Abies webbiana Lindl.
Synonym A. spectabilis (D. Don) Spach.
Pinus webbiana Wall.
Family Pinaceae.
English names: Indian Silver Fir, The West-Himalayan High-Level Fir, The East-Himalayan Fir.
Ayurvedic names: Taalisa, Taalisapatra, Taalisha, Patraadhya, Dhaatriparni, Dhaatripatra.
Unani names: Taalisapattar.
Siddha/Tamil names: Taalispatri.
Folk Badar, Chilrow, Morinda, Raisalla, Taalispatra. (Tallispatra, Taalispatri and Talespattre are also equated with the leaves of Cinnamomum tamala Nees.)
Sanskrit Name : Name - Thalispatra, Thalees, Dhaatriparni, Shukodara.
English Name : Name - Himalayan Silver Fir, Talispatra
Hindi Name : Name - Thaleesa Patra, Talispatra
Bengali Name – Talispatra, Tallish Pala
Malayalam Name – Thaleesapathram
Kannada Name – Tales Patra, Talisapathra, Shukodara
Assamese Name – TalishUnani Name – Talisapattar
Marathi Name – Laghu Taleespatra
Telugu Name : Name – Taleesapatri
Nepali Name – Gobray Salla
Urdu Name – ZarnabTamil Name : Name – Talispatra, Taleesapatri
Oriya Name – TalisGujrati Name – Tallish Patra
Bhutia Name – Dunshing
Folk Name – Badar, Morinda, Raisalla, Talispatra, Chilrow
Morphology
Abies spectabilis is an evergreen Tree growing to 30 m at a slow rate; trunk to more than 1.5 m d.b.h.; bark rough, scaly; branchlets yellowish grey, brown, or reddish brown, furrowed, pubescent or glabrous, densely leafy; winter buds globose or ovoid, resinous. Leaves ascending on upper side of cone-bearing branchlets, pectinately arranged in 2 lateral sets on young and vegetative branchlets, bright green adaxially, linear, 2-6 cm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, stomatal lines in 2 white bands abaxially, resin canals 2, marginal, apex emarginate or 2-cleft. Seed cones dark purple, maturing to dark brown or blue-brown with a little purple, cylindric, 8.5-20 cm long, 4.5-7.5 cm wide. Seed scales at middle of cones flabellate-trapeziform, 2.3-2.8 cm long, 2.8-3.4 cm wide, and margin auriculate and thin laterally. Bracts included, spatulate, 1/3-1/2 as long as seed scales, apex with an acute, short cusp. Seeds ca. 1 cm; wing broadly cuneate, longer than seeds, apex truncate. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Wind.
Medicinal Uses:
Expectorant, bronchial sedative, decongestant, anticatarrhal, antiseptic, carminative.
Key application Fir (Abies alba Miller) needle oil—in catarrhal illness of upper and lower respiratory tract (internally and externally); externally in rheumatic and neuralgic pains. Contraindicated in bronchial asthma and whooping cough. (German Commission E.)
A biflavonoid, abiesin, n -triacontanol, beta-sitosterol and betuloside are present in the leaves.
The essential oil from leaves contains alpha-pinene, l-limonene, deltacarene, dipentene, l-bornyl acetate and l-cardinene as major constituents.
Dosage Needles—2—6 g powder.
note : Image Courtesy to wikipedia commons
