Ethnobotanical Plants of Tripura

Hellenia specoisa

Family: Costaceae

Common name : Crepe Ginger, Wild Ginger

Bengali : Keu

Botanical description:

Rhizome :  tuberous.

Leaves : Simple, spirally arranged on the stem, oblanceolate or oblong, glabrous above,silky pubescent beneath with broad leaf sheaths.

Inflorescence: Spikes terminal, more or less globose.

Flowers white, large, fragrant, bracts bright red; stamen one, perfect,lip large with incurved margin.

Fruit:  Globose or ovoid capsule bright red, dehiscing loculicidal; seeds black with fleshy white aril.

Flowering &Fruiting: July-October

Parts used: Rhizome and stem

Medicinal use:

Tripuri, Chakma,and Halam communities of Tripura utilize different parts of Hellenia specoisa for an array of survival, diatery and healthcare needs:

(i)  Rhizome juice or paste has been used to treat fever, rash, asthma , anaemia, diabetes, skin diseases, rheumatism , bronchitis, and intestinal worms.[1,2,3]

(ii) It is mentioned in the Kama Sutra as an ingredient in a cosmetic to be used on the eyelashes to increase sexual attractiveness.[1]

(iii) The squeezed-out stem juice dropped into eyes to cure sore eyes.[2]

(iv) Rhizome paste is used as an ear drop to control infection.[2]

Diatery and Food uses:

It is good source of diatery suppliment in tribal communities:

(i) The young, tender shoots and stems are stripped of their outer layer, boiled and consumed  as gudok with berma(dried fish).

(ii) Crispy rhizome are pickled or cooked into traditional stew and flowers eaten raw or cooked.

Method of Preparation & Administration

(i) Crushed paste or dried powder of rhizome is taken orally to treat diabetes, worm infection & bronchitis.

(ii) Freshly extracted sap or crushed pultice of leaves and stem is used to treat skin diseases, cuts, wounds and high feaver.

(iii) Boiled juice of rhizome or stem is used to treat dysentery, urinary tract burning and cough.

Androgrsphis paniculata

Common name: Green Chiretta,Kalmegh

Family: Acanthaceae

Parts used: Stem, leaves,root

Botanical description:

Plant: An erect ,branched annual herb,stem quadrangular, dark green with longitudinal furrows and wings on the angles of younger parts and slightly enlarged at the nodes.

Leaves:  Simple, opposite decussate,glabrous, lanceolate, acute apex, entire margin.

Inflorescence: Axillary and terminal racemes or panicles.

Flowers: White with rose-purple spots on the petals.

Flowering & Fruiting time: December -April

Medicinal uses:

(i) Promotes digestion.

(ii) Protects liver and gallbladder.

(iii) Kills intestinal worms and support intestine.

(iv) Protect skin from pimples.

(v) Reduces swelling and cuts down exudation from capillaries.

(vi) Fights bacterial activity.

(vii) Promotes mucus discharge from the respiratory system.[6]

(viii) It boosts immune cell function , allowing the body to develop a more powerful defence against infections.[7]

(ix) It may help enhance insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.[7]

Ethnomedicinal use:

(i) Tripuri people use Androgrsphis paniculata to manage respiratory complications ,including asthma, bronchitis,tonsillitis,sore throat,common cold,and cough.[4]

(ii) Tripuri community use it to manage infections, jaundice,and diseases similar to cancer.[4]

(iii) It is used as a traditional medicine to treat diabetes,dysentery,enteritis,helminthiasis,herpes,peptic ulcer, skin infections ( topical use), snake-bites (topical use).[5]

Oroxylum indicum

Family: Bignoniaceae

Common name:

Kokborok : Thakurung,Kharing,Kering

Bengali: Khona

Parts used: Stem bark,root bark, seeds, leaves, tender fruits.

Botanical description:

Plant: A small or medium sized tree of maximum 12 mt high, bark soft light brown or grayish brown.

Leaves: Large, 90-180 cm long, 2-3 pinnate with 5 or more pairs of primary pinnae,leaf base swollen, leaflets glabrous.

Flowers: Reddish purple outside and pale, pinkish-yellow within ,numerous , in large erect racemes.

Fruits: Flat capsules,0.33- 1 m long and 5-10 cm broad and sword shaped.

Flowering time: June- July

Fruiting time: November

Ethnomedicinal use in Tripura:

The Tribal and other communities of Tripura valued Oroxylum indicum for the following properties:

(i) Jaundice and Liver disorder: A decoction or fresh juice of stem bark is administrated orally by Tripuri & Halam healers to treat jaundice and Liver diseases.

(ii) Gastrointestinal disorder: Bark juice is administrated orally for acute diarrhoea,dysentery, gastric ulcer and colic pain.

(iii) Rheumatism and Arthritis: The paste of root bark and stem bark is topically used or bark decoction is orally administered to relieve pain and swelling due to rheumatism and joint pain.

(iv) Respiratory illness: A decoction of bark or dried seeds is used to treat chronic cough,asthma, bronchitis and sore throat.

(v) Tonsillitis: The paste of seeds is mixed with fire soot and applied externally on the throat or neck to relief tonsil pain.

(vi) General weakness: A warm bath of  bark extratract boiled in water helps to combat body fatigue and general weakness for patients recovered from illness.

Holarrhena pubescens

Common name : Kurchi

Family: Apocynaceae

Botanical description:

Plant: Small perennial deciduous tree with watery latex; bark greyish brown.

Stem: Solid, cylindrical.

Leaves: Opposite, elliptic or elliptic oblong, acute, simple, glabrous, petiolate,petiole short.

Inflorescence: Terminal corymbose cyme.

Flowers: Bractate , bract minute, pubescent, regular, complite, actinomorphic, hypogynous.

Calyx : Sepals 5, gamosepalous, valvate.

Corolla: Petals 5, gamopetalous,twisted,salver shaped,  corona present inside the Corolla tube,twisted to left.

Androecium : Stamens 5, epipetalous,anther saggitate, filaments short.

Gynoecium: Carpels 2, syncarpous, connate at stigma and style, ovary 2,free.

Fruit: A pair of follicle,very long.

Parts used: Stem bark, leaves,fruits,  root bark and seeds

Ethnomedicinal uses:

(i) Unripe fruits or ripe fruit pulp is chewed to treat diarrhoea and dysentery.

(ii) Stem bark decoction or fresh bark juice is administrated orally to treat dysentery and diarrhoea.

(iii) Tripuri and Chakma traditional healers administrated paste of leaves or plants gum in empty stomach to treat jaundice.

(iv) Decoction of root bark or mixture of seed powder and bark decoction are used to lower feaver.

(v) A mixture of seed powder and bark decoction is a good tonic to tone up uterine muscle for women after childbirth.

(vi) A mixture of bark paste and cow urine or lime water is used to treat skin infections, ringworm and boils.[8]

(vii) A mixture of stem bark decoction and sunthi is used to check mucus and blood in bleeding piles.[8]

Aristolochia tagala

Common name : Kokborok -: Mochoi ma kang

Chakma: Harin-KanbShak,Bengali : Isharmul

Family :Aristolochiaceae

Parts used : Leaves, roots,stems,

Botanical description 

Plant: Twining herb, stem terete, slightly furrowed, glabrous.

Leaves : Simple,large, 10-20 cm long ,petiole 2.5-4cm, glabrous,ovate-cordate or oblong- cordate, papery, both surface glabrous, palmetly veined,3-5 pairs from the base,apex acute or acuminate.

Inflorescence  : Axillary raceme.

Flower :  Pedicel 5-8mm, perianth 3.6-5 cm, long , green in outside, hairy and purple in inside, article globular, perianth is like a curve tube,limb linear to lanceolate, anther ellipsoidal; carpels3-4, stigma 6 lobed,long.

Fruit:: Capsule, obovoid- globose to ovoid- cylindric. [9]

Flowering time  :  May- August

Fruiting time: Oct.- Dec.

Ethnomedicinal uses 

(i) Reang tribal healers use the leaves to heal boan injuries.

A mixture of leaves paste, raw egg and catechu are topically used over the fracture or injury ,then wrapped by jackfruit leaves, and left for heal.

(ii) A decoction of root or stem or water infusion is administrated orally to treat stomach aches,colicand digestive disorders.

(iii) Fresh root paste is applied topically over the snake bite wound to draw out venom, and root extract is given orally as anti- venomic tonic.

(iv) Pounded leaves applied to the head to treat feaver.[10]

(v) Local tribal midwives use a small dose of root extract to regulate irregular menstruation 

References 

(1) Flowers of India : Crepe Ginger - Hellenia specoisa, https: //www.flowersofindia.net

(2) Hellenia specoisa: SMPB Kerala, https://smpbkerala.in

(3) GC- MS analysis of bioactive compounds in ethanolic leaf extract of Hellenia specoisa; ResearchGate,www.researchgate.net

(4) Ethnomedicinal and indigenous healing practices of the Tripuri people of Northeast India : Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; vol.21,article number 70,(2025)

(5) Jarukamjorn K. and Nemoto N., Pharmacological aspects of Androgrsphis paniculata on health and its major diterpenoid constituent andrographilide ,Journal of Health Science,(2008) 54,no.4,379--381, https:// doi.org/10.1248/jhsg.54.370,2-s2.0-48749133288

(6) Kalmegh/Androgrsphis paniculata/ Bhunimbh, Benefits and uses;dabur.com

(7) Cook R., Androgrsphis paniculata: Traditional Use in Combating Infections and Supporting Overall Immune Health, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants; Perspective-(2023)Vol 12,Issue 4,Longdom Publishing SL, https://www.longdom.org

(8) Tellicherry tree: Holarrhena pubescens; Flowers of India; www.flowersofindia.net

(9) Aristolochia tagala in Flora of China, FOC Vol. 5 ,pp 269; https://www.efloras.org

(10) State Medicinal Plants Board ( SMPB) Kerala