Helicteres isora, sometimes called the Indian screw tree, is a small tree or large shrub found in southern Asia and northern Oceania. It is usually assigned to the family Malvaceae,[Warrier, P. K., Nambiar, V. P. K., & Ramankutty, C. (1994). Indian medicinal plants: A compendium of 500 species (Vol. 3). Orient Blackswan. 132-135][Ahuja BS. Medicinal plants of Saharanpur (1965), Vedicbooks.net, 40-41][Trivedi PC, Ethanobotany,2002; Sur, RR and Halder AC; 146-168] In the 19th century fibers from the bark were used to make rope and sacks, although nowadays the tree is harvested for the fruits and roots which are used in folk medicine.
Common names
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Sanskrit - Avartani, avartphala
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Hindi - Marorphali (मरोड़ फली ), bhendu, jonkphal
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English - Indian screw tree, East Indian screw tree, deer's horn
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Marathi - Kewad, muradsheng (मुरुड शेंग)
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Bengali - Antamora (আঁতমোড়া)
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Gujarati - Maradashingh
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Kannada - Yedmuri
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Tamil - (வலம்புரி)
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Telugu - (వలంబిరి); (వడంబిరి)
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Malayalam - (ഇടംപിരി വലംപിരി|ഇടംപിരി വലംപിരി)
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Thai - S̄amunpra pai ka bid (สมุนไพรปอกะบิด)
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Sinhala - Liniya (ලීනිය)
Other vernacular names include mochra, mudmudika, kurkurbicha, sinkri, valumbari, yedamuri, pita baranda, balampari, guvadarra, pedamuri, ishwarmuri, murmuriya, and vurkatee.
[Kirtikar KR, Basu BD. (1995) Indian medicinal plants. Vol. 1. Dehradun, India: International book distributors; 371–2] In Indonesia it is called buah kayu ules or ulet-ulet on
Java.
[Satake, T., Kamiya, K., Saiki, Y., Hama, T., Fujimoto, Y., Kitanaka, S., ... & Umar, M. (1999). Studies on the Constituents of Fruits of Helicteres isora L. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin -Tokyo-, 47, 1444–1447.] Odia: Modi modika( ମୋଡି ମୋଡ଼ିକା)
Description
H. isora is a small tree or large shrub, five to eight metres in height. It has grey bark and alternately arranged, hairy, ovate leaves with serrate margins. Its flowers are brick red or orange-red, and its fruits are green when raw, brown or grey when dried, and twisted, with a screw at its pointed end. Seeds of the plant are black or brown and are highly polished, roughly rhomboid, and rectangular or triangular.
Pollinators of the flower include the
jungle babbler, the golden-fronted leafbird, the
ashy drongo, and the white-bellied drongo.
File:Helicteres isora dried fruits.jpg|Dried fruits of
H. isora
File:(Helicteres isora) East Indian screw tree seed at Kambalakonda 05.JPG|Fruits of
H. isora at Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, Visakhapatnam
File:Hisora-fruits-on cm scale.jpg|Dried, ruptured fruits of
H. isora (with centimetre scale)
File:Helicteres isora-Indian screw tree 02.jpg|flower
File:Helicteres isora-Indian screw tree 08.jpg|flowers
Distribution
H. isora is a tropical Asian plant. It is found throughout
India and
Pakistan,
Nepal,
Myanmar,
Thailand, and
Sri Lanka. However, it gregariously grows in dry deciduous forests of central and western India on hill slopes. It is also found on the
Malay Peninsula,
Java,
and
Australia.
Economic importance
Fruits of
H. isora are exported from India to 19 countries, with a 36-month value of US$274,055. At the farm gate local harvesters receive 0.3 US$ per kg, while it can be sold overseas for 2 US$.
Phytochemistry
H. isora is a rich source of
,
,
, fibre,
calcium,
phosphorus, and
iron.
[Gayathri, P., Gayathri Devi, S., & Sivagami Srinivasan, S. S. (2010). Screening and Quantitation of Phytochemicals and Nutritional Components of the Fruit and Bark of Helicteres isora. Hygeia journal for drugs and medicines, 2(1), 57-62.] Active phytoconstituents include
gallic acid,
caffeic acid,
vanillin, and p-
coumaric acid.
[Jain Amita, Sinha Prakriti; Desai Neetin S.; (2014) Estimation of flavonoid, Phenol content and antioxidant potential of Indian screw tree (Helicteres isora L.); International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (4):1320–1330.][Raaman, N., & Balasubramanian, K.(2012) Antioxidant and anticancer activity of Helicteres isora dried fruit solvent extracts. Journal of Academic and Industrial Research (1), 148-152.] Cucurbitacin b and isocucurbitacin b have been isolated from the roots.
[Bean, M. F., Antoun, M., Abramson, D., Chang, C. J., McLaughlin, J. L., & Cassady, J. M. (1985). Cucurbitacin B and isocucurbitacin B: cytotoxic components of Helicteres isora. Journal of Natural Products, 48(3), 500-500.] Additionally, Satake et al. (1999) isolated rosmarinic acid and their derivatives;
isoscutellarein and their derivatives; D-glucopyranosyl isorinic acid with
rosmarinic acid; helisterculins A and B; and helisorin.
Medicinal value
The fruits and roots of
H. isora are used in traditional medicine systems of Asia, Iraq and South Africa, where they are credited with having value in treatment of a wide variety of conditions, including gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, cancer, and infections.
There appear to have been no scientific investigations of these beliefs. However, laboratory studies have confirmed that both bacteria and cancer cells may survive less well in the presence of extracts of the fruits.
Animal studies have shown that extracts of the roots can improve glucose tolerance in diabetic rats.
