Medicinal catechu

Acacia catechu is a small to mid-sized sub-tropical tree, a species of legume in the same family as mesquite, retama, cat's claw, huizache, guajillo, and a few other South Texas native species of "brush-dwellers." As much as catechu looks like its cousins, it is not one of our indigenous species. It ranges from Western Pakistan to Burma. It is the commercial source of an important brown khaki dye, called black cutch. It is known by several common names, including Khair, Cutch, Black cutch tree, Sa-che, Seesiat, Wadalee-gum tree and others. Catechu grows nine to 45 feet tall, and like its local native cousins, it too, is armed with spines. While it will grow in most types of soils, it seems to do best in open dry scrub. It would probably do very well here in our area. Although much catechu is wild-crafted, or harvested from nature, it lends itself well to cultivation, and is indeed grown for medicinal purposes in the countries where it is native.
Catechu is a traditional medicine in Thailand, and its ethnomedical uses are many. The stem bark is used for general wound healing, chronic wounds that do not seem to heal, dysentery, and diarrhea. Different parts of the tree are also used to treat stomach problems, asthma, as an anodyne, antiphlogistic, as an astringent, bactericide, digestive, styptic, expectorant for cough, throat pain and bronchitis, severe bloody diarrhea, boils, skin diseases, cancer and abdominal tumors, malaria, tuberculosis, gingivitis, and to clean teeth and prevent cavities and tooth disease. The sap or resin of the tree is collected and dried and sold as a drug. It is generally pulverized into a powder, boiled in water, and taken for gastrointestinal problems. A 95% ethanol extract of the resin showed in vitro antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The seed of catechu produced a hypoglycemic effect in lab rats. An ethanol-water extract of the stem showed in vitro activity against Ranikhet virus, as well as an antispasmodic activity on isolated guinea pig ileums.
Several phytochemical compounds have been identified in catechu, including (-)-epicatachol, various flavonoids, fisetin, gallic acid, kampferol, procyanidin, quercetin, quercetrin, rutin, taxifolin, 1-epicatechin, (+)-catechin, DL-acacatachol, DL-acacatechol acetate, L-isoacacatechol, L-isoacacatechol acetate, tannins, and oligosaccharides. Based on this information, I would not recommend ingesting any catechu-based medicine/supplement at the same time as a prescription medication, as it might interfere with the pharmacological activity of the medication. It is also interesting to note that many of the related plant species that grow in our area have similar compounds, activities, and traditional medical applications.
That will cover it for this month. The information presented in this article is purely for educational purposes, and is not meant to take the place of professional medical care. Do not try to self medicate with herbs, unless you are very familiar with their proper use and the possible interactions that they might have with medicines. Also, always consult with your physician, or healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy. I can be reached via e-mail at glorioso@netscorp.net. For more information on herbal medicine in South Texas, go to www.laredosnews.com and click on "The Medicine Man" column or on the "Medicine Man Archives" for a collection of previous articles.