Vol. 6 No. 02 (2021): December- Sri Lanka Journal of Indigenous Medicine (SLJIM)

Cover story : Wel Bakmi
Nauclea orientalis L. (=Sarcocephalus cordatus (Roxb.) Miq.) 
Family: RUBIACEAE
Vernacular names: Sinhala: Bakini, Bakmi, Rata-bakmi: Sanskrit: Kadamba; English: Yellow Cheese wood; Tamil: Wellai Kadambu, Athuvangi, Vammi

Nauclea is a genus of flowering plants (Angiosperm) native to Bangladesh, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and South East Asian countries. There are around 13 Nauclea species of evergreen trees or shrubs in the family Rubiaceae, including Nauclea orientalis, which is a small tree with a height of 45m, trunk diameter of 100-160 cm, a broad crown and a straight cylindrical bole.
The bark is gray, smooth in young trees and rough, longitudinally fissured in old. It has glossy green, opposite, ovate to elliptical leaves and bisexual, fragrant, orange/ yellow flowers. Kadamba is closely allied to the subtribe Naucleinae (Rubiaceae) but differs in its placentation mode. The species is in the focus of a classification controversy based on the name of the original type specimen described by Lamarck.

It is a tree of the moist tropical lowlands found at elevations from sea level to 500 meters, where it is best grown in medium and clay loams with 30 - 40°c annual daytime temperature and 1,000 - 3,500mm mean annual rainfall. It always prefers semi-shaded conditions and succeeds in most soils, though it prefers alluvial soils along stream banks.

According to Ayurveda, Bakmi is dominant in Pungent, Bitter and Astringent taste, Cold potency and Tridosha alleviating action. Its bark, leaves, roots and juice of fruits have been used in various forms for ulcers, conjunctivitis, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea, urinary calculi, and jaundice since Vedic period in India and a time unmemorable in Sri Lankan Deshiya Chikitsa.

Kabamba is an ingredient of Vedana-sthapana and Shukra-shodhana Ghana in Charaka Samhita and Nyagrodadi and Lodradi ghana in Susruta Samhita. Its leaves and bark are used against abdominal pain, animal bites, and wounds. The leaves are applied externally to boils and tumours. Studies have shown that the bark has moderate in vitro activity against the malaria-causing Plasmodium falcifarum and four new alkaloids; Nauclealines A and B and Naucleosides A and B, together with six known compounds were isolated.

Cover story by Dr. S.M.S. Samarakoon
Photograph by Dr. S.M.S. Samarakoon
Cover page designed by Mr. K.K.P.R.K. Kohombakanda