kancanara shveta :

Pita-kancanara consists of dried, mature flower buds of Bauhinia racemosa Lamk. (Fam. Caesalpiniaceae), a small bushy and crooked, deciduous tree distributed throughout India, common in sub-Himalayan tract from the Ravi eastwards to Bengal, Central and South India.

Taxonomical Classification

Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae

VERNACULAR NAMES

English: none
Hindi: Asanta, Ashta
Urdu: Kachnal
Telugu: Ari, Are, Pacchare
Bengali: Bauraj, Sada Kanchana
Marathi: Aapataa, Ashtaa
Oriya: Kanchana
Gujarathi: Aasotaro, Asundro, Apta
Malayalam: mandaram
Kannada: Banne, Kadu manthara
Punjabi: Kosundra, Taur

Synonyms

Synonyms in Ayurveda: kancanara, ashmantak, malukpatra, yugnapatra, amlapatrak kushali, papanashak

Rasa: Kashaya Madhura
Guna: Guru Snigdha
Veerya: Sheetha
Vipaka: Maduram
Karma: Kaphapittasamaka Pittahara Vathakaphahara

PHARMACOLOGY:

IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Asmantaka Guna

Dosage:

Curna (Powder): 1 to 3 g

Morphology:

Flower buds 1.5 cm to 2.5 cm in length and 3 to 7 mm in diameter, apex acute, base tapering with attached pedicel measuring up to 2 cm in length, surface light brown to greyish brown with longitudinal fine wrinkles; fragile; calyx limb spathaceous, 5 toothed, reflexed; petals oblanceolate, as long as calyx limb; stamens 10, all perfect; odour and taste indistinct.

Histology:

Calyx- TS of sepal more or less circular in outline with 5 to 6 ridges and a central hollow core; epidermis on both surfaces with anomocytic stomata, 1 to 3 celled small covering trichomes, measuring upto 150 µ in length, present on lower surface: 4 to 5 layers of collenchyma cells present below each ridges of lower epidermis; mesophyll represented by aerenchyma; numerous vascular bundles arranged in a row in the mesophyll, vascular bundles below each ridge being larger in comparison to others; rosettes of calcium oxalate crystals present in some of the cells of aerenchyma. Corolla- Petal shows single layered epidermis followed by mesophyll composed of circular to oval parenchyma cells; a number of small vascular bundles present in a row in the mesophyll; most of the parenchyma cells adjoining vascular bundles contain yellow to yellowish orange pigments. Powder- Powder shows fragments of epidermis of petal with straight walls, epidermis of sepal with anomocytic stomata and 1 to 3 celled covering trichomes, some cells of mesophyll containing rosettes of calcium oxalate crystals, scalariform and spiral vessels with adjoining parenchyma cells containing pigments ; covering trichomes, isolated rosettes of calcium oxalate crystals ; pollen grains circular with smooth exine and entine measuring upto 100 µ in diameter and thick walled parenchymatous antheridial cells with adjoining scalariform vascular elements.

Therapeutic Uses:

Bhutavikara (Psychotic syndrome), Daha (Burning sensation), Galaganda (Goitre), Gandamala (Cervical lymphadenitis), Prameha (Metabolic disorder), RaktavikAra (Disorders of blood), Trishna (Thirst), Vidaha (Burning sensation), Vishamjvara (Intermitten fever)