Ethnobotanical values of Mudmudika (Helicteres isora L.): A common medicinally important shrub of Odisha

Sanjeet Kumar

Regional Plant Resource Centre
Bhubaneswar
sanjeet.biotech@gmail.com

Odisha, with its great biodiversity, has a tremendous potential and advantage in the emerging area of herbal medicine. Mudmudika (Helicteres isora L.) is a common medicinal shrub among the populace of Odisha having potential to cure diabetic, weakness in new-born baby, diarrhoea and scabies. Ethnobotanical values, phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity of two aqueous and methanol extract of leaf (Helicteres isora L.) were studied. Mean value of zone of inhibition(mm) of aqueous and methanol extracts  were  15.28 , 12.34 against E.coli and 11.3, 8.41 against A,niger. Analysis of bioactive compounds revealed presence of phenolic compounds, glycosides,flavonoids, tannin and saponin. Etnobotanical survey revealed the uses of leaf extract against different fungal infections. The presence of tannin, flavonoids and saponin confirmed the claimed made by tribal community of Odisha. Present study highlighting the pharmacological confirmation against tribal claimed. Mudmudika (Helicteres isora L.) is a common sub-deciduous shrub or a small tree plant belongs to family Sterculiaceae of Odisha with many vernacular name(s) due to its diversity in the state, such as Kurkurbicha, Sinkri and Pita Baranda (Among Kolho of Simlipal biosphere reserve forest). It is very popular among the different tribal populace of Odisha due to its potent ethnomedicinal value(s) and unique fruit shape as screw, therefore it is also known as “Indian Screw Tree” in world. It is widely distributed in Odisha; frequently available in costal forest block of the state and the hill slopes of Eastern Ghat, throughout India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Java and Australia up to 1500 meter. It is a shrub with hairy branches. Leaves orbicular, obovate or broadly ovate or oblong with cordate at base, irregular serrate and apex acuminate. Flowers brick-red and irregular with zygomorphic. Calyx orange. Fruits are woody greenish rolled carpels, brownish black when ripe. Seeds wrinkled, truncate and angular. Tribal community of the state use its parts in various infections and diseases as a paste, oral, juice and with other plant parts in different aqueous formulations. Root juice is claimed to be useful in cough and asthma. Fruits are demulcent, mildly astringent and useful in griping and flatulence. Decoction of the root used to be mixed with turmeric powder and applied externally to treat cuts and wounds. Aqueous, ethanol and butanol extract of root has been reported to possess antihyperglycemic activity. Aqueous extract of fruit was reported agaimst avian myeloblastosis virus and human immunodeficiency virus. Bark extract shown hypoglycaemic activity. Fruit extract shown significant activity against Bacillus species, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella tuphi, Shigella sonei and Staphylococcus aureus. To the best of our knowledge may be no report is available on the antimicrobial activity of leaf.  As there is no reference in literature regarding the antimicrobial activity of leaf extract of Mudmudika.

Sanjeet Kumar

A comparative study on the density of two herbs at Sikharchandi Hills area and Dhauligiri Hills area, Bhubaneswar, Odisha; a consequence of rapid industrialization and urbanisation

 Sanjeet Kumar
 Department of Botany, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack
sanjeet.biotech@gmail.com

The rich diversity of life that inhabits the earth helps in maintaining a balanced environment. The perfect balance between the physical environment and the living organisms in nature is called ecological balance. Herbivores eat plants, and are themselves eaten by carnivores. The number of plants, herbivores and carnivores is maintained in such a way that there are enough organisms of different species to survive. However, various human activities cause interference and imbalance in nature. The population of India has crossed the figure of 1 billion and the world population is estimated to have touched the 6 billion mark. To meet the demand of food, housing and energy, environmental resources are being exploited at a fast pace. Environment has the potential to replenish most of its resources in a certain period of time. However, over-exploitation of resources and human activities has altered it leading to many environmental problems. We are aware of the importance of forests as a major natural resource. They provide wood for multiple uses, shelter to wild life, soil conservation and rainfall. Plants take up carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Less forest mean more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. With fast expansion of Urban Environment (Cities and Towns), there is large scale construction and development of roads and other infrastructures. This has lead to indiscriminate felling of trees leading to increase in heat waves and environmental pollution. It needs a planned approach for planting of trees which can give shade, provide fuel woods in terms of  dried leaves and  twigs to slum dwellers, provides various types of fruits in different seasons, help in controlling dust and pollution in the environment besides beautification and providing shelter and food for many animals like monkeys, birds, squirrel, insects etc that play very important role in ecological services. This needs a local Environment initiative to educate local people and the administration about selection, planting and after care of floras. This can bring environment sustainability and green house gas reduction, an approach towards climate change mitigation. In order to promote the idea, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has started a theme “Green Cities- Plan for the Planet.” It has been initiated in many Indian cities such as Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Delhi etc. and needs to be adopted in Bhubneswar, a fast expending city in Odisha for environmental suitability and improvement in the quality of life of the local people. Therefore we made an attempt to investigate the effect on density of flora at Sikharchandi where numbers of industry exist and having much effect of urbanization with the comparison of Dhauligiri hills area where no industry exist and having less urbanization effect.

Methodology

The study was conducted through the field survey and assessment of major flora, frequency of herbs per m ² area (Quadrate Sampling Density^3.4) followed by Barbour et. al., 1987 & Cox, 1990, around and on the hills area of Sikharchandi and Dhauligiri.

Study area

The study area is located at 20°21'30"
N and 85°49'40"E (Sikharchandi) in Khurda district of the state. Sikharchandi hill area is covered with dry deciduous forest along the Chandaka Industrial Estate and Chandaka sanctuary. It gives a ecofriendaly environment to particularly the populace of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, also it provides a shelters of different fauna particularly monkeys due to existatance of fruiting plants on this hill. Dhauli hills are located on the banks of the river Daya, south of Bhubaneswar. It is a hill with vast open space adjoining it, and has major Edicts of Ashoka engraved on a mass of rock, by the side of the road leading to the summit of the hill. Dhauli hill is presumed to be the area where Kalinga War was fought^1,2. Anacardium occidental L. is a dominant flora of this area.

Table 3: Quadrate sampling of two herbs in two different ecology with three experiments.

Site of sampling	Mean ± SD
Sikharchandi Hill-1	67.6 ± 20.90
Sikharchandi Hill-2	83.0 ± 28.18
Dhauligiri Hills area -1	212.3 ± 9.03
Dhauligiri Hills area – 2	221.0 ± 21.36

Results

The most dominant flora of Sikharchandi Hills area are Toddalia asiatica Lam., Naringi crenulata Roxb., Glycosmis pentaphylla Retz. and the most dominant flora of Dhauligiri is Anacardium occidental L. The density of Mimosa pudica L. and Sida acuta Burm. f. is highest in Dhaligiri than Sikharchandi. In 1 m² area, the number of plant species is highset with three experiment in Dhauligiri. There are numbers of industry and institute are exist around the area of Sikharchandi, such as Mahalaxmi rocks and minerals, Kurl-on pvt ltd.,Silicon Institute of Technology etc.The important common medicinal flora at sikharchandi are Hemidesmus indicus, Andrgraphic paniculata, Combretum roxburghii and Sida acuta and the most common wild edible fruits are Toddalia asiatica Lam. & Phyllanthus reticulates Poir.

Conclusion

The lowest number of plants at Sikharchandi in 1meter square area in comparison of Dhauligiri indicated the harmful effect of Industrlization and urbanisation.

References

1.     www.indiavideo.org/text/maurya-dynasty-kalinga-war-ashoka-49.php Kalinga War and its impact on Ashoks.

2.     Bimalendu Mohanty: Orissa yesterday, today and tomorrow, Nur Publishers Bhubaneswar, India, 2003. ISBN 81-883450-00-8.

3.     Cox, G. Laboratory manual. of general ecology 6th Ed. Dubuque, Iowa: WIlliam C. Brown; 1990.

4.     Barbour, M.G., J.H. Burk, and W.D. Pitts. Terrestrial Plant Ecology. Chapter 9: Method of sampling the plant community. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co.; 1987.

Evaluation of bioactive compounds of Bixa orellana L. (Kum Kum) a natural dye yielding plant of Odisha and test of its toxicity against Artemia salina

Sanjeet Kumar and P. K. Jena. Evaluation of bioactive compounds of Bixa orellana L. (Kum Kum): a natural dye yielding plant of Odisha and test of its toxicity against Artemia salina. Agriculture and Forestry Sciences. 2012, Proceedings of the 99^th Indian Science Congress. Pp.115.

Sanjeet Kumar and Padan Kumar Jena

Department of Botany, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack
sanjeet.biotech@gmail.com

Abstract

Bixa orellana L. (Kum Kum) is a cultivated plant, belongs to family Bixaceae. Leaves and fruits are used as dye among tribal community of Odisha. Dye is used as colouring agents in different food stuffs and plant parts are used as medicine among them. Experiments were designed to study the bioactive compounds presents in leaves and weather the leaf extract posses any toxic effect. The results revealed the potent bioactive compounds with no toxic action against Artemia salina L.

Objectives

Ø  Highlight the ethnomedicinal and pharmacological values using qualitative analysis of bioactive compounds with literature and field survey.

Ø  Evaluation of toxic activity against  Artemia salina to know the side effect on populace of tribal community of the state.

Methodology

Analysis of bioactive compounds was done by modified methods of Harborne (1973), Trease and Evans (1989). The BSA was carried out by Meyer et al., (1982) and Krishnaraju et al., (2005). The ethnobotanical survey was done to visit different forest divisions of Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest (SBR), Odisha, India.

Results

Table 1: Variations of bioactive compounds in different solvents in the leaves of

Bixa orellana L.

Bioactive compounds	Aqueous	Methanol	Acetone	Chloroform	Hexane	Ether
Tannins	Present	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
Anthraquinone	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
Flavonoids	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
Saponin	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
Phlobatanin	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
Terpenoids	Present	Absent	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent
Glycosides	Absent	Present	Present	Absent	Present	Present
Steroids	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent

Table 2: Toxicity of different extract of leaf of Bixa orellana L. against Artemia salina

Sample 5µl/ml	10:30 AM	12:30 PM	2:30 PM	After 24 hrs
Control	+4	+4	+4	+4
Hexane extract	+4	+4	+4	+4
Ether extract	+4	+4	+4	+4
Chloroform extract	+4	+4	+4	+4
Acetone extract	+4	+4	+4	+4
Methanol extract	+4	+4	+4	+4

 +4 indicate highly motile

Relevance of the study

Ø  The qualitative analyses of bioactive compounds highlight the pharmacological values of this plant.

Ø  The BSA showed it has no toxic effect; therefore populace of Odisha can use it without any dreadness of side effect.

Peculiar findings as a traditional medicine through field survey and literature

Ø  Leaf juice is used against snakebites among the tribal community of Kukurvuka village of Ghatkumar range (.......) of SBR.

Ø  Leaf juice is used in gonorrhoea among the Lohar community of Sanuski village of Gurguria range of SBR.

Ø  Leaves paste is applied to cure skin infections among the Kolhoo and Khadia tribe of SBR.

Ø  This plant was classified by the Food and drug Administration of the U.S.A as a “Color additive exempt of certification” (Paula et al., 2009).