Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile
Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd, Acacia vera Willd, Mimosa arabica Lam, Mimosa nilotica L, Mimosa nilotica Thunb, Mimosa scorpioides L.
English : Babula tree, Indian gum arabic tree, Hindi :Babula, Babura, Kikar, Sanskrit : Bavari, Kinkirata, Punjabi :Kikkar, Assamese : Babala, Bengali : Babla, Gujrati : Baval, Kaloabaval, Kannada : Sharmeeruka, Kari Jail, Kari gobli, Pulai Jali, Kashmiri : Sak, Malayalam : Velutha Karuvelan, Marathi : Babhul, Babhula, Oriya : Babula, Babala, Tamil : Karuvelan, Karuvel, Telugu : Nallatumma, Thumma.
Stem Bark, Leaves, Seeds, Gum.
The plant is a perennial tree native to Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan .It is also cultivated in Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. It is a small tree growing to a height of up to 8-10 m., commonly found in dry forest areasparticularly in Punjab, Rajasthan and Southern states of India.The tree has thin, straight, light, grey spines in axillary pairs, 5 to 7.5 cm (3 in) long in young trees. The leaves are bipinnate, with 3–6 pairs of pinnulae and 10–30 pairs of leaflets each, tomentose, rachis with a gland at the bottom of the last pair of pinnulae. Flowers in globulous heads 1.2–1.5 cm in diameter of a bright golden-yellow colour, set up either axillary or whorly on peduncles 2–3 cm long located at the end of the branches. Pods are strongly constricted, hairy, white-grey, thick and softly tomentose.
Tannins (25-60%), gum & mucilage (20-30%), resins .The bark and pods contains 12-20% of tannin.The gum resin of the plant contains galactose, aldobiouronic acid and arabinobioses. It also contains about 52% of calcium and 20% of magnesium. The flowers contain flavonoids- kaempferol-3-glucoside, isoquercitrin and leucocyanidin.
Rasa (taste) – Kashaya, Virya – Seeta, Guna (qualities) – Guru, Vipaka- Katu, Karma- Kapha.
Kasa, Kustha, Krmiroga, Atisara.
Babul is used for gargling in the diseases of mouth ulcer and bleeding gums. wound and injury , diarrhea and to treat intestinal worms. treat excessive bleeding during menstruation. treat bleeding piles and haemorrhoids, spermatorrhoea / Dhat syndrome or nightfall, oozing eczemas, rectal prolapsed, control bleeding, cough, cold with sputum and heaviness, burning sensation in eyes, relieves pain.