Family: Caesalpiniaceae
Synonym:Bauhinia linnaei Ali
Bengali/Vernacular name: Sada kanchan, Swetkanchan.
Tribal name: Dhub kanchan (Chakma), Aumbrong paing (Chak), Magong-aphal (Garo), Leyei-kaowling (Khumi), Thangba pang (Marma),O-kaw (Murang), Senpui (Pangkhoa), Sang-ra-pru (Rakhaing).
English name: White bauhinia, White mountain ebony, White orchid tree.
Description of the plant: An erect, small, much-branched shrub, up to 3 m high. Leaves simple, stipulate, leaflets 8-15 cm long and broad, ovate to rounded, deeply cleft from the tip to about one third of the length of the leaflets, base cordate, lobes acute. Inflorescence branched, lateral, and terminal, short racemes, consisting of 3-10 flowers; flowers snow-white. Fruit a pod, linear, 7-11 cm long.
Plant parts used: Leaf, bark, root.
Herbal uses: A fresh juice extracted from the roots of the plant is taken after having meals thrice a day (15 ml amount each time) for three days to treat jaundice.
Decoction of bark is used for the treatment of leprosy and small pox.
A fresh juice extracted from the leaves of the plant is taken thrice a day (three tea spoons amount each time) for three days to treat epilepsy.
A paste made with the leaves of the plant is used to treat mental disorder.
A fresh juice extracted from the roots of the plant is advised to take three times a day (two tea spoons amount each time) until the painful micturition is cured.
Paste prepared from the leaves of the plant is applied to treat skin disease.
Bark of the plant is used for the treatment of dropsy.
Distribution: The species occur in the forests of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Maulvi Bazar.
Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….
