Botanical Name: Nyctanthes Arbortristis
Family Name: Oleaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Nyctanthes
Species: N. arbor-tristis
Popular Names: Night Flowering Jasmine, Parijat, Harsinger, Queen of the Night, Tree of Sorrow
Parts Used: Flowers, leaves, seeds
Habitat: Cultivated in gardens across India
Description
Coral jasmine, commonly known as night jasmine, is an indigenous small tree, with a grey or greenish, rough and flaky bark. The shrub grows to a height of 10 metres. The simple leaves are opposite, with an entire margin about 6 to 12 cm long and 2 to 6.5 cm wide. The flowers are fragrant with a five-to-eight lobed corolla and orange-red centre, often seen in a cluster of two to seven. The petals are snowy white with dewdrops sitting on them. The fruit is flat, brown and heart-shaped to rounded-capsule, around 2 cm in diameter with two sections, each containing a single seed. Coral jasmine is native to Southern Asia, stretching across Northern Pakistan and Nepal through Northern India to Southeast Thailand. It is known as harsinghar and paarijat in Hindi; shephali, prajakta or prajakt in Sanskrit; shiuli in Bengali; pavazha malli in Tamil; singarei in Manipuri; paarijatam in Malayalam and ganga shiuli in Oriya. It is also referred to as the “tree of sorrow”, since the flowers lose their brightness in daytime.
Plant Chemicals
(+)- d-mannitol, tannin, glucose, glycerides of linoleic acid, oleic acid, lignoceric acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid and myristic acids, f3-stiosterol, tannic acid, methyl salicylate.
Uses and Benefits of Coral Jasmine
- Coral jasmine is anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, expectorant, bitter, tonic, febrifuge and a mild purgative.
- The flowers are bitter astringent, ophthalmic, stomachic and carminative.
- Night jasmine is very useful in treating constipation in children.
- The leaves are used in Ayurvedic medicine, to treat sciatica, arthritis, fevers, rheumatism and various painful conditions.
- Its leaves are also blended into a paste and used in skin related troubles, especially ringworm.
- The fresh leaves are boiled in mustard oil and used externally for treating ringworm.
- The leaf juice is mixed with common salt to treat intestinal worms.
- Coral jasmine is used in the treatment of fungal skin infection, dry cough, and bronchitis and as an antidote for snakebites.
- The seeds are crushed and the aqueous paste is applied externally on the piles. They are also useful in treating baldness, scurvy and infections of the scalp.
- The decoction of night jasmine flowers is used in treating gout.
- Patients with gynaecological problems are advised to take 3 fresh night jasmine leaves, with 5 black peppers.
- The decoction of its seeds is used as a hair tonic. Washing hair daily with this tonic helps to get rid of dandruff and lice.
- Coral jasmine is also used to treat anxiety, restlessness, headaches, gastritis, hepatitis, diarrhoea, vertigo and dysmenorrhoea.
