavone glycosides, stilbene derivative, new phenyldihydronaphthalene-type lignin, iridoids, flavonoids are isolated.
Properties: This plant is useful in diarrhoea, cholera, fever, haemorrhages, hepatopathy and cardiac disorders. Seeds are considered useful in eye diseases, Root bark is recommended in cases of irritable bladder and of rheumatism. Root is also used in dyspepsia, colic, rheumatism. The leaves are useful in dispersing swelling of joints from acute rheumatism.
Use in the following MATXIN products: