Acacia
Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd.; Family: Fabaceae
Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd.; Family: Fabaceae
DESCRIPTION
Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the bark, the gum and the fruit of the plant.
Flower and Fruit: The flowers are yellow and sweetly scented. Two to 6 inflorescence peduncles with capitula-like inflorescences grow from the axils of the upper leaflets. The flowers have short calyces with numerous overlapping sepals. The completely fused petals are almost twice as large as the sepals. The fruit is a 12 to 16 cm long and 1.5 cm wide pod. The pod is straight or lightly curved, flat to convex, and pinched in to create segments. It is matte-black to dark-red. The seeds are 7 x 6 mm and the same color as the pod.
Leaves, Stem and Root: Acacia arabica is a 6 m high tree with a compact, round to flat crown. Older branches are bare, younger ones measuring 15 to 20 mm in diameter are covered in hairy down. The bark is black and fissured; the coloring in the fissure changes to red-brown. There are stipule thorns at the nodes. The leaflets of the double-pinnate leaves are in 3 to 12 pairs on the bare to downy petiole, which is covered with glands The leaflets are oblong, blunt, and bare or thinly ciliate.
Habitat: The plant is indigenous to the Nile area, Ethiopia, East Africa, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and India.
Production: The bark is collected from plants that are at least 7 years old and then left to mature for a year.
Not to be Confused With: The bark of the Australian species Acacia decurrens, which is commercially available under the same name.
Other Names: Acacia Bark, Babul Bark, Wattle Bark, Indian Gum, Black Wattle
ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY
COMPOUNDS
Tannins
EFFECTS
The drug has an astringent effect.
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Unproven Uses: The drug is used as a decoction for gum disease and inflammations of the mucous membrane of the mouth and throat (rarely used today).
Indian Medicine: Acacia is used as a decoction in the treatment of diarrhea and vaginal secretions, and as an enema for hemorrhoids.
PRECAUTIONS AND ADVERSE REACTIONS
Large doses taken internally can lead to indigestion and constipation.
LITERATURE
Berger F, Handbuch der Drogenkunde, W Maudrich Verlag Wien 1964.
Hansel R, Keller K. Rimpler H, Schneider G (Hrsg.), Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5. Aufl., Bde 4-6 (Drogen), Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1992-1994.
