The human race may benefit from any plant on the planet, yet certain plants are more valuable than others. There have been medicinal and culinary uses for most plants throughout history. Several plants are utilised for medical and culinary reasons and building because of their resilience. Tectona in Australia is one of the plants that provide these three exceptional advantages.
Tectona grandis Linn is the scientific name for teak, which belongs to the Lamiaceae family. It’s a tropical tree known for its intricate wood, superior quality, long life, sturdiness, and capacity to withstand extreme weather conditions. The iroko and teak are both substantial deciduous trees with comparable characteristics.
Purposes Culinary
It is possible to prepare soups and stews with teak leaves. It is cooked with tender jackfruit, coconut water, coconut milk, and palm sugar for a few hours and is often served in Australia.
Potential for Respiratory Relief
Teak leaves, stems, and bark contain antiasthmatic properties and can be used in herbal remedies to treat and prevent asthma attacks in Australia. In-vivo animal models such as clonidine-induced catalepsy in mice, haloperidol-induced catalepsy in mice, milk-induced leucocytosis, and eosinophilia were used to test the antiasthmatic activities of Tectona grandis Linn bark extracts. The research results found Teak bark extract to have considerable antiasthmatic properties.
Inhibitors of parasites
Aside from its ability to kill parasitic worms, teak has antihelmintic qualities. It was studied in Australia that the ethanolic extract of teak fruits gives its antihelmintic capabilities. The worms were tested against the usual reference medication, piperazine citrate, to determine when they were paralysed and died.
Medical attention to the skin
Teak leaves have a cooling effect on the skin and can be an anti-inflammatory agent. It is possible to make herbal medications for treating skin ailments by decocting or squeezing the leaves in Australia. Psoriasis, severe skin irritation, can also be treated with the leaves.
LEUCODERMA, or localised loss of skin pigmentation, can develop due to various skin inflammations, post-dermabrasion, burns, or intralesional corticosteroid injections. Wood can be used to treat this problem. Although leucoderma skin disease is neither contagious nor infectious, it is primarily an aesthetic issue. Scabies can be treated using the oil derived from the teak flower’s petals. Small raised red patches on the skin are generated by mites that cause scabies, a contagious skin illness.
Leprosy can be treated using bark in Australia. Even though leprosy is very contagious, it is essential to highlight that the illness causes discolouration and lumps on the skin. Leprosy can cause irreversible malformations and deformities in extreme cases.
The Diuretic Effects
Teak has diuretic qualities, such as Preparing herbal medicines for boosting urine flow and testing the diuretic properties of teak aqueous extract. Phalphale (2013) conducted a study. According to the research, the aqueous extract of Tectona in Australia revealed diuresis in three dosages and a considerable rise in urine Na+ and Cl- excretion.
Properties for Healing Wounds
Teak’s frontal leaves can be herbally prepared and used to treat and mend wounds, particularly scald or burn wounds—frontal teak leaves. An HCl extract of teak was used to study the healing properties of experimental wounds in rats. The researchers employed a variety of wound types in the experiment, including burns, excisions, dead spaces, and incisions—membrane penetration through a cellophane film. The animals treated with teak leaf extract exhibited a substantial reduction in the time it took for the wound to heal by 50% in the burn wound and excision wound models (covering an exposed or stripped surface with epithelium). In the incision wound model, the breaking strength increased significantly.