ဖန်ခါး

Myanmar Name – Panga

Common Name – Chebulic myrobalan

Botanical Name – Terminalia chebula Retz.

Family Name – Combretaceae

Habitat – Terminalia chebula is found throughout South and Southeast Asia including in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand. It is found mostly in mixed dry deciduous forests and is frequent in tropical and subtropical zones, mostly in hilly tracks.

Habit – Medium to large deciduous tree growing to 30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter.

Bark – Bark is the greyish brown with irregular flakes. bark 5-6 mm thick, surface dark brown to black, fissures shallow, vertical, exfoliating in thick scales; blaze yellowish-brown; young shoots densely pubescent; branchlets brownish or greyish, glabrous. 

Leaves – Leaves simple, opposite to alternate, exstipulate; petiole 12-25 mm long, stout, grooved above, pubescent, 2 sessile glands at the top; lamina 9.5-28 x 4-13 cm, ovate, elliptic, obovate or elliptic-obovate, base round, obtuse, oblique or subtruncate, apex acute, acuminate, obtuse or apiculate, margin entire.

Inflorescence – Inflorescence axillary spikes, 5-7 cm long, simple or sometimes panicle of spikes. Flowers about 4 mm across, yellowish-white and unpleasantly scented. Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla absent.

Flower – Flowers bisexual, yellowish-white, 5-6 mm across, with offensive smell; bracts 2-3 mm long; calyx tube 1.5-2.5 × 0.8-1 mm, lobes 5, creamy, triangular, 1.5 mm; petals 0; stamens 10 in 2 rows; disc 5-lobed.

Fruit – Fruit (drupe) is yellowish-green, obovoid or ellipsoid, hard, and five to six ribbed when dry. The immature fruits are black, ovoid and about 1–3 cm long.

Seed – Seed is globose, generally 2–6 cm long, and pale yellow in color.

Flowering and Fruiting Time – Flowering season – May – June Fruiting season – November – March

Usage – Its decoction is used as gargle in oral ulcers, sore throat. Its powder is a good astringent dentifrice in loose gums, bleeding and ulceration in gums. It is good to increase appetite, digestive aid, liver stimulant, stomachic, gastrointestinal prokinetic agent, and mild laxative.