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 Botany
Paraiso is a shrub or small tree, usually
not more than 3 to 4 meters high. Leaves are bipinnate, occasionally tripinnate, 20 to 40 centimeters long. Leaflets are numerous, oblong-ovate, toothed, and 4 to 7 centimeters long. Flowers are fragrant, 5-parted, borne on panicles 10 to 20 centimeters long. Petals are about 1 centimeter long, oblong-spatulate, and pale lilac, while the staminal-tube is usually dark purple and about 7 millimeters long. Fruit is ovoid or subglobose, about 1 centimeter long.
Distribution
- Ornamentally cultivated in Manila and larger towns for its fragrant flowers.
- Nowhere naturalized,
- Introduced in earlier times from China.
Constituents
- Bark yields a bitter substance, named margosin by Cornish, and azadarin by Piddington.
- Study isolated an alkaloid from the bark of the roots - paraisine - soluble in petrol ether, benzene and chloroform.
- Study isolated an oil from the kernels, consisting of butyric and valeric acids 2.31%, stearic acid 21.38%, palmitic acid 12.62%, oleic acid 52.08%, linoleic acid 2.12%. arachidic and liquoceric acids 0.74%
Properties
- Root is very bitter and nauseating.
- Leaves considered anthelmintic, antilithic, diuretic, deobstruent, resolvent.
- Root considered resolvent, deobstruent, vermifuge.
- Bark is considered a bitter tonic, astringent, antiperiodic.
- Fruit considered emollient and purgative.
- Seeds are emetic, laxative, and antihelmintic.
- Expressed oil is pale yellow and bitter tasting, with a garlic-like odor.
- The oil is considered the most active medicinal part of the plant.
- Oil considered stimulant, antiseptic, alterative.
Parts
utilized
· Fruits, leaves, bark
of roots and bark of trunk.
· Collect fruits from November to April, leaves from May
to October, roots and bark the whole year round.
· Remove the outermost bark, rinse, and sun-dry. Cut into
sections.
Uses
Folkloric
- Root decoction or fluid extract used as anthelmintic.
- Root bark used as vermifuge; also used for intermittent fevers and dysentery.
- Root bark used in America as a cathartic and emetic.
- In India, before quinine, root bark used for malaria.
- Infusion of bark used as febrifuge especially for periodic fevers; also, for thirst and nausea.
- Poultice of bark used in leprosy and scrofulous ulcers.
- Leaves used in a variety of forms - poultice, wash, ointment or liniment - as external applications to ulcers and skin diseases
- Crushed leaves used as poultice for boils and sores.
- Internally, infusion of fresh leaves used as a bitter vegetable tonic and alterative. (The stools noticed to become a brilliant yellow after use.) Infusion also used for chronic malarial fevers; and as a powerful alterative for chronic syphilitic infections.
- Decoction of leaves used for ; also, for hysteria.
- Juice of leaves used internally as anthelmintic, antilithic, diuretic, and emmenagogue.
- Decoction of leaves used as astringent, anthelmintic and stomachic.
- In Sidh, poultice of leaves used for sprains.
- Paste of flowers used to destroy headlice and associated scalp eruptions. Also, used for prickly heat.
- Poultice of flowers and leaves applied for nervous headaches.
 - Fruit used as purgative and emollient; useful for intestinal worms, urinary affections and piles.
- Fruit is considered both tonic and poisonous, and used for leprosy and scrofula; the fruit pulp used as anthelmintic. (The pulp of the fruit, mixed with grease, is reported to kill dogs.)
- Seeds are emetic, laxative and anthelmintic; in Indo-China, used for typhoid fever and urinary retention.
- Oil used for syphilitic sores and indolent ulcers; also, for leprosy, suppurating scrofulous glands and rheumatism.
- Oil used as application for erysipelas, scrofula, and various skin diseases; also, as parasiticide in various cutaneous affects as ringworm and scabies.
- Internally, the oil used for chronic malarial fevers, syphilis, and leprosy.
- In Mauritius, the root bark is used as anthelmintic; in Algeria, as tonic and antipyretic; elsewhere, the heartwood is used to relieve asthma, as emetic or as emmenagogue.
Others
• Insecticidal: Leaf extract has insecticidal property; repels insects in clothing. Powdered dust of fruit, crude extract of wood and bark are also insecticidal.
Studies
• Antibacterial:
(1) Study showed the leaves of M. azedarach are effective against both gram positive and gram negative strains of bacteria. (2) Methanol extract of MA flowers showed potent antibacterial action in
rabbits with S aureus skin infection. (3) A formulated cream contain Melia azedarach flowers showed a strong potential to cure bacterial infections in young children, comparable to neomycin skin ointment.
• Contraceptive:
Ethanolic extract of MA roots prevented pregnancy in 60-75% of female
rats with decreased rate of implantation.
• Antioxidant: (1) Study
showed the leaves of MA to possess an erythrocyte protective activity
against drug-induced oxidative stress. (2) Study showed the extract of Melia azedarach, which contains the highest amount of phenolic compounds, exhibited the greatest anti-oxidant activity compared to A. indica.
• Antifungal:
Extracts from different parts of MA exhibited fungistatic activity against
A flavus, D phaseolum, F oxysporum, F solani, among others. The ethanolic seed extract showed to be the most active.
• Anthelmintic:
Drupe extracts of MA in Argentina showed better activity against tapeworm
than standard piperazine phosphate used for Cestodal infections.
• Antiviral: Extract
of leaves of MA isolated a limonoid which showed antiviral activity
against vesicular stomatitis and herpes simples virus.
• Anti-lithiasis:
Study of aqueous extract of MA showed to be effective against ethylene
glycol-induced nephrolithiasis in albino rats.
• Anti-Folliculogenesis:
Study concludes the polar and non-polar fractions of A indica and M azedarach seed extracts significant reduced the number of follicles in rats, with maximum reduction occurring with the Azadirachta extract.
• Immunomodulatory:
Leaf extract from M azedarach L. inhibited phagocytosis of opsonized sheep erythrocytes and the respiratory burst triggered by post-receptor stimuli in human monocytes.
• Antioxidant / Hepatoprotective:
Study of the antioxidant and antihepatotoxic activities of the biherbal ethanolic extracts of M azedarach and Piper longum showed
potent antihepatotoxic activity against carbon tetrachloride-induced acute toxicity in rat liver. The effect was probably related to its marked antioxidant activity.
• Larvicidal:
Ethanolic extract of Melia azedarach showed effective larvicidal activity against Anopheles stephensi, Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti. Results suggest a potential use as larvicidal agent to control mosquito populations.
• Hepatoprotective:
Study of a methanolic leaf extract of Melia azedarach against paracetamol-induced heptatic damage in rats showed significant hepatoprotective activity.
• Anti-Ulcer:
Study of aqueous extract of leaves of Melia azedarach on anti-ulcer activity in aspirin-induced and pylorus-ligated rate showed antiulcer effects comparable to the standard drug Omeprazole.
• Anti-Fertility:
Study of Melia azedarach seed extract in adult cyclic Wistar rats
showed a reduction in fertility index and average number of embryos in mated rats with associated histological changes. Results suggest the plant extract has a potential use in a rodent control program.
Toxicity
• Report on Human Poisoning:
Review of Chinese medical literature reports that human M. azedarach poisoning occur when 6 to 9 fruits, 30 to 40 seeds, or 400 g of bark are consumed. Symptoms
occur within 4-6 hrs, or as short as 1/2 hour, consisting of weakness, myalgia, numbness and ptosis. M azedarach poisoning may result in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory or neurological effects, and death in severe cases.
• Case Report on a Fatality:
There have been scattered reports of human fatalities and non-fatal toxicities: (1) A woman
who died after a bark decoction of M azedarach taken for dysmenorrhea. (2) A fatality from a bark decoction enema. (3) Illnesses from decoctions and infusions causing stomatitis, hematemesis, oliguria.
• Animals:
Pulp of seeds is fatal to dogs.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
