Salacia reticulata
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
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{{Speciesbox
|image = Ekanayakam - plant 15.jpg
|genus = Salacia (plant)
|species = reticulata
}}
Salacia reticulata is a flowering plant of the genus Salacia native to Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands.{{citation |title=Salacia reticulata Wight |work=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:162694-1 |access-date=2022-02-13 }} It grows in dry zone forests in Sri Lanka. In ayurvedic medicine, it is known as kothala himbutu (කොතල හිඹුටු) in Sinhala.
Description
Salacia reticulata is a climbing, perennial, woody shrub. The plant has dichotomous branching pattern. The bark is smooth, greenish grey in colour, thin, and white internally. The leaves are opposite and elliptic-oblong. The leaves have acute bases, abruptly acuminate apexes, and a margin with minute rounded teeth. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in clusters of 2-8 in the leaf axils. They are greenish-white to greenish-yellow in color. The fruit is a drupe which is globose and tubercular. The drupe assumes a pinkish-orange color on ripening. There are 1–4 seeds, each resembling an almond.
It's used as a folk medicine for treating diabetes, and several clinical trials have proven that it's effective as a treatment for type II diabetes.{{cite journal |last1=Kajimoto |first1=Osami |last2=Kawamori |first2=Shusuke |last3=Shimoda |first3=Hiroshi |last4=Kawahara |first4=Yuzo |last5=Hirata |first5=Hiroshi |last6=Takahashi |first6=Takeo |title=Effects of a Diet Containing Salacia reticulata on Mild Type 2 Diabetes in Humans |journal=Nippon Eiyo Shokuryo Gakkaishi |date=10 October 2000 |volume=53 |issue=5 |pages=199-205 |doi=10.4327/jsnfs.53.199 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jsnfs1983/53/5/53_5_199/_article/-char/en |access-date=22 December 2023|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Jayawardena |first1=M. H. S. |last2=de Alwis |first2=N. M. W. |last3=Hettigoda |first3=V. |last4=Fernando |first4=D. J. S. |title=A double blind randomised placebo controlled cross over study of a herbal preparation containing Salacia reticulata in the treatment of type 2 diabetes |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |date=28 February 2005 |volume=97 |issue=2 |pages=215-218 |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2004.10.026 |pmid=15707755 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15707755/ |access-date=22 December 2023}}
References
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Category:Flora of the Andaman Islands
{{Celastraceae-stub}}
{{SriLanka-stub}}
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