Butea monosperma

Butea monosperma and Butea superba belonging to the family, Fabaceae are most exploited medicinal plants by different tribal groups of Jharkhand. They are commonly found in the hills and jungles of Jharkhand and are used against arthritis, osteoarthritis, diarrhoea, dysentery, snakebite, male sexual debilities, sunstroke, leucorrhoea, anthelmintic and filariasis. Ethanolic exacts of the barks and flowers of both the plants did not exhibit significant antibacterial and antifungal activities. Phytochemical analyses revealed a total of 14 bioactive compounds from the barks and flowers of B. monosperma and B. superba.  Successful management of several diseases among the ethnic groups of Jharkhand, is indicative of presence of curative drugs without toxicity and side effects, and it could further the isolation and purification of active compounds contained in them.

Wound is a physical injury that causes breakdown in the protective function of the skin and the loss of continuity of epithelium with or without loss of underlying connective tissues. Proper healing of wound is essential for the restoration of normalcy in disrupted anatomical continuity and altered functional status of the skin. Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process of restoring cellular structures and tissue layers. It can be divided into 3 distinct phases: an immediate haemostatic phase, an early phase of re-epithelialization, a later phase of dermal repair and remodelling. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the efficacy of Butea monosperma leaves aqueous extract, isolated acidic ingredient and its newly synthesized amide analogue along with silver sulphadiazine as control on burn wound in Wistar albino rats. The histopathological examinations confirmed that the treated animals showed improved rate of epithelialization and wound contraction. On comparison among the impact of test compounds; it was further revealed that, the Butea monosperma leaves aqueous extract and synthesized amide analogue showed significant wound healing activity than isolated acidic ingredient.     

The plant Butea monosperma is a medium sized deciduous tree Belongs to family “Fabaceae” is called as “Dhak & Palas” in Hindi. This plant is used as Anti-inflammatory agent, Healing Power and Curative Properties, Diarrhoea and Dysentery, Skin Disorders, Diabetes, Leucorrhoea, Sore Throat Retention of Urine and Used as dye. In present study methanolic extract of plant is used for its anthelimintic property. The Anthelimintic activity was evaluated on adult Indian Earth worms (pheretima posthuma). Albendazole suspension was used as standard and antheliminitc potential of plant extract was evaluavated at three different concentrations. And found that methanolic extract of plant Butea monosperma contain significant and dose dependent antheliminitc activity. 

There is a growing demand for herbal cosmetics in the world market and they are invaluable gifts of nature. Therefore, the basic intention of the present study was to design a proper formulation contain the flower extract of Butea monosperma (FEBM) with improved physical parameter. To accomplish this intention the herbal gel was prepared and subjected to evaluation of the various parameters. The cosmetic gel formulation was designed by using ethanolic extract of FEBM in varied concentration (0.5, 1 and 1.5%) using carbapol 940 as gelling agent and evaluated for various parameters. The study was also undertaken to evaluate the stability of gels. The prepared gels were evaluated for various physicochemical parameters such as physical observation, homogeneity, pH determination, viscosity, spreadability, extrudability, drug content, rate of drug permeability, stability as per ICH guidelines and HPTLC fingerprint profiles. All developed gels showed good homogeneity with absence of lumps. All gels were found to be stable with respective to their pH, viscosity and drug content. The extrudability and spreadability were also found to be less variant after stability study. The gels of Butea monosperma are radically permeable from skin of rats as demonstrate by the in-vitro permeation study. However, further preclinical studies of gel need to evaluate further confirming the reported biological activities. There is also need to evaluate effects especially in human phase, would be beneficial to assess its usefulness more exactly.

In traditional medicine, there are many natural crude drugs that have the potential to treat many disease and disorders, one of them is Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub (Syn. Butea frondosa; Family Fabaceae) popularly known as 'palas', and commonly known as ‘Flame of forest’. Butea monosperma is a tree of tropical and subtropical climate found throughout the drier parts of India, often gregarious in forests, open grasslands and wastelands. It grows on a wide variety of soils including shallow, gravelly sites, black cotton soil, clay loams, and even saline or waterlogged soils. It is an erect, medium sized tree of 12-15 m high, with a crooked trunk and irregular branches. There are various species of Butea monosperma available over the world. The leaves 3 foliate, large and stipulate. Number of constituents belonging to imides, lactones, flavonoids, sterols, and alkaloids has been reported from various species of Butea. Butea monosperma is considered as a good source for products such as fodder, fuel, fibre, timber, gum or resin, dyestuff and traditionally in number of ailments. Pharmacologically Butea monosperma has been reported for various activities such as anthelmintic, anticonceptive, anticonvulsive, antidiabetic, antidiarrhoeal, antiestrogenic and antifertility, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, antibacterial, antistress, chemopreventive, haemaggultinating, hepatoprotective, radical scavenging, thyroid inhibitory, antiperoxidative and hypoglycemic effects and wound healing activities. The present review discusses the morphology, ethanobotany, phytochemical constituents, and traditional uses of each part of plants as well products of plant and pharmacological activities of each part of plant in details.