KANCANARA
Kancanara consists of the dried, stem bark of Bauhinia variegata Blume (Fam. Leguminosm): a medium sized tree occurring in sub-Himalayan tract extending eastwards to Assam, Eastern, Central and South India.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Kancanaraka
Assamese : Kancan, Kanchan
Bengali : Kanchana, Rakta Kanchana
English : Mountain Ebony
Gujrati : Champakati, Kanchnar, Kachnar
Hindi : Kachanar, Kanchanar, Kachnar
Kannada : Keyumandar, Kanchavala
Kashmiri : Kalad
Malayalam : Chuvanna Mandharam
Marathi : Kanchana, Raktakancana
Oriya : Kachana, Kaniara
Punjabi : Kanchnar
Tamil : Sigappu mandarai, Sihappu mantarai
Telugu : Deva Kanchanam
Urdu : —
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Bark, dark brown, sometimes with silvery patches, rough, compact, exfoliating in woody strips and scales, outer surface with small transverse and longitudinal cracks, internal surface white, taste, astringent
b) Microscopic
Transverse section of mature stem bark shows a wide stratified cork, outer cork composed of thin-wailed, slightly compressed, yellow brown cells followed by a number of layers of brown coloured cells, inner cork composed of transversely elongated orange brown cells, cork interrupted at certain places due to formation of rhytidoma, some secondary cortex composed or 15 or more rows or transversely elongated to circular, thin-walled, parenchymatous cells, some secondary cortex cells contain orange brown contents: groups of stone cells found scattered in this region occasionally arranged in 1-7 or more tangential rows, pericyclic fibres, thick-walled with narrow lumen, scattered in secondary cortex in singles or in groups, secondary phloem consists of sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma and fibres traversed by funnel shaped medullary rays , phloem fibres arranged in radial rows throughout phloem region, prismatic and rhomboidal crystals or calcium, oxalate abundantly found in phloem and secondary cortex regions, very rarely found in cork cells, cluster crystals also present in secondary cortex and secondary phloem, crystal fibres also found in secondary phloem. Powder – pinkish, under microscope showing abundant crystals of calcium oxalate, sc1ercids in singles or in groups with wide lumen, bits of fibres, cork and secondary cortex cells, containing coloured content, and numerous crystal fibres
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 11 per cent, Appendix 2.2.3.
Acid-insoluble ash Not more than 0.2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.4.
Alcohol-soluble extractive Not less than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 6 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.
CONSTITUENTS – Tannins.
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Kasaya
Guna : Laghu, Ruksa
Virya : Sita
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Dipana, Grahi, Tridosahara, Gandavrddhihara
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Kancanaraguggulu
THERAPEUTIC USES – Apaci, Gandamala, Krmiroga, Vrana, Gudabhramsa
DOSE – 20-30 g of the drug for decoction.
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