Candanaveemp ചന്ദനവേമ്പ്

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Candanaveemp is a large deciduous tree generally with a wide spreading and handsome crown attaining a height of 45 m and a stem diameter of 2 m. In cities may be of a much smaller stature. Also known as Red Cedar, Toon is famous for it’s fragrant red wood that is much sought after for use in furniture making, building and ornamental woodwork. The soft wood is easily worked and polishes to a rich red that is enhanced with age. Flowers are white, fragrant, in a large pyramidal panicle at the ends of the branchlets. Individual flowers about 5 mm long. Flowering period is in spring. Leaves are alternate, pinnate, consisting of five to seventeen leaflets. Leaflets opposite or irregularly alternate, ovate-lanceolate, 4-13 cm long, often drawn out to a long point at the tip, unequal at the base. Green both surfaces, paler beneath, red and downy when young.
The bark is bitter, acrid, astringent, tonic, aphrodisiac, exenpectorant, anthelmintic, depurative and antiperiodic. It is useful in chronic infantile dysentery, cough, bronchitis, intermittent fevers, verminosis, leprosy, dermatopathy and ulcers. The flowers are emmenagogue and are useful in menstrual disorders.