Cinnamomum tamala

TWAKPATRA
Tvakpatra consists of dried mature leaves of Cinnamomum tamala (Buch. Ham.) Nees & Eberm. (Fam. Lauraceae): a small evergreen tree upto 7.5 m high and occurs in tropical, sub- tropical Himalayas between 900-2300 m, often raised from seeds, sown in nursery, leaves collected in dry weather from about ten years old plant during October-March.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Patra, Varinga, Coca
Assamese : Tejpat, Mahpat
Bengali : Tejpatra, Tejpata
English : Indian Cinnamon
Gujrati : Tamala patra, Develee
Hindi : Tejpatra
Kannada : Tamalapatra, Dalchini Ele
Kashmiri : Dalchini pan, Tajpatra
Malayalam : Karuvapatta patram
Marathi : Tamalpatra
Oriya : Tejapatra
Punjabi : Tajpater
Tamil : Lavangapatri
Telugu : Akupatri
Urdu : Tezpat
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Leaves-12.5-20 cm long, 5-7.5 cm wide at the centre, 3 converging nerves from base to apex young leaves pink, petiole 7.5-13 mm long, margin entire, apex acute or accuminate, both surfaces smooth, stomata paracytic odour, aromatic, taste, slightly sweet, mucilaginous and aromatic.
b) Microscopic
Petiole and midrib-transverse section of petiole and midrib shows epidermis externally covered with cuticle, uniseriate, multicellular (1 to 3 cells), trichomes present, oil cells single or in group, isolated large stone cells, much lignified showing striations found scattered, most of the parenchymatous cells of cortex with reddish-brown contents, pericycle represented by a few layers of sclerenchymatous cells, stele more or less planoconvex as in the midrib of leaf, xylem on upper and phloem on lower side consisting of usual elements, present.
Lamina-transverse section of lamina shows dorsiventral structure, represented by palisade tissue on upper and spongy parenchyma on lower side, epidermis same as in midrib, externally covered with cuticle, below upper epidermis single row of closely packed palisade layer followed by multilayered, irregular, thin-walled cells of spongy parenchyma without intercellular spaces, idioblasts containing oil globules present in mesophyll and also in palisade, lower epidermis covered externally with cuticle, lamina intervened by several small veinlets: vascular bundles covered with thick-walled fibres on both side.
CONSTITUENTS – Essential oils (d-s phellandrene and eugenol).
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Madhura, Katu
Guna : Laghu, Picchila, Tikshna
Virya : Ushna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Kaphavitahara, Rucya, Arsoghna
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Citrakidi Taila, Kisisidi Taila, Vajraka Taila
THERAPEUTIC USES – Arsa, Aruci, Pinasa, Hrillisa
DOSE – 1-3 g of the drug in powder form.