Botany of Celastrus paniculatus
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Celastrus paniculatus
Wild.
SYNONYMS: Celastrus dependens Wall.
FAMILY: Celastraceae
ENGLISH: Black-oil tree, Climbing staff plant,
Oriental bittersweet, Intellect tree.
BENGALI: Malkanjri.
GUJARATI: Malkangana, Velo.
HINDI: Kondgaidh, Malkakni, Malkamni, Malkangni,
Sankhu.
KANNADA: Kangli, Kangodi, Kariganne.
MALAYALAM: Polulavam.
MARATHI: Kangani, Malkangoni.
SANSKRIT: Jyotishka, Jyotishmati, Kanguni, , Katabhi,
Sphutabandhani, Svarnalota
TAMIL: Vluluvai.
TELUGU: Teegapalleru, Malaria teega. [1]
Botanical Description: Celastrus paniculata is a member of the Celastraceae family and is a large, woody climber (called a climbing shrub), with a yellow, corky bark. It grows throughout India, and has been reported growing as high as almost 2,000 meters. The leaves are oblong-elliptic and the flowers are unisexual. The seeds, which grow inside capsules, number from anywhere between 1-6 seeds per capsule, and yield dark brown oil, known as Celastrus oil or Malkanguni oil. [2] Celastrus is a hardy plant and in the proper conditions, is easy to grow, with a high yield of seeds. There is not much commercial growing of this plant, but as it's popularity grows, especially in the West, we expect to see an increase in farming and harvesting in the near-future for the Celastrine and Paniculatin.
Most-Used Parts: Oil from the seeds, which contain the alkaloids Celastrine and Paniculatin in varying amounts is the most commonly used plant part. Tests are presently being done to see if there are active alkaloids in the leaves and the roots, since leaves traditionally have been used for decoctions and teas.
Medicinal Uses:
Celastrus paniculatus L. (Celastraceae) (CP),
Picrorhiza kurroa L. (Scrophulariaceae) (PK) and Withania
somnifera L. (Solanaceae) (WS) are Indian medicinal plants
having a remarkable reputation, as a factor of health care,
among the indigenous medical practitioners. The plants
exhibit varying degrees of therapeutic value some of which
useful in the treatment of cognitive dysfunction, epilepsy,
insomnia, rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia. These antioxidant
effects of active principle of CP, PK and WS may explain, at
least in part, the reported anti-stress, cognition-facilitating, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging
effects produced by them in experimental animal and in
clinical situations and may justify the further
investigation of their other beneficial biological
properties. [3]
Celastrus oil, extracted from the seeds of Celastrus
paniculatus on learning and memory in a two compartment
passive avoidance task was studied in albino rats. The
effects on the contents of norepinephrine (NE), dopamine
(DA) and serotonin (5-HT) in the brain and on the levels of
their metabolites both in the brain and urine were also
assessed. Significant improvement was observed in the
retention ability of the drug treated rats compared with the
saline administered controls.
The contents of NE, DA and 5-HT and their metabolites in the
brain were significantly decreased in the drug treated
group. The urinary metabolite levels were also significantly
decreased except for total 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl glycol.
These data indicate that Celastrus oil causes an overall
decrease in the turnover of all the three central monoamines
and implicate the involvement of these aminergic systems in
the learning and memory process. [4]
References
[1] Porcher Michel H. et al. 1995 -
2020, Sorting Celastrus Names. Multilingual Multiscript
Plant Name Database - A Work in Progress. Institute of Land
& Food Resources. The University of Melbourne. Australia.
http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Celastrus.html
(2004).
[2] Himalaya Healthcare: HerbFinder - Celastrus
[3] Entrez PubMed PMID: 7500635 [PubMed
- indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7500635&dopt=Abstract
[4] Entrez PubMed PMID: 11315755 [PubMed
- indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus
[5] Gaitonde et. al. Current Medical Practice, 1957, 1, 619
[6] Bidwai, P.P. et. al. Fitoterapia, 1990, v. 61(5), 417-424