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Neem the Wonder Tree
NEEM OIL FACTS AND EXPERIENCES
TIPS ON USING NEEM OIL
AZADIRACHTIN COMPLETE PROFILE
NEEM OIL on CATTLE TICK
NEEM AND HEAD LICE
NEEM THE BITTER GEM
NEEM OIL FOR PEAR SAWFLIES
Neem Tree Profile
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| Neem Tree: A Profile by Dr K. Rao |
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| A SPECIMEN PROFILE OF AZADIRACHTA INDICA A. JUSS., FROM THE DATABASE OF PLANTS USED IN GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS (Data gathered by Dr Assumpta Sharon) AZADIRACHTA INDICA A. Juss. Family: MELIACEAE Botanical description: A lofty and fascinating tree, bearing small, white, sweet scented flowers and small yellowish green fruits. Distribution: Dry forests of Deccan and Carnatic; largely planted and runs wild all over India. Native to India and Burma; now naturalised in many tropical countries.. Vernacular Names: Eng.: Neem or Margosa tree; Hin.: Nim or Nimb; Sans.: Nimba, Vembaka; Kan.: Bevu, Kahibevu; Mal.: Vepa, Veppu; Tam.: Vepa, Vembu; Tel.: Yapa, Yepa, Vepa. Parts Used: All parts of the plant. Medicinal Uses: a) Ayurveda: The root bark and young fruits are used as an alterative, antiperiodic and as a tonic. Green twigs are used as toothbrushes for cleaning teeth and as a prophylactic for mouth and teeth complaints. The bark, gum, leaf and seed are used in snake bite and scorpion sting. The bark is used as a bitter tonic, astringent, antiperiodic, antipyretic and against nausea and vomiting. Gum is demulcent tonic in catarrhal affections. Leaves are used as poultice for boils. Decoction of leaves used as an antiseptic in ulcers and eczema. Dry flowers are stomachic. Seed oil is a stimulant, antiseptic, alterative in rheumatism and skin diseases (Indian Pharmacopoeia). Berries are purgative, emollient and anthelmintic. An extract of leaves is used in toothpastes. Neem oil is effective in the treatment of leprosy and skin diseases. b) Homoeopathy: Used against rheumatic pains. Pain in sternum and ribs, in the extremities and aches in hands and toes. Also against eczema, pemphigus and scabies. c) Unani: Neem finds use as a resolvent and blood purifier. Leaves expel wind, heal ulcers in urinary passages. Used as an emmenagogue and in skin diseases. Fruit is used as an astringent and in leprosy and bronchitis. Chemistry : The general class of natural products present in neem are triterpenes or limonoids. New limonoids are still being discovered in neem. Azadirachtin, salannin, meliantriol and nimbin are well known. The bitter constituent, the nimbin contains an acetoxy, a lactone, an ester, a methoxy and an aldehyde group. Nimbidin contains sulphur. The bark exudes a clean bright amber coloured gum which is collected in small tears or fragments. It contains a bitter alkaloid named "margosine". Leaves contain a small quantity of bitter substance of a similar character but much more soluble in water. This substance is a hydrate of the resin. Seeds contain 10% to 31% of a yellow bitter fixed oil with a strong disagreeable acrid taste. The volatile fatty acids probably consist of a mixture of stearic and oleic acids with a small amount of lauric acid. Flowers have been found to contain a flavonoid. Nimbicetin is identical to kaempferol. In the dried bark the same bitter components as in the seed oil have been found and in the pericarp of the fruit a bitter principle bakayanin was found (Narayanan and Iyer, 1967). Roy and Chatterjee (1921) analysed the oil and found the following constituents: Sulphur 0.427%; a very bitter yellowish substance obtained from the alcoholic extract of the oil, which is supposed to be an alkaloid; resins; glucosides and fatty acids Meliacins found in the seeds include gedunin, 7-desacetylgedunin, desace-tylnimbin and azedarachtin. The seed oil mainly contains nimbidin, nimbin and nimbinin, which also occur in the stembark (Chatterjee et al., 1948). Trunk bark yields 0.04% nimbin, 0.001 nimbinin, 0.4% nimbidin, and essential oil 0.02%. Tetracyclic triterpenoids and their derivatives have been isolated from the stem bark (Siddiqui et al.,1988) along with tricyclic diterpenoids (Ara et al., 1988). The toddy or sap contains glucose, sucrose, gums and colouring matter. Biological activity: Nimbin and nimbidin have been found to have antiviral activitiy. They affect potato virus X, vaccinia virus, and fowl pox virus. Neem oil suppresses several species of pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhosa Neem showed no antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus morgasi, Pseudomonas EO1 and Streptococcus faecalis. The growth of all strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Micrococcus pyogenes var. aureus was inhibited by a concentration of 1:800,000 and the growth of Shigella typhosa, Salmonella paratyphi and Vibrio cholerae was inhibited by a concentration of 2mg/l. Nimbidin from seed oil has shown potent anti-inflammatory activity in experimental animals. Neem oil (2.5ml), and nimbidin (200mg/kg body weight) lowered the blood sugar level by 24 and 26 per cent respectively at the 5th hour of feeding. Aqueous extracts of seeds and leaves contain sodium nimbinate (triterpene) which showed antifertility activity (Sharma and Saksena, 1959; Garg et al., 1970; Farnsworth and Waller, 1982). Chatterjee and Roy state on clinical evidence, that the margosates are powerful against protozoa; a solution of 1 in 10,000 kills the flagellate Prowazekia in five minutes. Other Uses: Neem oil is used for making several pharmaceutical preparations including emulsions, liquors, ointments, medicinal cosmetics, lotions, shampoos, creams, hair tonics, and gargles. The margosa oil is used for burning and for hydrogenation. Tree is considered a good purifier of air due to its large leaf area. Oil cake, obtained from seeds, is used as a fertiliser and manure. Leaves are used to repel insects and to preserve woollens. Extract of leaves is used in soaps. During small pox outbreak garlands made of seed stones and leafy branches hung on doors in the belief of keeping away infection. Bark yields tannin. Gum exudate from the bark is used for dyeing silk. |
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