Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
seed segments. The seeds are oval, flat, 10-13 mm long, and 8-10 mm wide with splitting between
each seed, leaving the pod-rim and forming a wing to the seeds.
9,33
Habitat and Distribution —
The plant occurs widely throughout the savanna belt of tropical
Africa. It adapts to a variety of soils, from loams to clay loams and sometimes friable clays over
laterite at altitudes from 60 to 2290 m. The mean annual rainfall is between 500 and 1270 mm. It
has been located in Ghana, Benin, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo,
Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola,
Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Ethnomedicinal Uses —
Entada
has been used in southern Africa for the treatment of severe
bronchitis and persistent coughs. A decoction of the roots is administered to alleviate arthritic pains.
482
According to Matt and Breyer-Brandjwik,
79
the plant is used in the treatment of miscarriage; the leaf is
used against fever and abdominal pain. The juice of the bark and of the cambium has been used as an
ordeal poison instilled under the eyelid. A weak solution prepared with roasted seeds has been applied
for eye inflammation. It is used in East Africa for sleeping sickness and malaria. In Burundi,
Entada
(
Umusange
) is burned, and the smoke is inhaled for the treatment of severe headache.
Constituents —
The root contains saponins and an alkaloid. Rotenone has been reported from
the species.
551
Pharmacological Studies —
The leaf infusion at a 1:1000 concentration has been shown to be
lethal to the goldfish
Carrasius auratus
after a 12-h exposure but not toxic to guinea pig at doses of
up to 5 g/kg.
551
The defatted methanolic extract has been evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity in
acute and chronic models of inflammation. The extract (50-200 mg/kg p.o.) exhibited dose-depen-
dent and significant inhibition of both the carrageenan-induced rat paw edema and granuloma tissue
formation in rats. The extract (50-200 mg/kg p.o.) was also found to inhibit the acetic acid-induced
vascular permeability in a dose-dependent fashion in mice.
552
Bioassay-guided fractionation of the dichloromethane root bark extract of the plant led to the
isolation of a diastereoisomer of the clerodane-type diterpene kolavenol with a trypanocidal activity
of IC
50
value of 2.5 μg/ml (8.6 μM) against
Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense
, the causative agent of
the acute form of human African trypanosomiasis.
553
ERYTHRINA SENEGALENSIS
Botanical Name —
Erythrina senegalensis
DC
