Soymida febrifuga

In traditional Ayurvedic and tribal medicine, the bark of Soymida febrifuga has long been employed as a febrifuge. Among Keralian Ayurvedic practitioners of southern India, a decoction made from about 30 g of dried bark boiled in 1 L of water for 20–30 minutes is taken to lower malarial fevers (Jain, 1991). In Gujarat, village healers grind fresh leaves into a poultice and apply it directly to cuts and ulcerated skin, a practice recorded among the Barda tribal community (Sharma & Patel, 2016). In the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, tribal healers prepare a root decoction of roughly 20 g of dried root simmered in 500 mL of water for 15 minutes to relieve dysenteric diarrhoea (Bennett et al., 2021). These preparations illustrate that the species is used primarily as a water‑based infusion or decoction of the bark, root and leaf.

A complementary preparation is a bark tincture used by herbalists in central Madhya Pradesh. Practitioners macerate 100 g of powdered bark in 500 mL of 45 % ethanol for 14 days, shaking the vessel daily; the resulting liquid is strained and stored in amber bottles (Raghav & Sinha, 2014). The tincture is administered at a dose of 1 mL (≈20 drops) three times daily for chronic low‑grade fever. This maceration technique is also employed for a leaf‑oil infusion, where fresh leaves are steeped in a carrier oil for 7 days and then applied topically for inflammatory skin conditions.

**Practical bark decoction recipe** – To make a fever‑reducing tea, place 30 g of dried, sliced bark into a saucepan with 1 L of cold water. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer, and maintain the heat for 20 minutes. Remove the pot, allow the liquid to cool to a comfortably warm temperature, then strain through fine muslin. The decoction can be taken in 50 mL portions twice daily, preferably after meals. Because the bark contains potent limonoids, it is not recommended for pregnant women and should be used only under the guidance of a qualified practitioner; excess intake may cause mild gastrointestinal upset.

Modern phytochemical work on Soymida febrifuga confirms the presence of limonoids such as nimbolinin A and B, meliantriol, and several other triterpenoid limonoids, together with flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol) and hydrolyzable tannins (Kumar et al., 2017). These constituents are known to possess antipyretic, anti‑inflammatory and antimicrobial activity, providing a plausible basis for the traditional febrifuge and wound‑healing applications. Ongoing in‑vitro studies are exploring the bark’s anti‑malarial potential, and extracts now appear in several commercial Ayurvedic preparations marketed for fever and malaria in India.

Wood and fiber:
- Wood: valued as a heavy, durable timber for construction, furniture, carriage bodies, and sleepers; works well with hand and machine tools, takes a good finish, and is considered termite-resistant. Wood also serves as fuelwood.
- Bark fiber: occasionally utilized as a coarse fiber source.

Industrial and craft applications:
- Bark tannin: source of hydrolysable tannins used in leather tanning; concentration typically ~15–20% of dry bark; used in traditional leather processing and as an adjunct in modern vegetable tanning systems.

Colorants and tanning:
- Bark extract: yields reddish-brown dye solutions used for cotton and wool; suitable as a natural brown dye on protein fibers.
- Bark tannin: facilitates leather tanning to produce firm, reddish-brown hides.

Properties relevant to use:
- Wood density ~700–900 kg/m³; good dimensional stability when seasoned; natural resistance to insect damage.
- Tannins: hydrolysable class; high reactivity with protein substrates, enabling efficient leather leathering and brown dye formation; suitable for both fast and slow tanning schedules.

Sustainability and sourcing:
- Widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar; IUCN Red List status not evaluated. Mature, high-quality timber is typically obtained from well-managed natural forests; bark is harvested as a secondary product from mature trees or thinning operations.
- Trade controlled under CITES Appendix II as Meliaceae spp. (exempted for small leaf samples); specific requirements for export and import of lumber and bark vary by national regulations.

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