कुन्दुरुकी – Boswellia serrata

 

Name – शल्लकी

Botanical name – Boswellia serrata

Description – Balsamiferous tree, nearly 7 m high; bark reddish or grey, peeling off in flakes; leaves alternate or nearly opposite, petiolate, imparipinnate with opposite sessile leaflets, very variable in size, shape and degree of pubescence, deciduous; racemes axillary or terminal, shorter than leaves; flowers small, white; drupes trigonous, containing three 1-seeded pyrenes; seeds pendulous, compressed.

Chemical Constituents- It contains boswellic acid, libanoresene, arabic acid with calcium and magnesium, bassorin, bitter principle and essential oil with pinene, dipentene and phellandrene. Bark contains carbohydrates, glucosides and Beta-sitosterol. Leaves contain essential oil. Resin yields acids, diterpene alcohol serratol

Use – Bark used in diarrhoea and skin troubles. Gum considered expectorant, diuretic and stomachic, used in diarrhoea and dysentery, pulmonary affections and cutaneous troubles: Shallakee – Bark, resin – Cardiac diseases, haemorrhage, cough, dyspnoea, polyuria, leucorrhoea, oligospermia, skin disease.