Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Soapnut, Chinese Soapberry

Hindi Name : रीठा | Scientific Name : Sapindus mukorossi
Family : Sapindaceae
Uses : Extremely valuable medicinal plant used for various ailments. Pericarps used as an expectorant as well as a source of natural surfactant, has detergent and insecticidal properties and it is traditionally used for removing lice from the scalp. The fruits have medicinal value for treating a number of diseases like excessive salivation, pimples, epilepsy, chlorosis, migraines, eczema and psoriasis. The powdered seeds are employed in the treatment of dental caries, arthritis, common colds, constipation and nausea. Used as a cleanser for washing hair as it forms a rich, natural lather. The leaves are used in baths to relieve joint pain and the roots are used in the treatment of gout and rheumatism. The fruit was utilized by Indian jewellers for restoring the brightness of tarnished ornaments made of gold, silver and other precious metals.
Native: China, Japan, India
General Description:

Large, deciduous tree with a straight trunk up to 12m in height, sometimes attaining a height of 20m and a girth of 1.8m, with a globose crown and rather fine leathery foliage. Bark is dark to pale yellow, fairly smooth, with many vertical lines of lenticels and fine fissures exfoliating in irregular wood scales. The blaze is 0.8-1.3cm, hard, not fibrous, pale orange brown, brittle and granular. Leaves are 30-50cm long, alternate, paripinnate; common petiole very narrowly bordered, glabrous; leaflets 5-10 pairs, opposite or alternate, 5-18 by 2.5-5cm, lanceolate, acuminate, entire, glabrous, often slightly falcate or oblique; petioles 2-5m long. Inflorescence is a compound terminal panicle, 30cm or more in length, with pubescent branches. Flowers are about 5mm across, small, terminal, polygamous, greenish white, subsessile, numerous, mostly bisexual. Sepals 5, each with a woolly scale on either side above the claw. Fruits are globose, fleshy, 1-seeded drupe, sometimes two drupels together, about 1.8-2.5cm across. Seeds are 0.8-1.3cm in diameter, globose, smooth, black and loosely placed in dry fruit.