TAMARICACEAE

(Tamarisk family)

• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects: The traditional use of several species, or galls found growing on them, as topically-applied remedies for various skin complaints and as hair tonics has been documented in the ethnobotanical literature. Tamarix manna, a saccharine exudate from Tamarix L. species has been applied to wounds as a vulnerary. •
• Adverse effects: •
• Veterinary aspects: •

This small family of trees and shrubs comprises 79 species in 5 genera found mainly in Central Asia and from the Mediterranean region into Africa. They are usually halophytes, xerophytes, or rheophytes. The principal genus is Tamarix L., which accounts for 54 species (Mabberley 2008).

Several species including Tamarix chinensis Lour. (syn. Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb.), Tamarix gallica L., Tamarix parviflora DC., and Tamarix tetrandra Pallas ex M. Bieb. are grown in gardens as ornamentals, often being planted as hedges or windbreaks. Myricaria germanica Desv. (syn. Tamarix germanica L.), the false or German tamarisk, is also grown (Hunt 1968/9).

Myrtama elegans Ovcz. & Kinzik.

(syns Myricaria elegans Royle, Tamaricaria elegans Qaiser & Ali)

[Information available but not yet included in database]

Reaumuria alternifolia Britten

(syns Hypericum alternifolium Labill., Reaumuria cistoides Adam, Reaumuria hypericoides Willd., Reaumuria reflexa Lipsky)

[Information available but not yet included in database]

Tamarix aphylla Karsten

(syns Tamarix articulata Vahl, Tamarix orientalis Forssk., Thuja aphylla L.)

Athel Pine, Athel Tamarisk, Saltcedar

[Information available but not yet included in database]

Tamarix chinensis Lour.

(syns Tamarix gallica L. var chinensis Ehrenb., Tamarix juniperina Bunge, Tamarix pentandra Pallas, Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb.)

Chinese Saltcedar, Chinese Tamarisk, Five-Stamen Tamarisk

The crude drug known as Cacumen Tamaricis is derived from the leafy tips of the young branches of this plant. In traditional Chinese medicine, a decoction (known as Chinese Tamarisk Extract) is used as a topical application in measles and for skin allergies (Perry & Metzger 1980).

[Further information available but not yet included in database]

Tamarix indica Willd.

(syns Tamarix bengalensis Baum, Tamarix gallica Wight & Arn., Tamarix gallica L. var indica Ehrenb.)

Indian Tamarisk

Nadkarni (1976), in a treatise on Indian materia medica, noted that a strong infusion prepared from the galls found on Tamarix gallica [probably Tamarix gallica Wight & Arn. rather than Tamarix gallica L.] is used as a local application to foul sloughing ulcers and buboes; and that the powdered galls, which are rich in tannin, form an efficacious ointment in ulcerating piles and anal fissures.

References

• Hunt P (Ed.) (1968/9) The Marshall Cavendish Encyclopedia of Gardening. London: Marshall Cavendish
• Mabberley DJ (2008) Mabberley's Plant-Book. A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses, 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Nadkarni AK (1976) Dr. K. M. Nadkarni's Indian Materia Medica. With ayurvedic, unani-tibbi, siddha, allopathic, homeopathic, naturopathic & home remedies, appendices & indexes, Revised enlarged and reprinted 3rd edn, Vol. 1 & 2. Bombay: Popular Prakashan
• Perry LM, Metzger J (1980) Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia: Attributed Properties and Uses. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
• [ + 4 further references not yet included in database]

[ * BoDD Home Page * ][ * Plant Families Index * ]
[ * Top of this document * ]