2437

12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3

Bauhinia variegata L.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Bauhinia in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Sp. pl. 1: 375 (1753).

Bauhinia candida Aiton (1789), Phanera variegata (L.) Benth. (1852).

Mountain ebony tree, St. Thomas' tree (En). Indonesia: tali kancu beureum (Sundanese). Malaysia: tapak kerbau (Peninsular). Laos: doc ban. Thailand: piang phako, sieo dok khaao (northern), pho-phe (south-western). Vietnam: hoa ban.

Originating from southern China, Burma (Myanmar), northern Thailand, Laos and northern Vietnam, Bauhinia variegata is now cultivated throughout the tropics including South-East Asia.

On Leyte (the Philippines) the leaves are applied as a poultice to treat headache. In Burma (Myanmar) the root is employed as a remedy for dyspepsia and the bark as a tonic. In India the bark is credited with astringent, alterative and tonic properties and considered useful in the treatment of scrofula, skin diseases and ulcers. The flowers are consumed and credited with medicinal properties. In South-East Asia Bauhinia variegata is primarily known as an ornamental.

A tree up to 15 m tall, young branches greyish pubescent; leaves broadly ovate to circular, 6—16 cm x 6—16 cm, bifid up to 1/4—1/3, base cordate, apex lobes broadly rounded, 11—13-veined, glabrous above, glabrescent and glaucous below, stipules minute, 1—2 mm long, early caducous; inflorescence a raceme on older twigs, very short, few-flowered; flower buds fusiform, 3—4 cm long, finely hairy, hypanthium infundibuliform, calyx splitting spathaceous, petals obovate, subequal, 4—5.5 cm long, short-clawed, white or violet, fertile stamens 5, unequal, staminodes 5; fruit strap-shaped, 20—30 cm x 2—2.5 cm, obliquely striate, 10—25-seeded, dehiscent; seeds orbicular, flat, 1—1.5 cm in diameter. In a wild state Bauhinia variegata is found in deciduous forest at 500—1500 m altitude.

[88]Bhakuni, O.S., Dhar, M.L., Dhawan, B.N. & Mehrotra, B.N., 1969. Screening of Indian plants for biological activity. Part II. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 7: 250—262.
[121]Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co- operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I— Z) pp. 1241—2444.
[178]Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 774 pp.
[181]Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
[206]de Wit, H.C.D., 1956. A revision of Malaysian Bauhinieae. Reinwardtia 3: 381—539.
[247]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950—. Foundation Flora Malesiana. Rijksherbarium/Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, the Netherlands.
[731]Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
[965]Verdcourt, B., 1979. A manual of New Guinea legumes. Botany Bulletin No 11. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 645 pp.

J.W.A. Ridder-Numan

Ridder-Numan, J.W.A., 2003. Bauhinia variegata L.. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea