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Bitter Oleander

Botanical Name(s): Holarrhena Antidysenterica
Family Name: Apocynaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Popular Name(s): Connessi Bark, Kurchi Bark, Dysentery Rose Bay, Tellicherry Bark, Coneru
Parts Used: Seeds, bark
Habitat: Grows in dry forests of India.

Description
Bitter oleander is a deciduous shrub or a small tree. It has a rough, pale brownish or grayish bark. The leaves are opposite, subsesile, elliptic or ovate-oblong and membranous. The white flowers are in terminal corymbose cymes, while the seeds are light brown or smoky in color. The fruit is thin and cylindrical, with two follicles attached together at distal ends. The herb grows throughout India, up to an altitude of 4,000 feet, with special abundance in the sub-Himalayan tract. It is considered as one of the most valuable medicinal products of India. It is known as katuja and vatsaka in Sanskrit; kura, kora, kureya and kurchi in Hindi; and kodagasan and kodusige in Kannada.

Plant Chemicals
(+)- conessine, conamine, conkurchine, connessimine, kurchine, conarrhinine, holarrhinene, isoconcessimine, conessidine, holafrine, holarrhetine, holantosines A and B, holarosine B, holantosines E and F, holacine, holacimine, holarricine.

Uses & Benefits of Bitter Oleander