MORINGACEAE

(Horseradish Tree family)

• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects: •
• Adverse effects: Mustard oil thioglucosides are a feature of this family as with the Cruciferae and the Capparaceae. These thioglucosides yield potentially irritant and allergenic isothiocyanates (mustard oils). •
• Veterinary aspects: •

This is a family of 13 species of deciduous trees and sub-shrubs classified in a single genus, namely Moringa Adans. (Mabberley 2017).

Moringa oleifera Lam.

[syns Guilandina moringa L., Hyperanthera moringa (L.) Vahl, Moringa moringa (L.) Millsp., Moringa pterygosperma Gaertn., Moringa zeylanica Pers.]

Ben Tree, Drumstick Tree, Horseradish Tree, Moringa Tree, Ben Ailée, Moringue Oléifère, Pferderettichbaum, Meerrettichbaum

The seeds known as Ben nuts are the source of a fixed oil known as oil of Ben, which is used for culinary and other purposes. The roots smell of horseradish (Armoracia rusticana G.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb., fam. Cruciferae) (Menninger 1987, Mabberley 2008).

Referring to Moringa pterygosperma, Ainslie (1937) noted that in West African traditional medicine, the roots when pounded and rubbed on the body take away local rheumatic pains; the oil obtained from incisions in the trunk is used for rheumatism; and the seed oil is employed externally for easing pains in joints, in gout, acute rheumatism etc. According to Morton (1962a), crushed leaves from Moringa oleifera are sometimes used as poultices but may burn or blister the skin; and the root, its bark and oil are employed as counter-irritants, rubefacients and vesicants. Nadkarni (1976), in a treatise on Indian materia medica, noted that fresh root is acrid and vesicant; that the root is applied externally as a plaster or poultice to inflammatory swellings; that sometimes fresh root is mixed with mustard seeds (Brassica nigra Koch or Sinapis alba L., fam. Cruciferae) and green ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe, fam. Zingiberaceae) and used as a counter-irritant and blistering agent; that the root-bark in decoction is used to foment inflamed parts; and that a poultice of leaves reduces glandular swellings but always produces a blister.

In the traditional medicine of Northeastern India, the latex from the stem is applied as a remedy for ringworm, eczema and scabies; and the whole plant [sic] is crushed and the paste applied to cuts and wounds (Begum & Nath 2000). Biswas & Mukherjee (2003) noted that a preparation of the root is used in Ayurvedic medicine as an application to wounds and abscesses, but no detail is provided as to how the preparation is used.

The rubefacient and other medicinal uses of the various parts of the tree have been reviewed by Anwar et al. (1977).

A variety of mustard oil-releasing glucosinolates have been reported from this species, including glucocochlearin, glucotropaeolin and others known to occur in horseradish (Kjær 1960, Fahey et al. 2001).

[Further information available but not yet included in database]

References

• Ainslie JR (1937) A List of Plants used in Native Medicine in Nigeria. Institute Paper No. 7: Imperial Forestry Institute, University of Oxford [WorldCat]
• Anwar F, Latif S, Ashraf M, Gilani AH (2007) Moringa oleifera: a food plant with multiple medicinal uses. Phytotherapy Research 21(1): 17-25 [doi] [url] [url-2] [pmid]
• Begum D, Nath SC (2000) Ethnobotanical review of medicinal plants used for skin diseases and related problems in Northeastern India. Journal of Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants 7(3): 55-93 [doi] [url] [url-2]
• Biswas TK, Mukherjee B (2003) Plant medicines of Indian origin for wound healing activity: a review. International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds 2(1): 25-39 [doi] [url] [pmid]
• Fahey JW, Zalcmann AT, Talalay P (2001) The chemical diversity and distribution of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates among plants. Phytochemistry 56(1): 5-51 [doi] [url]
• Kjær A (1960) Naturally derived isothiocyanates (mustard oils) and their parent glucosides. In: Zechmeister L (Ed.) Fortschritte der Chemie Organischer Naturstoffe / Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products / Progrés dans la Chimie des Substances Organiques Naturelles, Vol. 18, pp. 122-176. Vienna: Springer-Verlag [doi] [WorldCat] [url]
• Mabberley DJ (2017) Mabberley's Plant-Book. A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses, 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [WorldCat] [doi] [url]
• Menninger EA (1967) Fantastic Trees. New York: Viking Press [WorldCat] [url]
• Morton JF (1962a) Ornamental plants with toxic and/or irritant properties. II. Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society 75: 484-491 [url] [url-2]
• 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, Vols 1 & 2. Bombay: Popular Prakashan [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]

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