Botanica Name: Alstonia scholaris
Nepali Name: Chatiwan
English Name: Dita
Sanskrit Name: Saptaparna



Description
The tree grows from 40 to 50 feet high, has a furrowed trunk, oblong stalked leaves up to 6 inches long and 4 inches wide, dispersed in four to six whorls round the stem, their upper side glossy, under side white, nerves running at right angles to the mid-rib. The bark is almost odourless and very bitter, in commerce it is found in irregular fragments 1/8 to 1/2 inch thick, texture spongy, fracture coarse and short, outside layer rough uneven fissured brownish grey and sometimes blackish spots; inside layer bright buff, transverse section shows a number of small medullary rays in inner layer.

Distribution: upto 3000 feet.

Part Used: The bark.

Phytochemical properties:
It contains three alkaloids, Ditamine, Echitamine or Ditaine, and Echitenines, and several fatty and resinous substances- the second is the strongest base and resembles ammonia in chemical characters.

Medicinal properties:
The bark is used for its tonic bitter and astringent properties; it is particularly useful for chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, indigestion and typhoid. It acts as galactogogue, stomachic, laxative and liver tonic.

Dosage
Decoction: 40-80 gm
Powdered bark: 2 to 4 grains.

Ayurvedic preparations:
Saptachhadi kwath, saptaparnasattwadi wati.

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