Disclaimer : This databank is curated from literature and may not claim for any medications or directly use of plants without any prior knowledge or consultation of physician.



Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family

MS040 : Indigofera trita L. f.

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Melghat's Flora's Serial No. : 141  
Class : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order : Fabales
Family : Fabaceae / Leguminosae - Pea family
Genus : Indigofera L. - indigo
Species : Indigofera trita L. f. - Asian indigo
Plant Location in Melghat : On westlands around villages, bunds of fields  
Plant Category : Shrubs  
Plant's Current Status : UNCOMMON  
Plant Family : Fabaceae  

 
Plant Common Name : Asian Indigo, Three-leaved indigo • Tamil: punal-murunkai • Telugu: jidi vempali • Kannada: goramti nili
 
Synonym : Galega frutescens Mill.
Indigofera carinata De Wild.
Indigofera heterophylla C.Presl
Indigofera laevis Rydb.
Indigofera macilenta Standl.
Indigofera oxycarpa Desv.
Indigofera quartiniana A.Rich.
Indigofera rosei Rydb.
Indigofera subulata Griseb.
Indigofera tephrosioides Micheli
Tephrosia frutescens (Mill.) DC.


Description : Erect, woody herbs or shrubs, 30-200 cm high; branches erect to horizontal, pinkish to light green, coarsely strigose. Leaves pinnately trifoliate; very rarely 5, opposite, 1-4 x 0.5-02.5 cm, elliptic sometimes obovate, obtuse to cuneate or rounded at base, obtuse to rounded or sometimes emarginated and mucronate at apex, adpressed pubescent on both surfaces, sometimes glabrous above especially when the leaflets are small; rachis 5-12 mm long, petioles 1-2.5 cm long, canaliculate above; stipules 1-2 x 0.3-0.5 mm, narrowly triangular, hairy outside. Racemes 1.5-4.5 mm long, sessile, axillary; rachis striate, adpressed strigose, 15-30-flowered. Flowers pink to brick red, 4-5 mm long; bracts 1-1.5 mm long, narrowly triangular, caduceus; pedicels up to 1.2 mm long. Calyx adpressed white pubescent, cup 0.5-1 mm long, teeth 1-1.5 x 0.5 mm, narrowly triangular. Standard petals 3.5-4.5 x 3-4 mm, orbicular, sometimes broadly obovate, rounded and mucronate at apex, adpressed strigose on the back; wing petals 3-4 x 1 mm, glabrous, ciliate along margins; keel petals 3-4x1-1.5 mm, adpressed strigose outside towards the tip, ciliate along margins, lateral spur ca 0.6 mm long. Staminal sheath 3-4 mm long; anthers ca 0.5 mm long. Ovary ca 3 mm long, linear, glabrous, up to 10-ovuled; style 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous. Pods 15-30 x 1.5-2.5 mm, deflexed to spreading, straight, subtetragonous sharply beaked, strigose, ash-grey to pinkish; seeds 6-10, ca 2 x 1.5 mm, subtetragonous, yellow, dark-brown, smooth.
 
Curated Medicinal Use / Activity : The plant is used as Anti-tumor (Nadkarni et.al.2000), Hepatoprotective, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities(Senthilkumar et al., 2008). Treat diseases such as rheumatism, arthritis, inflammation, tumor and liver diseases.
 
Plant's Phytochemicals : phthalic acid
hexadecane
Squalene
Ricinoleic acid
Oleic acid
N-Hexadecanoic acid

Reference : ~ Dhore MA and Joshi PA; "Flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; Directorate, Project Tiger, Melghat (1988); PMID :