Sapindus saponaria L.Family: Sapindaceae
Synonyms: Sapindus abruptus Lour., Sapindus alatus Salisb., Sapindus forsythii DC., Sapindus inaequalis DC., Sapindus indica Poir., Sapindus microcarpus Jard., Sapindus peruvianus Walp., Sapindus peruvianus var. dombeyanus Walper, Sapindus peruvianus var. meyenianus Walper, Sapindus rigidus Mill., Sapindus saponaria f. genuinus Radlk., Sapindus saponaria var. inaequalis (DC.) Radlk., Sapindus saponaria var. saponaria, Sapindus stenopterus DC., Sapindus thurstonii Rock, Sapindus turczaninowii Vidal
Common name: Wingleaf Soapberry
Chinese: 木患子
French: Savonnier saponaire
Malayalam: പശക്കൊട്ട
Português: Fruta-de-sabão
Russian: Мыльное дерево настоящее
Description: Trees, deciduous, to 20 m tall. Bark grayish brown or blackish brown; young branches green, glabrous. Leaves with petiole 25-45 cm or longer, axis slightly flat, grooved adaxially, glabrous or pilosulose; leaflets 5-8 pairs, usually subopposite; petiolule ca. 5 mm; blades adaxially shiny, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or slightly falcate, 7-15 × 2-5 cm, thinly papery, abaxially glabrous or pilosulose, lateral veins 15-17 pairs, nearly parallel, dense, slender, base cuneate, slightly asymmetrical, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Inflorescences terminal, conical. Flowers actinomorphic, small. Pedicels very short. Sepals ovate or oblong-ovate, larger ones ca. 2 mm, abaxially pilose at base. Petals 5, lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm, abaxially villous at base or subglabrous, long clawed; scales 2, earlike, at base adaxially. Disk acetabuliform, glabrous. Stamens 8, exserted; filaments ca. 3.5 mm, densely villous below middle. Ovary glabrous. Fertile schizocarps orange, black when dry, subglobose, 2-2.5 cm in diam. Fl. spring, fr. summer-autumn.
Used in Ayurveda. Poisonous. Fruit expectorant, used in epilepsy; unripe fruits ground and taken with honey in gout; rind of fruit made into a paste applied to eyes to cure jaundice; ash from the burnt fruit pericarp given with warm water in piles; roasted and ground mixture of fruit pericarp of Sapindus mukorossi and bark powder of Acacia catechu given to cure piles; Caesalpinia crista young fruits decoction with seeds of Sapindus mukorossi given in tuberculosis, malaria, fevers. Dry powdered seeds given with hot water in leprosy; seeds made into a paste with water applied on skin diseases. Flower used for conjunctivitis and eye diseases. Fruits, fruit bark, for fish poison. Ritual, rosaries made of seeds. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]
Root: tonic, hemostatic. Fruit: toxic, narcotic, soporific, for epilepsy Seed: astringent [Medicinal Flora of Argentine]
Root and Stem: Root and stem-bark for tonic astringents and bitters. Fruit: Contains an emulsifying saponin (hederagenine) and thus used in French Guiana as a soap, and for shampooing the hair. Diuretic. [Medicinal Plants of the Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana)]
Used in Ayurveda. Poisonous. Fruit expectorant, used in epilepsy; unripe fruits ground and taken with honey in gout; rind of fruit made into a paste applied to eyes to cure jaundice; ash from the burnt fruit pericarp given with warm water in piles; roasted and ground mixture of fruit pericarp of Sapindus mukorossi and bark powder of Acacia catechu given to cure piles; Caesalpinia crista young fruits decoction with seeds of Sapindus mukorossi given in tuberculosis, malaria, fevers. Dry powdered seeds given with hot water in leprosy; seeds made into a paste with water applied on skin diseases. Flower used for conjunctivitis and eye diseases. Fruits, fruit bark, for fish poison. Ritual, rosaries made of seeds. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]
Root: tonic, hemostatic. Fruit: toxic, narcotic, soporific, for epilepsy Seed: astringent [Medicinal Flora of Argentine]
Root and Stem: Root and stem-bark for tonic astringents and bitters. Fruit: Contains an emulsifying saponin (hederagenine) and thus used in French Guiana as a soap, and for shampooing the hair. Diuretic. [Medicinal Plants of the Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana)]
79 Published articles of Sapindus saponaria
