Physicochemical Evaluation and Ethnomedicinal Uses of Michelia Champaca Linn.

Michelia champaca L. is a medicinal and ornamental plant cultivated in home gardens and near temples for its scented, attractive and massive pale colored flowers. Beside, being an ornamental plant, its various parts are medicinally used in the treatment of different human ailments. The present work was done to evaluate the physicochemical parameters viz., total ash, acid insoluble ash, water soluble ash, moisture content and FOM of leaves of the plant and to enumerate the ethnomedicinal uses of the herb.

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Plants have always been integral to the traditional healthcare system all over the world. In India, from ancient times, different parts of medicinal plants have been used to cure specific ailments (Dwivedi et al., 2008). Today, there is widespread interest in drugs derived from plants. This interest primarily stems from the belief that green medicine is safe and dependable, compared with costly synthetic drugs that have adverse effects. The shortcomings of the drugs available today, propel the discovery of new pharmacotherapeutic agents in medicinal plants (Stuffness, 1982; Baker, 1995).

Michelia champaca L. (Magnoliaceae) commonly known as Champa wild in the eastern sub-Himalayan tract and lower hills up to 3,000 ft. and found in Assam, Burma, South India. (Chopra et al., 2005). The plant is a handsome, evergreen shrub. Leaves 15-25 by 5-9 cm., lanceolate, acute, entire, glabrous; petioles 18-25mm long. Flowers about 5-6.2 cm. diameter, very fragrant, greyish yellow pubescent. Sepals and petals 15 or more deep yellow or orange. Grey or brownish bark. Seeds 1-12, brown, polished, variously angled, rounded on the back (Kritikar & Basu, 1975; Nandakarni, 1995).

During the field studies authors have documented some interesting information on ethnomedicinal uses of the species. An obvious advantage of the present study is to create awareness towards the less known uses and enumerate their traditional uses along with the evaluation of physicochemical parameters.

The whole 6 pages article is available for download here.