Medicinal plant details
Terminalia belliricaRoxb.
(Bibhitaki)
| Common name | Bibhitaki |
| Habit | Tree |
| Habitat | Semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains |
| Parts used | Fruit |
Synonyms
| Sr. No. | Synonyms |
|---|---|
| 1 | Myrobalanus bellirica Gaertn. |
| 2 | Myrobalanus punctata (Roth) Kuntze |
| 3 | Terminalia biticaria Roxb. |
| 4 | Terminalia belirica Wall. |
| 5 | Terminalia attenuata Edgew. |
| 6 | Terminalia punctata Roth |
| 7 | Terminalia laurinoides Teijsm. & Binn. |
| 8 | Terminalia eglandulosa Roxb. ex C.B.Clarke |
| 9 | Buceras bellirica (Gaertn.) Lyons |
| 10 | Myrobalanus laurinoides (Teijsm. & Binn.) Kuntze |
| 11 | Terminalia bellirica var. laurinoides (Teijsm. & Binn.) C.B.Clarke |
| 12 | Terminalia myrobalana B.Heyne ex Roth |
| 13 | Myrobalanus taria Buch.-Ham. |
| 14 | Terminalia taria Buch.-Ham. |
| 15 | Myrobalanus tania Buch.-Ham. ex Kostel. |
| 16 | Terminalia moluccana Roxb. |
Taxonomical information
| Kingdom | Viridiplantae |
| Phylum | Streptophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Myrtales |
| Family | Combretaceae |
| Genus | Terminalia |
| Species | Terminalia bellirica Roxb. |
Vernacular names
| Sanskrit | Vibhita, Aksa, Aksara, Bibhitaki |
| English | Beleric Myrobalan |
| Hindi | Bahera |
| Kannada | Shanti, Shantikayi, Tare, Tarekayi |
| Marathi | Beheda |
| Malayalam | Thannikka |
| Bengali | Bayada, Baheda |
| Tamil | Thanakkai, Tanri, Tanrikkai, Tani |
| Telugu | Vibhitakamu |
| Urdu | Bahera |
Morphology
Large deciduous tree with 20-30 m in height. Bark which is 10-20 mm thick brownish-grey, smooth with vertically shallowed fissures. Leaves are simple, opposite or alternate, clustered at the twig ends, petiole 3-10 cm long, margins entire, pubescent when young on both sides, later it becomes glabrous. Flowers are sessile, pale greenish-yellow inflorescence with axillary spikes. Fruits are druped, globuse or ovoid, with slightly five ridged and 3 cm across
Distribution
Found throughout the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. Within India it is found throughout the plains and in the lower hills in Arunachal Pradesh and in the Western Ghats of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
Medicinal uses
Cough, tuberculosis, eye diseases, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, and dysentery, inflammation of the small intestine, biliousness, flatulence, liver disease and leprosy
References
| 1 | Saraswathi Motamarri, N., Karthikeyan, M., Kannan, M., and Rajasekar, S. (2012). Terminalia belerica Roxb.—A phytopharmacological review. Int. J. Res. Pharm. Biomed. Sci, 3, 96-99. |
| 2 | Vattakaven, T., George, R. M., Balasubramanian, D., Rejou-Mechain, M., Muthusankar, G., Ramesh, B. R., and Prabhakar, R. (2016). India Biodiversity Portal: An integrated, interactive and participatory biodiversity informatics platform. Biodiversity Data Journal, 4, e10279. |
| 3 | Singh, M. P., Gupta, A., and Sisodia, S. S. (2018). Ethno and modern pharmacological profile of Baheda (Terminalia bellerica): A review. Pharm Chem J, 5(1), 153-162. |