Saraca asoca
Saraca asoca
Author : (Roxb.) de Wilde
Family : Caesalpiniaceae

Habit: Small tree
Sanskrit: Asokah, Gatasokah
English: Ashoka
 
Description
A handsome, evergreen tree, 6-10 m tall, with horizontally spreading branches and dense crown, dark-brown to almost black, rough bark with raised horizontal lines of lenticels, alternate, paripinnate, glabrous, leaves, red when young, 3-6 pairs of oblong-lanceolate to oblong leaflets, dropping when young, fragrant, orange to scarlet red flowers, black, compressed, pods tapering at both ends containing 4-8, slightly compressed, ellipsoid-oblong, shiny and glabrous seeds.
Useful part

Bark, leaves, flowers, seeds
Medicinal Uses
fever, burning sensation, ulcers, dysentery, uterine affections, leucorrhoea, pimples, stomach pains, syphilis, piles, burning sensation, bleedings, dysentery, scabies, inflammations, bone fractures
Major chemical constituents

(-) epicatechin, procyanidin β 2,11’-deoxyprocyanidin B, (+) catechin, (24,?)-24-methyl-cholesta-5-en-3β-ol (22E, 21?)-24-ethylcholesta-5, 22 dien-3β-ol, (24?)-24-ethylcholesta-5-en-3β-ol, leucopelargonidin-3-0-β-D-glucoside, leucopelargonidin, leucocyanidin, oleic, linoleic, palmitic & stearic acids, β-sitosterol, quercetin, kaempferol-3-0-β-D-glucoside, quercetin-3-0-β-D-glucoside, apigenin-7-0-b-D-glucoside, pelargonidin-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside, palmitic, stearic, linolenic, linoleic, β- and γ-sitosterols, leucocyanidin, gallic acid, catechol, (-) epicatechol