International Journal of Medical Studies Available online at www.ijmsonline.in

IJMS 5(1), 28 -34 (2020) Print ISSN 2542 -2766

Celastrus paniculatus , Willd. from m andsaur district

Dr. Maya Pant *

*Bhagat Singh Govt P.G College Jaora, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh

Corresponding author: Dr. Maya Pant

Article history Received 12 Nov 2019 Received in revised form 20 Dec 2019 Accepted 22 Jan 2020 Available online 30 Jan 2020

ABSTRACT Celastrus paniculatus , Willd. is an important medicinal pla nt of Indi a, commonly found in Himalayan Tracts, C entral India, Western and Eastern Ghats, Bihar, Orissa and Middle and South Andaman’s. C. paniculatus is commonly known as m alkangani, kangani, jyotishmati, climbing staff plant and oriental bitter sweet tree, used by various tribes of India for the treatm ent of various diseases. Owing to the ever -increasing demand from the pharmaceutical industries and also the traditional systems, this plant is at high risk in Ind ia. Malkangani was reported as v ulnerable in Amarkantak and Kerar ghati area, Bandhavgarh and Panpatha area Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, Kerala and in Western Ghats. It was reported as critically endangered in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while near threatened in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and least concerned in Maharash tra. We found this plant growing wildly in “Takhaji” and “Hinglaj garh ” forest area of Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh . This plant was not reported earlier by any

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 28 Dr. Maya Pant researcher or even forest department inspite of the fact that the reported areas come under reserve forest. The present study was aimed to:

-Survey of medicinal plants available in the area.

-Medicinal plants used by local people and tribes of the area.

-Special attention was given to those plants which had already reported endangered from Madhya Pradesh and other states.

Keywords: Celastrus paniculatus , Willd., Critically Endangered, Last Concerned, Medicinal Plant, Near Threatened, Pharmaceutical Industry, Traditional System, Vulnerable.

This article reviewed by Dr. Manish, Dr. Antim Vyas. Edited by Dr. Pradeep J. Available online 30 Jan 2020. IJMS, all rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION Celastrus paniculatus , Willd. is an unarmed, large, woody, climbing shrub belongs to family Celastraceae, distributed almost all over India up to an altitude of 1800-2000 m is known for its ability to improve memory (Nadkarni, 1976) [1]. This plant is commonly found in Himalayan Tracts (up to 2000 m), Central India, Western and Eastern Ghats extending to Rajmahal hills in Bihar and Orissa (Wealth of India, 1992) [2]. It is also found in middle and South Andamans. C. paniculatus is commonly known as malkangani, kangani, jyotishmati, sphutabandhani, svarnalota, black oil tree, intellect tree, climbing staff plant and oriental bitter sweet tree. Malkangani is an important medicinal plant of India. In Ayurveda, seeds of this plant are used for the prevention and treatment of various diseases (Vaidyaratnam PSV, 1997) [3]. The oil extracted from the seeds has tranquilizing effect. Besides being a central muscle relaxant, it is also used as anti-emetic, anti-ulcerogenic and adaptogen with memory enhancing properties (Handa, 1998) [4]. Malkangani is also used as an appetizer, laxative, aphrodisiac and for the treatment of cough, asthma, leprosy, paralysis, leucoderma, rheumatism, gout and headache (Vaidyaratnam, 1994) [5]. It is reported that this can be

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 29

Dr. Maya Pant used as anti-depressant also. This plant is also used by Bhil and Bhilala tribes of Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh for arthritis, leprosy and body ache [6]. Owing to the ever-increasing demand from the pharmaceutical industries and also the traditional systems, this plant is at high risk in India (Warrier et. al, 1993-1995) [7]. It was reported as vulnerable in Western Ghat (Rajasekharan and Ganeshan, 2002) [8], Madhya Pradesh (Chauhan et. al, 2007) [9] and Kerala (Shyma and Devi Prasad, 2012) [10] while critically endangered in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand (Prakash Anand and Singh K. K., 2001; Prakash Anand, 2011) [11, 12]. Forest areas of Mandsaur district were surveyed extensively with the aim to study the status and uses of this medicinally important plant in the Malwa region.

METHODOLOGY Study area Mandsaur is a district of archeological and historical heritage, located in the central part of Malwa region of India lies between the parallel of latitude 23˚45’50” North and 25˚2’55” North and between the meridians of longitude 74˚42’30” East and 70˚50’20” East and spread over an area of 5521sq. km. The climate of this district is generally dry and it comes under semi arid region- zone 4. May is the hottest month in which temperature goes up to 45˚C. January is the coldest month with minimum temperature up to 2˚-3˚c.The average annual rainfall 786.6mm. Typical vegetation of the area is tropical dry deciduous forests (Champion and Seth, 1969) [13].

Survey and Collection We visited the Gandhi Sagar Wild Life Sanctuary, Takhaji, Hinglajgarh, Navli and surrounding areas of Mandsaur city (Figure no 1.).

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 30

Dr. Maya Pant

Figure no 1. Map of Mandsaur District, Madhya Pradesh, india *From: mapsofindia.com

We visited study area in rainy, winter and summer seasons for three years (2009-2012). We discussed and collected information from tribal people, local vaidyas and traders. Plant was identified by the senior Botanist Dr. Madhu Purohit with the help of flora (J.F. Duthie, 1960) and herbarium submitted to the department [14].

RESULT & DISCUSSION C. paniculatus is an important medicinal plant used in Ayurveda and as folklore medicines also. During the survey we discussed with local vaidyas and tribal people about the uses of this plant and found that Bhil and Bhilala tribes are still using this medicinal plant. Wagh et al (2010) also reported that Bhil and Bhilala tribes of Madhya Pradesh were using malkangani for arthritis. Similarly Alawa and Ray (2012) reported that they were using this to cure leprosy and body ache [15, 16]. Unfortunately such medicinally important plant was showing different degrees of extinction in Madhya Pradesh and other states also. Malkangani was reported as Vulnerable in Amarkantak and Kerar ghati area, Bandhavgarh and Panpatha area Madhya Pradesh,

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 31

Dr. Maya Pant

Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Kerala and in Western Ghats also by. It was reported as critically endangered in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while near threatened in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and least concerned in Maharashtra. We found this plant growing wildly in the forest area of Hinglajgarh and Takhaji of Mandsaur district (Figure no 2. and Figure no 3.).

Figure no 2. C. paniculatus in Hinglajgarh forest

Figure no 3. C. Paniculatus in Takhaji forest

Therefore special measure should be taken to conserve this plant in Takhaji and Hinglajgarh as it is growing wildly there

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 32

Dr. Maya Pant

DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTEREST

Author declares no conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES 1. Nadkarni A. K. 1976. Indian Materia Medica. Edn 3, Vol. I, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, pp. 296. 2. Wealth of India. 1992. A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials and Industrial Product- Raw Material Series. Publication & Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi, Revised series, Vol. 3, Ca-Ci, pp. 412-413. 3. Vaidyaratnam PSV. 1997. Indian Medicinal Plants: A Compendium of 500 species. Edition 1, Vol. II, Orient Longman Ltd, Madras, pp. 47. 4. Handa S. S., 1998. Celastrus paniculatus , IDMA, Mumbai & RRL, Jammu, Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia Vol. II, pp 26-34. 5. Vaidyaratnam PSV. 1994. Indian Medicinal Plants: A Compendium of 500 species, Orient Longman Ltd. Anna Salai, Madras, India Vol. 2, pp. 47-51. 6. Barnwal S. and Singh R. H. 2000. Proceedings of International Congress on “Ayurveda- 2000”, Chennai, India. 7. Warrier P. K., Nambiar V. P. K. and Ramankutty C., 1993-1995. Indian Medicinal Plants, Orient Longman Ltd., Madras, Vol. 1-5. 8. Rajasekharan P.E. and Ganeshan S., 2002. Conservation of medicinal plant biodiversity, Journal of Medicinal Aromatic Plant Sciences, 24: 132-147. 9. Chauhan U.K., Pandey B.L. and Mishra S.N. 2007. Biodiversity threat assessment of plants in Vindhya region, A Report of Forest Department, 53-296. 10. Shyma T. B. and Devi Prasad A. G. 2012. Traditional use of medicinal plants and its status among the tribes in manathavady of wayanad district, Kerala, World Research Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic plants, Volume 2, pp 22-26. 11. Prakash Anand and Singh KK. 2001. Observation on some threatened plants and their conservation in Rajaji National Park, Uttaranchal, India. J. Econ. Tax, Bot. 25 (2): 363-366. 12. Prakash Anand, 2011. Uses of some threatened and potential ethnomedicinal plants among the tribals of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India, National Conference on Forest Biodiversity: Earth’s living treasure, Uttar Pradesh Biodiversity Board, pp. 93-99.

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 33

Dr. Maya Pant

13. Champion, H.G. & S.K. Seth. 1968. A Revised Survey of the Forest type of India. Manager of Publications, Government of India, New Delhi. 14. Duthie j. F. 1960. Flora of The Upper Gangetic Plain and of The Adjacent Siwalik and Sub- Himalayan Tracts, Vol. I & II. 15. Wagh V. V., Jain A. K. and Kadel Chitralekha. 2010. Role of non timber forest products in the livelihood of tribal community of Jhabua district (M. P.), Biological Forum-An International Journal, 2 (1): 45-48. 16. Alawa K. S. and Ray S., 2012. Ethnomedicinal plants used by tribals of Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh, India, Cib Tech Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 1 (2-3) pp.7-15.

www.ijmsonline.in International Journal of Medical Studies 34