Scientific Name Mesua ferrea L.( syn Mesua nagassarium (Burm.f.)Kosterm. ) Family Clusiaceae Used Part Stamens ( Sample is crushed flower parts with some stamens) Distribution Area Found in the Himalayas , Madesh and Terai region of Nepal ascending to an altitude of 1,500 m.and eastwards, in north-eastern India, Deccan Peninsula and the Andaman Islands, Common Uses . Flowers astringent, stomachiac, used in cough attended with expectoration, paste with butter and sugar used in bleeding piles and burning of the feet. Flower buds used in dysentery. Unripe fruits aromatic and sudorific. Bark astringent, aromatic and combined with ginger and used as sudorific. Phenolic constituents of the seed oil have been shown to have powerful anti-asthmatic effect. The oil is also used against rheumatism. The drug is used to treat fever, dyspepsia and renal diseases. Considered useful in fever, bleeding , piles, dyspepsia and abdominal inflammation. It is an ingredient of large number of drug formulations such as Chayavanpraasha, Amritarishta,Lavanabhaaskar churna,Kanakaasava and Khadirishta. Similar crude drugs A number of other materials are used as substitutes . These are (1) Flower buds of Mammea suriga (Ham.)Kesterm syn. Ochrocarpus longifolius Benth and Hook of family Cluciaceae, called Raaktanaagkesara (2) Krishnanaagkesara consisting of immature fruits of Cinnamomum tamala Nees & Eberm. (fam. Lauraceae) and (3) Malabar naagkesara which is immature fruit of Dillenia pentagyana Roxb. (Fam. Dilleniaceae) Pharmacological Effect Theseeds and heartwood contain a number of xanthones and coumarins; xanthones isolated from the plant given orally or intraperitonelly have been shown to exhibit significant anti-inflammatory activity in normal as well as adrenolectomised rats A compound preparation containing the flowers of the plant showed anti-implantation activity in experimental animals. It is an ingredient of the drug Dadimastaka curna which gave good response in patients suffering from amoebic dysentery (giardia/entamoeba hystolytica). Ethanolic extract of the plant showed diuretic and hypotensive activity. Volatile oil from the flowers showed antibacterial, antifungal and anthelmintic activities.