Buteae Semina, I.C.A., Butea Seeds.
Related entries: Butea Gum - Santonin
Butea seeds are the product of Butea frondosa, Roxb. (N.O. Leguminosae), a tree indigenous to India. The seeds are flat and reniform in shape, from 25 to 38 millimetres long, 16 to 25 millimetres wide, and 1.5 to 2 millimetres thick. The seed-coat is reddish-brown in colour, glossy, and wrinkled, and encloses two large, leafy, yellowish cotyledons. The hilum is conspicuous, and situated near the middle of the concave edge of the seed. The odour is faint, and the taste slightly acrid and bitter.
Constituents.—The chief constituents of butea seeds are about 18 per cent. of fat, 19 per cent. of albuminoid substances, and 6 per cent. of glucose. The seeds yield, on incineration, about 5 per cent. of ash.
Action and Uses.—Butea seeds possess aperient and anthelmintic properties, and are said to act as a rubefacient when pounded with lemon-juice and applied to the skin. They are used, in India and the Eastern Colonies as an equivalent of santonin.
Dose.—6 to 12 decigrams (10 to 20 grains).
PREPARATION.
- Pulvis Buteae Seminum, I.C.A.—POWDER OF BUTEA SEEDS.
- Soak butea seeds in water, carefully remove the integuments; then dry the kernels and reduce them to powder. Dose.—6 to 12 decigrams (10 to 20 grains).
