Khadir, Khair

Biological Source

Khadira consists of dried pieces of heart-wood of Acacia catechu (Linn. f.) Willd. (Family - Leguminosae), a moderate sized tree, found mostly in dry parts of India.

Synonyms

Sanskrit :- Gayatri

Assam :- Kharira, Khara, Khayar

Bengali :- Khera, Khayera

English :- Black catechu, Cutch tree.

Gujrati :- Khair, Kathe, Kher

Hindi :- Khair

Kannada :- Kaggali, Kaggalinara, Kachinamara, Koggigida

Kashmiri :- Kath

Malayalam :- Karingali

Marathi :- Khaira, Khair

Oriya :- Khaira

Punjabi :- Khair

Tamil :- Karungali, Karungkali

Telugu :- Chandra, Kaviri

Urdu :- Chanbe Kaath

Description

A) Macroscopic

Heart-wood, light red, turning brownish-red to nearly black with age, attached with whitish sapwood, fracture hard, taste, astringent

B) Microscopic

Transverse section of heart-wood shows, numerous, uni-to bi-seriate medullary rays, vessels occurring isolated or in small groups of two to four, xylem fibres with narrow lumen occupying major portion of wood, xylem parenchyma usually predominantly paratracheal, forming a sheath around vessels, wood consists of crystal fibres with 14-28 segments, each having one prismatic crystal of calcium oxalate, a few tracheids with scalariform thickening, some of cells, including vessels, filled with brown content, prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate present in a number of cells throughout the wood.

Powder - Brown coloured, under microscope shows a number of xylem fibres, vessels, crystal fibres, prismatic crystals of calcium exalate.

Identity, Purity and Strength

Foreign matter :- Not more than 2 per cent,

Total Ash :- Not more than 2 per cent,

Acid-insoluble ash :- Not more than 1.2 per cent,

Alcohol-soluble extractive :- Not less than 1 per cent,

Water-soluble extractive :- Not less than 3 per cent,

Active Constituents

Catechin, catechu-tannic acid and tannin.

Properties and Action

Rasa :- Tikta, Kasaya

Guna :- Laghu, Ruksa

Virya :- Sita

Vipaka :- Katu

Karma :- Krmighna, Kushaghna, Medohara, Raktasodhaka, Kaphapittahara, Dantya.

Important Formulations

Khadirarishta, Erimedadi Taila, Khadiradi Gutika

Therapeutic Uses

Sotha, Kustha, Prameha, Vrana

Dose

20-30 g of the drug for the decoction.