ChaulmoograHydnoccarpus anthelminthicus
Pierre
FLACOURTIACEAE
---->Reaching a height of 50 to 60 feet, the chaulmoogra tree bears brown, velvety, round fruit and irregular grayish seeds that are angled with blunt ends. Chaulmoogra oil can also come from Tarak-togenos kurzii, an allied species.
---->Leprosy. The word has struck terror in human hearts since the beginnings of recorded history. As carriers of an incurable disease, thought to be highly communicable, lepers have been outcasts. Small wonder, for the ravages of leprosy were horrifying-in advanced cases, faces would be eaten away, bodies covered with rotting sores, fingers and toes falling off. At various periods of European history victims were killed, or required to wear bells so people could avoid them, or isolated in nightmarish leper colonies.
---->And yet a treatment has existed for thousands of years. Ancient Hindu and Chinese documents described an oil that was effective against the disease, and reports of the treatment occasionally reached Western ears. Not until about the middle of the last century, however, was the miraculous chaulmoogra oil taken seriously by Western physicians; chaulmoogra was investigated and tested, and soon it was being imported from China. But the supply was severely limited, and its source remained a mystery.
---->In 1920, an adventurous botanist named Joseph Rock arrived in Singapore to begin his search for the tree that was said to be the source of the oil. He knew the chaulmoogra tree existed, but he did not know what it looked like, where it grew, or how it yielded the valuable oil. To find out, he wandered Far Eastern hinterlands, climbing mountains and exploring jungle lowlands. Finally he found seeds for sale in native markets in India. They came, he found, from a tall, leathery-leaved tree with large white flowers (in fact, three species supplied the seeds, the most important of which was later called H. wightiana). Rock collected a large supply of seeds and sent them to Hawaii, where a plantation was established to supply the world with chaulmoogra oil.
---->Rock himself, having become enthralled by the Orient, returned to the Far East and spent nearly 30 years in the mountainous region near the Chinese-Tibetan border. He sent thousands of unknown plants and birds to Western museums and botanical gardens, and eventually he translated more than 8,000 books from the obscure Na-Khi language of the region into English. Driven out by the Chinese Communist revolution, he went to Hawaii, where he died in 1962.
---->Chaulmoogra contains strongly antibacterial chemicals, two of which, hydnocarpic and chaulmoogric acids, are responsible for destroying the bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae, that causes leprosy. In Indian medicine, the oil has also been used to treat intestinal worms and skin diseases. In many places today, the ingredients of chaulmoogra oil, modified by chemists, are still used to cure early cases of leprosy-advanced cases do not yield to the treatment -but they have generally been replaced by synthesized sulfones.
PARTS USED
---->Seed.
USES
---->According to a pre- Buddhist legend, a Burmese king stricken with leprosy voluntarily exiled himself to the jungle. There, he chose to reside in a hollow tree and heal himself by eating the fruit and leaves of Taraktogenos kurzii, or the "Kalaw" tree. Chaulmoogra was later identified as a source of chaulmoogra oil, an age-old leprosy treatment.
---->A physician is reported to have used chaulmoogra oil in ancient Egypt. Another early reference to the oil was made in the writings of the Sushrata Samhitas, dating back to 600 B.C. in India. The oil has long been widely employed as an accepted treatment for leprosy in China and India. Americans sought out chaulmoogra in the early 20th century until the development of a synthetic anti-leprosy medication in 1941. Botanist Joseph F. Rock brought the oil to the United States when he returned from an expedition in the hinterlands of the East that had been sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In recent times, the efficacy of chaulmoogra in treating leprosy has been challenged.
HABITAT AND CULTIVATION
---->Chaulmoogra is native to the tropical areas of Malaysia and the Indian subcontinent.
---->Reaching a height of 50 to 60 feet, the chaulmoogra tree bears brown, velvety, round fruit and irregular grayish seeds that are angled with blunt ends. Chaulmoogra oil can also come from Tarak-togenos kurzii, an allied species.
---->Leprosy. The word has struck terror in human hearts since the beginnings of recorded history. As carriers of an incurable disease, thought to be highly communicable, lepers have been outcasts. Small wonder, for the ravages of leprosy were horrifying-in advanced cases, faces would be eaten away, bodies covered with rotting sores, fingers and toes falling off. At various periods of European history victims were killed, or required to wear bells so people could avoid them, or isolated in nightmarish leper colonies.
---->And yet a treatment has existed for thousands of years. Ancient Hindu and Chinese documents described an oil that was effective against the disease, and reports of the treatment occasionally reached Western ears. Not until about the middle of the last century, however, was the miraculous chaulmoogra oil taken seriously by Western physicians; chaulmoogra was investigated and tested, and soon it was being imported from China. But the supply was severely limited, and its source remained a mystery.
---->In 1920, an adventurous botanist named Joseph Rock arrived in Singapore to begin his search for the tree that was said to be the source of the oil. He knew the chaulmoogra tree existed, but he did not know what it looked like, where it grew, or how it yielded the valuable oil. To find out, he wandered Far Eastern hinterlands, climbing mountains and exploring jungle lowlands. Finally he found seeds for sale in native markets in India. They came, he found, from a tall, leathery-leaved tree with large white flowers (in fact, three species supplied the seeds, the most important of which was later called H. wightiana). Rock collected a large supply of seeds and sent them to Hawaii, where a plantation was established to supply the world with chaulmoogra oil.
---->Rock himself, having become enthralled by the Orient, returned to the Far East and spent nearly 30 years in the mountainous region near the Chinese-Tibetan border. He sent thousands of unknown plants and birds to Western museums and botanical gardens, and eventually he translated more than 8,000 books from the obscure Na-Khi language of the region into English. Driven out by the Chinese Communist revolution, he went to Hawaii, where he died in 1962.
---->Chaulmoogra contains strongly antibacterial chemicals, two of which, hydnocarpic and chaulmoogric acids, are responsible for destroying the bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae, that causes leprosy. In Indian medicine, the oil has also been used to treat intestinal worms and skin diseases. In many places today, the ingredients of chaulmoogra oil, modified by chemists, are still used to cure early cases of leprosy-advanced cases do not yield to the treatment -but they have generally been replaced by synthesized sulfones.
PARTS USED
---->Seed.
USES
---->According to a pre- Buddhist legend, a Burmese king stricken with leprosy voluntarily exiled himself to the jungle. There, he chose to reside in a hollow tree and heal himself by eating the fruit and leaves of Taraktogenos kurzii, or the "Kalaw" tree. Chaulmoogra was later identified as a source of chaulmoogra oil, an age-old leprosy treatment.
---->A physician is reported to have used chaulmoogra oil in ancient Egypt. Another early reference to the oil was made in the writings of the Sushrata Samhitas, dating back to 600 B.C. in India. The oil has long been widely employed as an accepted treatment for leprosy in China and India. Americans sought out chaulmoogra in the early 20th century until the development of a synthetic anti-leprosy medication in 1941. Botanist Joseph F. Rock brought the oil to the United States when he returned from an expedition in the hinterlands of the East that had been sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In recent times, the efficacy of chaulmoogra in treating leprosy has been challenged.
HABITAT AND CULTIVATION
---->Chaulmoogra is native to the tropical areas of Malaysia and the Indian subcontinent.
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