Family: Combretaceae
Name: Hindi - Arjun
Sanskrit - Indradrum
English - Arjuna myrobalan
Bengali - Arjun
Gujarati - Shadado
Marathi - Ladada
Kannada - Maddi
Tamil - Vellai morudaa
Trade name - Arjuna chaal

Description: Arjun is a large tree of 60-80 ft height. Leaves sub-opposite or alternate, sometimes clustered at the ends of the twigs and often bearing large glands on the petiole or near the base of the midrib beneath. Flowers small, green or white. Fruit ovoid, vary in size, smooth or angular or winged. Bark 5-10 mm thickness, external surface pink and inner surface reddish brown, finely striated.

Distribution: All over India.

Parts used: Stem Bark, Peeling out in thin flakes.

Properties: Astringent, lithotriptic, cardiac tonic, hypotensive.

Forms of use: Powder, decoction.

Medicinal Uses

(a) In blood pressure heart diseases

Arjuna is popularly used as cardiac tonic. The decoction of bark (3g), cane sugar (24g) with one cup cow's milk is a wonderful preparation for heart disease.

Powdered bark (2-3g) soaked overnight in a cup of water, decanted next morning and water taken empty stomach for bringing down the blood pressure.

(b) Other Uses

It is useful as diuretic, in cirrhosis (degeneration of liver), inflammatory conditions, dropsy and in the fracture of bones. The ash of bark is prescribed in scorpion sting. Fruit is a tonic and deobstruent. In doses of 14 to 28 ml in the form of decoction it is useful in hemorrhages, (bleeding), the escape of blood from any part of vascular system and other fluxes (an excessive fluid discharge from the body), also in diarrhoea, dysentery and sprue characterized by morning diarrhoea with bulky pale stool, anemia, sore tongue, and failure to absorb fats.

Doses­ Decoction ­60 to 120 ml
Powder-1 to 3 g