Copyright © 2013, American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information publisher American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture JOURNAL home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/aejsa.html 2013 December; 7(5): pages 356-372 Published Online 2014 February 15. Research Article A Review on a Mangrove Species from the Sunderbans, Bangladesh: Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Roxb. Md. Zahirul Kabir, Sk. Mizanur Rahman, Md. Rashedul Islam, Prashanta Kumer Paul, Shahnaz Rahman, Rownak Jahan, Mohammed Rahmatullah Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh Received: November 03, 2013; Revised: January 13, 2014; Accepted: January 17, 2014 © 2013 AENSI PUBLISHER All rights reserved ABSTRACT Barringtonia racemosa is considered a mangrove associated species and found in various regions of Southeast and East Asia, as well as Micronesian and Polynesian islands and northern Australia. Important chemicals that have been found in the plant include betulinic acid, ellagic acid, gallic acid, germanicol, germanicone, lupeol, stigmasterol and taraxerol. Antibacterial, antifungal and antinociceptive activities have been reported for extracts from the plant. Traditional medicine practices include the whole plant as a remedy for itch; the roots are considered to be antimalarial, the bark and/or leaves are used in case of boils, snake bites, rat poisonings, gastric ulcer, high blood pressure, chicken pox and as a depurative, the fruits are used as remedy for cough, asthma and diarrhea, while the seeds are used for cancer like diseases and for eye inflammation. Key words: Barringtonia racemosa, Sunderbans, medicinal, Bangladesh INTRODUCTION Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Blume Eugenia racemosa L. Barringtonia racemosa is considered a Butonica apiculata Miers mangrove associated species and found in various Barringtonia insignis Miq. regions of Southeast and East Asia, as well as Barringtonia pallida (Miers) Koord. & Valeton Micronesian and Polynesian islands and northern Barringtonia salomonensis Rech. Australia. Kingdom: Plantae Other names: Phylum: Tracheophyta Fish-killer tree, fish-poison tree, fish-poison Class: Magnoliopsida wood, freshwater mangrove, small-leaved Family: Lecythidaceae barringtonia, powder-puff tree, wild guava, brack- Genus: Barringtonia water mangrove, common putat, hippo apple Species: racemosa (L.) Spreng. (English), Godamidella (Sri Lanka / Sinhala), Other species belonging to this genus are Arattam (Tamil), Kye-bin, kyi (Burmese), Putat Barringtonia asiatica, Barrington acutangula, ayam, putat ayer, putat aying, putat kampong Barringtonia edilus, Barringtonia lanceolata, (Malay), Chik ban, chik suan (Thai), Apalang Barringtonia macrostachya, and Barringtonia (Filipino), Butan darat, butun darat, penggung, putat spicata. sungai (Indonesian), Samudraphala (Sanskrit), Ingar (Hindi), Mtomondo (Swahili). Scientific synonyms: Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Spreng Corresponding Author: Professor Dr. Mohammed Rahmatullah, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Development Alternative, House No. 78, Road No. 11A (new), Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh. Phone: 88-01715032621 Fax: 88-02-8157339 E-mail: [email protected] 357 Dr. M. Rahmatullah et al, 2013 / American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 7(5), December, Pages: 356-372 Distribution: Botanical features: B. racemosa, which is considered a mangrove Barringtonia racemosa is a small tree of associate, can also be found in tropical rainforest mangrove associate type, capable of reaching 20 m areas, open lowlands and thickets. It occurs always or more with leaves tufted at the ends of stout twigs. near water: along riverbanks and in freshwater The leaves can be up to 40 cm long and 15 cm wide, swamps, and occasionally in the less saline areas of are pointed at the tip, have slightly toothed edges and mangrove swamps, where it may develop very pronounced veins. Flowers are arranged in long pneumatophores. The species cannot tolerate even spikes coming out of the centre of leaf groups, and light frost. It favours the wet tropical, moist topical have four white petals surrounded by a profusion of and wet subtropical climatic zones. It is distributed white filaments. The fruit is egg shaped and about 9 from eastern Africa and Madagascar to Bangladesh cm long. The bark is generally grey and smooth. (Sundarbans), Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, southern China, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands (Japan), Chemical constituents and their reported Thailand, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India), pharmacological activities: throughout the Malaysian region towards Two new triterpenoids, olean-18-en-3beta-O-E- Micronesia, Polynesia (east to Fiji and Samoa) and coumaroyl ester and olean-18-en-3beta-O-Z- northern Australia. coumaroyl ester, were isolated from the stem bark along with 5 known compounds, germanicol, germanicone, betulinic acid, lupeol, and taraxerol [143]. OH O E S H H R Me O R R Me Me Me Me S R Me R H Me R Me Olean-18-en-3beta-O-E-coumaroyl ester O Z S H H R Me O R R OH Me Me Me Me S R Me R H Me R Me Olean-18-en-3beta-O-Z-coumaroyl ester Me Me H Me S R Me Me R R R R H Me S R HO H Me Me Germanicol (Morol) 358 Dr. M. Rahmatullah et al, 2013 / American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 7(5), December, Pages: 356-372 Me Me H Me S R Me Me R R R R H Me R O H Me Me Germanicone Ethyl acetate extract of the stem bark of the dihydromyticetin, gallic acid, bartogenic acid, and plant yielded 3,3’-dimethoxy ellagic acid, stigmasterol [127]. Gallic acid An ethanolic extract of the roots afforded two Saponin namely barringtonin and sapogenins novel neo-clerodane-type diterpenoids, methyl-15,16- such as R1-barrigenol, barringtogenol and epoxy-12-oxo-3,13(16),14-neo-clerodatrien-18,19- barringtogenic acid have been isolated from the fruit olide-17-carboxylate (nasimalun A) and dimethyl- [73,4]. 15,16-epoxy-3,13(16),14-neo-clerodatrien-17,18- Similar saponins and sapogenins were also dicarboxylate (17-carboxy methylhardwickiic acid found in the seeds [60]. Me ester, nasimalun B) [40]. O O S MeO R R R Me H O O O Nasimalun A 359 Dr. M. Rahmatullah et al, 2013 / American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 7(5), December, Pages: 356-372 O O H Me R R R OMe R Me MeO O Nasimalun B Me Me S S Me Me H CO 2H HO R S R R R H Me R R HO S Me H CO 2H Barringtogenic acid Me Me S S OH Me Me H HO R S R R R H Me R R HO R Me H HO Barringtogenol 360 Dr. M. Rahmatullah et al, 2013 / American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 7(5), December, Pages: 356-372 Betulinic acid Germanicol: sciadophylloides (higher fatty acid esters of Germanicol may have anti-inflammatory [96] taraxerol, Yasue et al, [145]); leaves of and anti-bacterial potentials [89]. Germanicol and Acanthopanax trifoliatus (along with nevadensin, derivatives are also present in the following plants as kaur-16-en-19-oic acid, and taraxerol acetate; Du and described below. Germanicol acetate has been Gao, [31]); from the chloroform leaf extract of isolated from the roots of Euphorbia nematocypha Alchornea latifolia [along with taraxerone, friedelin, (along with nematocyphol, nepehinol acetate, euphol, epifriedelinol, seco-3,4-friedelin (dihydroputranjivic tanaxastanol, 24-methylenecloartanol, and nepehinol; acid), and seco-3,4-taraxerone; Setzer et al, [120]; Cao et al, [15]). The compound has also been taraxerol acetate from dichloromethane extracts of isolated from methanol insoluble extract of Araujia the roots of Ambrosia artemisiifolia (Billodeaux et sericifera [78]; methanolic extract of the twigs of al, [12]); 3alpha- and 3beta-taraxerol (along with Celtis sinensis (along with epifriedelanol, trans-N- 3alpha-E-feruloyltaraxerol, 3alpha-Z- caffeoyltyramine, cis-N-coumaroyltyramine, feruloyltaraxerol, 3beta-E-feruloyltaraxerol, 3beta-Z- pinoresinol glycoside, pinoresinol rutinoside, and feruloyltaraxerol, 3alpha-E-coumaroyltaraxerol, and steroids; Kim et al, [59]); Festuca argentina (along 3alpha-Z-coumaroyltaraxerol from the fruits of with pentacyclic triterpenols such as beta-amyrin, Bruguiera cylindrica (Laphookhieo et al, [66]); from isobaurenol, lupeol, hopenol-a, hopeol, and low the twigs and buds of Calophyllum cordato- amounts of sterols like cholesterol, campesterol, oblongum - methyl ether of cordatolide B, cordato- stigmasterol, sitosterol, and dihydrositosterol; oblongic acid, friedelin, canophyllol, and sitosterol Casabuono and Pomilio, [16]); aerial parts of (Dharmaratne et al, [30]); Careya arborea (Mahato Koelpinia linearis [along with koelpinin A (28-nor- et al, [85]); Clerodendrum bungei (along with beta- lup-12,17-dien-3beta,16alpha-diol), koelpinin B sitosterol, glochidone, glochidonol, and glochidiol; (3beta-acetoxy-28-nor-lup-12,17-dien-16alpha-ol, Gao et al, [34]); Clitoria ternatea [6]; Codonopsis koelpinin C (28-nor-lup-12,17-dien-3beta-ol-16- pilosula (along with friedelin, alpha-spinasterol, one), 30-nor-lup-3beta-ol-20-one, and taraxeryl alpha-spinasterol-beta-D-glucopyranoside, n-butyl- acetate; Koul et al, [62]; hexane extract of alpha-D-fructofuranoside, and n-butyl-beta-D- Marsypianthes chamaedrys, a common herb found in fructopyranoside; Chen et al, [19]); Crossostephium the north and northeast regions of Brazil (along with chinense [118]; taraxerol-3-beta-O-tridecyl ether alpha-amyrin, beta-amyrin, lupeol, chamaedrydiol, from the aerial part of Derris trifoliata [142]; ethyl castanopsol, 2alpha-hydroxylupeol, and acetate extract of Embelia schimperi leaves [along epigermanidiol; de Sousa Menezes et al, [29]); with 3beta,16alpha-di-O-acetyl-13beta,28-