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Botany
A tree growing to
a height of 4 to 10 meters, with the branchlets, young leaves and inflorescence
covered with brown hairs. Leaves are alternate, oblong-ovate, with a
pointed tip and rounded base, 7 to 16 cm long, with toothed or entire
margins. Upper surface of the leaf what two smooth glands; the lower
surface, glaucous and hairy with numerous, scattered crimson glands.
Male flowers are numerous, 3 mm in diameter, axillary, solitary or fasicled
spikes, 5 to 8 cm long. Female flowers are in solitary racemes. Fruit
is spherical, 6 to 8 mm in diameters, densely covered with red or crimson
powder, with three cells, each containing a dark grey, rounded seed
that is flattened on one side.
Distribution
In thickets and
secondary forests at low altitudes.
Chemical constituents
and properties
Considered antibacterial,
anticancer, antihelminthic, antifertility, antispasmodic, astringent,
contracepticeptive, laxative, vermifuge, and purgative and vulnerary.
Extract of kamala from the
glands and hairs yielded a resin, a wax, and the crystalline compound
rottlerin.
Kamala also contains a minute amount of essential oil, which when gently
warmed emits a peculiar odor.
The principle constituent, rottlerin, is from the kamala resin.
Rottlerin (reddish-yellow resin), 47-80%; fixed oil, 5.83-24%; citric
acid; mallotoxin; kamalin.
The seed contains a fixed oil, camul oil and a bitter glucoside.
According to Ayurveda, leaves are bitters, cooling and appetizer.
Fruit is anthelminthic, vulnerary, detergent, maturant, carminative.
Parts used and preparation
Leaves, bark and seeds.
Uses
Folkloric
Fungal skin infections:
Pound leaves or seeds and apply on affected areas.
The red glands of the fruit is antiherpetic and antihelminthic.
Poulticed leaves and bark used for skin diseases – ringworm and
scabies; poulticed seeds used for wound healing.
Powder taken with milk for tapeworms, repeated as necessary.
In india, used for bronchitis, abdominal
diseases, spleen enlargement.
Elsewhere, used for constipation, anorexia, cancers, dermatosis, cramps,
dysmenorrhea.
Others
Kamala, the powder obtained
from the glands and hairs, besides its medicinal properties, is valued
as a dye.
Dye is used for coloring silk and wool.
The oil derived from the seeds is used in paints and varnishes, as hair-fixer,
and ointment additive.
Antioxidant for ghee and vegetable oils.
Wood pulp used for making writing and printing paper.
Studies
• Antifilarial Activity: The
effect of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of the leaves of Mallotus philippensis
was studied on the spontaneous movements of the whole worm and nerve-muscle
preparation of Setaria cervic and on the survival of microfilariae in
vitro.
• Antimicrobial: In an ethnopharmacological screening in Nepal, the bark from
Mallotus philippensis was found to be active against gram-positive and
gram-negative bacteria.
* Anti-allergic: Two new phloroglucinol derivatives
were isolated from the fruits of Mallotus philippensis. They inhibited
histamine release from rat peritoneal mast cells suggesting the new
phloroglucinol derivaties have anti-allergic effects.
• Antibacterial / Phytochemical:
(1) Study showed excellent inhibition with chloroform and methanol
extracts of the stem barkn testing with E coli, K pneumonia, P aeruginosa,
S typhi and B subtilis, (2) Mallotus philippinensis was one of plants
in a study of 61 Indian medicinal plants that exhibited antimicrobial
properties, supporting its folkloric use as antimicrobial treatment
for some diseases.
• Antifertility: Study showed when females treated with Kamala seed extract were mated with non-treated males, rate of infertile mating increased in a dose-dependent manner with reduced pregnancy rate and number of implantation sites. Data indicate, Kamala reduced levels of FSH and LH and affected various reproductive parameters of female rats.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
