Garcinia morella (GAERTN.) DESR. |
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Botanical Name |
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Garcinia morella (GAERTN.) DESR. |
English
Name |
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Indian Gamboge |
Synonym(s) |
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Garcinia hanburii Hook. f |
Family |
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Clusiaceae |
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General Info
| Description |
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A tree 35 to 50 feet high, with many very spreading branches; bark orange-brown, thick; young shoots smooth, somewhat angular. Leaves opposite, on short petioles, without stipules, 4 to 7 inches long, oval, somewhat attenuated into the blunt twisted apex, entire, glabrous on both sides, thick, dark-green above, paler and with a prominent midrib beneath. Flowers unisexual, dioecious, of moderate size, coming from bosses in the leaf-axils on the wood of the previous years, the male on stout, straight, roughish peduncles about ¼ inch long. Seeds solitary in the cells, rounded on the back, keeled at the inner edge; embryo filling the seed, with a large thick radicle and no cotyledons; endosperm none. |
| Herb Effects |
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Laxative (heartwood, seed coat and gum resin); anthelmintic and diuretic; toxic (in high doses). |
Chemistry
| Active Ingredients |
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Alpha and beta-guttiferin and morelloflavone (heartwood); a morellin pigment (seed). |
| Chemistry
of Active Ingredients |
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Name |
CAS# |
IUPAC Name |
Formula |
Structure |
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| beta-Guttiferin |
2752-65-0 |
Not Available |
C38H44O8 |
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| Morelloflavone |
16851-21-1 |
8-[5,7-dihydroxy-2-(
4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-o
xo-chroman-3-yl]-2-(
3,4-dihydr
oxypheny
l)-4,7-dihydroxy-chr
omen-5-one |
C30H20O11 |
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| Morellin |
Not Available |
Not Available |
C33H38O7 |
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Pharmacology
| Medicinal Use |
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In diabetes, jaundice and fever (fruit); in dropsy and apoplexy (gum resin). It is a valuable medicine in dropsy when given in combination with the acid tartrate of potash. An alkaline solution of the plant has been recommended and employed on the continent as a powerful diuretic. |
| Contraindication |
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Its use is contraindicated in gastritis, enteritis, during pregnancy, menorrhagia, hemorrhoids, in excited, irritable, or diseased uterus, and where there is irritation or disease of the urinary organs. |
| Reference |
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 Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.
Bentley and Trimen, Medicinal Plants. |
Dealers
Products
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