Pterocarpus marsupium

Botanical Name – Pterocarpus marsupium

Common Name – Asan, Bandhukapushpa, Jivakah, Priyakah, Mahasarjakah, Pitasalakah (Sanskrit), Beeja (Hindi), Bija (Marathi), Honnemara (Kannada), Venga (Malayalam), Biyo (Gujrati)

Distribution

• Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu
  
  

Habit

• Medium to large sized deciduous tree
• Fast growing
  
  

Habitat

• Dry deciduous to moist deciduous forests
  
  

Specific properties

• “Near Threatened” as per IUCN red list of species
• Heavily exploited for timber and resin
• Suitable for agro-forestry
• Preferable for soil reclamation
• Fixes atmospheric nitrogen
• Shade tree in coffee plantations
  
  

Ecology

• Larval host plant for the Charaxes psaphon (Plain Tawny Rajah), Neptis jumbah (Chestnut-streaked Sailer), Zesius chrysomallus (Redspot)
• Nector plant for the Pachliopta aristolochiae (Common Rose), Belias eucharis (Indian Jexebel)
  
  

Uses

• Leaves are edible
• Resin from bark is used to treat chronic diarrhoea, irritation caused by gastric infection, colitis and skin conditions
• The bark is used as an astringent and in toothache
• Leaves as poultice are used to treat boils, sores, skin diseases and in cosmetic preparations
• Extracts of wood and bark are used as skin and hair conditioners in cosmetics, for their anti-diabetic activity
• Yields red gum known as ‘kino, which has medicinal uses and is source of tannins & dyeing
• The bruised leaves are considered useful as an external application for boil sores and skin diseases.
• Leaves used as fodder
• It is used in folk and traditional systems of medicine and getting pharmacological interest because of its ability to stimulate insulin making in the pancreas
• Its wood has value second only to that of teak and rosewood. Used in the construction of railway carriages, railway sleepers, wagons, carts, boats, ship building, electric transmission poles and pit props in mines
  
  

Propagation

• Seeds