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Mengkunyit - Coscinium fenestratum (Gaertn.) Colebr - Menispermaceae [1]
Other names:
Tree turmeric, Daruharidra (Sanskrit), maramanjal (Malayanum)[1]
General information:
An Indo-Malaysian species that occurs at an altitude of around 350-1200 m. It occurs in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam[2]
Distinguish botanical characteristics:
Stem: 15 to 30 cm. or more in length, 2 to 8 cm. in diameter, straight or rarely slightly twisted, pale grey or greyish yellow with a quite smoothsurface, marked with longitudinal striations spaced about a mm spaced out.
Root: is 5 to 30 cm or more in length, 2 to 5 cm. in diameter, fairly longitudinally grooved with transversely cutsmooth surface, yellow; rough and fibrous texture; acrid in taste; no particular odour.
Flowers: yellow indivaricately branched unisexual in supra axillary inflorescence, fruits globose drupes, globose seeds, leaves simple,shiny and smooth above, minutely tomentose beneath[1]
Uses:
Root – dyeing[1]antidiabetic,anticancer, antimalarial[3]
Major/bioactive phytochemicals:
Alkaloid: Berberine, berlambine, dihydroberlambine,12,13-dihydroberberine, noroxyhydrastinine, Saponin[2]
References:
[1] Vijay et al. (2020. Pharmacogn J. 12(5): 1077-1085
[2] Anjali et al. (2012). Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 5(2):198-202
[3] Muhammad Taher et al.(2019). Natural Bio-actives Compounds, pp107-125.
SK & SZMS 2022
