developing from the base of the plant can be done from second year onwards. Tree is to be
grown as single stemmed one. Flowering and fruiting commences from fourth year onwards.
At the end of tenth year, the tree can be cut and heartwood collected (Prasad et al, 1997).
Properties and Activity
Heartwood contains kaempferol, dihydro kaempferol, taxifolin, iso rhamnetin(+)-
afzelchin, a dimeric procyanidin, quercetin, (-)epi-catechin, (-)catechin, fisetin, quercetagetin
and (+)-cyanidanol. The main constituent of heartwood is catechin and catechu tannic acid.
Catechin is a mixture of at least four isomers and L(-)epicatechin has been isolated and
characterised (Rao et al,1948; Husain et al,1992).
The bark is anthelmintic, antipyretic, antiinflammatory and antileprotic. The flowers
are antigonorrhoeic. The cutch from wood is anthelmintic, tonic and aphrodisiac. Bark and
cutch are antidiarrhoeal, astringent and stomachic. Cyanidanol is hepatoprotective. The wood
is hypoglycaemic, antiinflammatory and hypotensive. The stem is spasmolytic and antiviral
(Husain et al, 1992).