History

Ashoka tree is cultivated almost throughout India up to an altitude of 750 m, in the central and the eastern Himalayas and in the Khasi, Garo and Lushai hills.

Morphology Description (Habit)

A small evergreen tree. The leaves are paripinnate and the leaflets 6-12, oblong and rigidly sub-coriaceous. The flowers are orange or orange-yellow, eventually turning vermillion, very fragrant, in dense axillary corymbs; the pods, flat, leathery, the seeds, 4-8, ellipsoid-oblong and compressed.

Principal Constituents

A steroidal component and calcium salt.

Pharmacology

The bark, which is the drug, is reported to have a stimulating effect on the endometrium and ovarian tissue and is useful in menorrhagia due to uterine fibroids, in leucorrhea and in internal bleeding. It is useful in all cases of uterine bleeding where ergot is indicated.