Uses of Alstonia scholaris (L.) BR.

Note: The traditional knowledge examples given below are just an indicative/illustrative sample. Herbal practices similar to the ones given below may also have been received from other people from same/ different parts of the country.

Uses from NIF Database

Chest Pain

Take one spoonful bark powder along with water - Kora Minnana, Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Headache

Extract juice from the bark (20g) and take it orally - Prishila Tuddu, Hazaribag, Jharkhand

Stomachache

Extract juice from the bark (20g) and take it orally- Prishila Tuddu, Hazaribag, Jharkhand

Gastric problems

Grind few leaves with black pepper. Take the paste orally before food- Indra Kanta Ojha, Sibsagar, Assam

Fever

Grind bark (50g) into a powder and take it with water thrice a day- Kutuva Birhorni, Koderma, Jharkhand

Skin disease

Apply the leaf juice topically - Arun Kumar Pandey, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh

Intestinal worms

Take the green leaf juice orally- Jagjit Bahadur, Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh

Diabetes

Take the root juice (150ml) orally- Maibum Lolito Meitei, Bishempur, Manipur

Vomiting

Take the decoction of root orally- Alice Kunjachan, Idukki, Kerala

Stomachache

Grind the fresh roots along with one black pepper. Take two spoonfuls of the paste twice a day for two days- Chhoti Devi, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand

Uses described in Literature

The bark is used to cure skin diseases and rheumatism20; the root juice is taken with milk to cure leprosy20; fresh bark is put in water to draw out the latex, which is taken orally in case of tuberculosis21; dried powder is administered orally to cure diarrhoea22; and bark extract is useful in case of intestinal worms23. ‘Ayush-64 cap./tab.’24, nprepared from the plant, is effective as an antimalarial compound both for treatment and prophylaxis. Fifteen patents have been found on its medicinal uses as an antipyretic25.