Cassia Grandis

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

We have a tree that grows here in Florida and also in Central America (I believe that it is native to India) called Cassia Grandis. In Cental America is called "Carao" and the common name here is Rainbow Shower.

 

Here is a link to some pics of it:

http://www.greendealer-exotic-seeds.com/seeds/RainbowShower.html

 

The seeds are enclosed a long, oval, woody pod. The pod is crushed and soaked in water or milk and the resulting solution is drunk. It kind of smells like Geritol.... It is considered a great tonic for the blood and cleansing the system.

 

I wonder if anyone has ever heard of it or has any other information on the properties it has. I have not had a lot of luck finding this information the web.

 

Bob

[Guest guest]

> I wonder if anyone has ever heard of it or has any other information on the

> properties it has. I have not had a lot of luck finding this information

the

> web.

 

I found this......

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/cassia-fist.html

 

Cassia Fistula (U. S. P.)—Cassia Fistula.

" The fruit of Cassia Fistula, Linné " (U. S. P.) (Bactyrilobium Fistula,

Willdenow; Cathartocarpus Fistula, Persoon).

 

Nat. Ord.—Leguminosae.

 

Common Name And Synonym: Purging cassia; Fructus cassiae fistulae.

 

Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 87.

 

Botanical Source.—Cassia fistula is a tree growing from 20 to 40 feet high,

with many spreading branches toward the summit. The wood is hard and heavy.

The leaves pinnate, alternate, from 12 to 18 inches long, and deciduous; the

leaflets opposite or nearly so, from 4 to 8 pairs, the lower ones

broad-ovate, smooth, obtuse, or emarginate, polished on both sides, on short,

round petioles, from 2 to 6 inches long, and from 1 1/2 to 3 broad. The

flowers are large, fragrant, bright-yellow, and borne on long, slender,

smooth pedicels. The racemes are axillary, pendulous, simple, and 1 or 2 feet

long. The calyx is composed of 5 nearly equal, oblong, obtuse, smooth sepals.

The corolla consists of 5 petals, which are oval, unequal, concave,

spreading, and waved. The 3 lower filaments, much longer than the others,

have a double curve, but no swelling. The anthers on the 3 long filaments are

oblong, opening by 2 lines on the face, while the other 7 are clavate, with

pores at the small end. The ovary is filiform, smooth, cylindrical, curved,

and 1-celled, containing numerous seeds, The fruit is a woody, dark,

blackish-brown, cylindrical pod or legume, a foot or more in length, about an

inch in diameter, terete, smooth, blunt, indehiscent, filled with a viscid,

reddish-black, sweetish pulp, divided into many cells by hard, transverse

phragmata; the cells 1-seeded; and the seed oval, glossy, and somewhat

flattened (L.).

 

History.—Purging cassia inhabits Egypt and the Indies, and has become

extensively diffused in various tropical countries, as China, Hindustan, West

Indies, Brazil, etc. The part used in medicine is the fruit or pods, and

those are to be preferred which are heavy and new, and do not, when shaken,

make a rattling noise from the seeds being loose within them. The pulp should

be of a bright, shining, black color, and have a sweet taste, neither harsh,

from the fruit being collected before it is fully ripe, nor at all sourish,

which it is apt to become on keeping, nor at all moldy, which is frequently

the case when kept in damp cellars, or moistened to increase its weight (Ed.)

To obtain the pulp, the pods are pounded, so as to break their outer coat,

and then they are infused in boiling water, which dissolves the pulp; the

infusion is then strained, and evaporated to the proper consistence.

 

Description.— " Cylindrical, 40 to 60 Cm. (16 to 24 inches) long, nearly 25 Mm.

(1 inch) in diameter, blackish-brown, somewhat veined, the sutures smooth,

forming two longitudinal bands; indehiscent, internally divided transversely

into numerous cells, each containing a reddish-brown, glossy, flattish-ovate

seed imbedded in a blackish-brown sweet pulp; odor resembling that of

prunes " —(U.S. P.).

 

Chemical Composition.—-The pulp has a feeble, nauseous odor, a

mucilagino-saccharine taste, and contains, according to Henry, sugar, gum,

impure tannic acid, coloring matter, a gluten-like matter, and moisture. It

keeps longest when preserved in the pod. It is largely soluble in water, and

its active parts are taken up by alcohol.

 

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—-One or two drachms act as a mild and

effectual laxative; 1 or 2 ounces are cathartic, but excites nausea,

flatulence, gripings, etc. (Ed.). It tints the urine brown or green. It is

generally employed only in the electuary of senna.

 

Related Species.—Cassia moschata, Kunth (Cathartocarpus moschatus, Don).

Central and northern South America. Yields a purging cassia, resembling the

official, though not quite so uniformly straight, and is from a foot to

nearly 20 inches long, and of a light color. Its pulp is sweet,

subastringent, and of a reddish-brown color. A sandal-wood fragrance is

emitted when the crushed legumes are heated in a water-bath (Pharmacographia).

 

Cassia bacillaris, Linné filius (Cathartocarpus bacillus, Persoon).—Yields a

drug essentially corresponding with the preceding.

 

Cassia brasiliana, Lamarck (Cassia grandis, Linné filius; Cathartocarpus

brasiliana, Persoon; Cassia mollis, Vahl), Horse cassia. Brazil and Central

America. Larger than purging cassia legumes; sutures prominent, and pulp

astringent, bitter, and purgative. They are compressed, may be curved, and

have dividing veins running transversely.

 

Ceratonia siliqua, Linné.—Mediterranean countries. An evergreen tree bearing

purple, apetalous flowers, and producing a fruit known as St. John's bread,

somewhat resembling purging cassia. Employed in Europe in connection with

demulcents and pulmonary mixtures. Besides sugar and glucose, mucilage,

tannic acid, and proteids, the fruit contains free isobutyric acid

([CH3]2CH.COOH). A more recent analysis of Ceratonia siliqua is recorded in

the Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893, p. 131.

[Guest guest]

Thanks,

 

I saw that one. It seems like laxative is the use of this one. I never have that effect when I take cassia grandis, but the methods in that page are correct. I almost would like to have the pulp analyzed.....

 

Bob

I found this......http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/cassia-fist.html