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Latin name: Terminalia Arjuna
Family: Combretaceae
Common name: Arjun, Parth
English name: Arjuna Myrobalan
Habitat
It is found in lower Himalayas, Bihar, Bengal,
Chhota Nagpur, Burma, central and southern India. |
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Macroscopic identification
The tree has a height of almost 25-30 meters. Bark is
available in pieces, at, curved, channeled. Outer
surface is smooth and gray, inner surface is fibrous and
pinkish.
Parts used
Bark
Pharmacological action
Bark is astringent, cardiac stimulant, tonic,
lithonotriptic, styptic, tonic and antihelmentic
Action and uses in Ayurveda
Ayurvedic physicians recommend the use of Arjuna bark in
derangements o all the three humours-Kafa, Pitta, Vata.
It is used in hrdroga, medorog, prameh, vrana, trsa,
vyanga.
Indications
Bark is a cardiac tonic, lowers cholesterol and is used
in urinary retention and diabetes. It is also used in
fever and skin diseases. It is used in bilious
affections, for sores and as an antidote to poison.
Leaves-juice of fresh leaves is used in earaches.
Fruit is both to tonic and obstruent.
It is useful in fractures, ulcers, heart diseases,
biliousness, urinary discharges, asthma, tumors,
leucoderma, anemia, and excessive perspiration
Photochemical
Bark contains a crystalline compound arjunine, lactones,
arjunetin, essential oils, tannin, reducing sugar and
coloring matter. Terminalia's active constituents
include tannins, triterpenoid saponins (arjunic acid,
arjunolic acid, arjungenin, arjunglycosides), flavonoids
(arjunone, arjunolone, luteolin), gallic acid, ellagic
acid, oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), phytosterols,
calcium, magnesium, zinc, and copper. It is thought the
saponin glycosides might be responsible for inotropic
effects of Terminalia, while the flavonoids and OPCs
provide free radical antioxidant activity and vascular
strengthening
Properties and action
Rasa: kasaya
Guna: laghu, ruksha
Virya: sita
Vipaka: katu
Karma: hridya,Kaphhara,Pitahara, Vrananasan,
Bhagnsandhankarnam, Vyanghar
Preparations
Kshirpak, juice, decoction, powder
Therapeutic classification index
- Blood and haemopoeitic tissue: it is used
in decoction in hemorrhage and other fluxes.
- Cardiovascular system: Vaghbhatta was the
first to describe it in heart diseases. It is highly
recommended in heart diseases complicated with
endocarditis, mitral regurgitation, pericarditis, and
angina.
- Digestive system: it is used in diarrhea,
dysentery and sprue.
- Reproductive system: bark is used in
spermatorrhea, gonorrhea
- Respiratory system: it acts as an
expectorant and clears the air passage.
- Skin: it is used in Pruritis and other skin
diseases
- Musculoskeletal system: with milk it is
given in fractures and contusions with extensive
ecchymosis as it promotes reunion of fracture.
Use of arjun in heart diseases
- Bark stem powder of Terminalia Arjuna, 500mg three
times daily, for 3 months to 12 heart operation showed
improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction and
reduced left ventricular mass. Dwivedi 1997
- T. Arjuna bark powder reduced the frequency of
angina episodes in otherwise 15 stable patients.
Dwivedi 1994
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