Habitat: Cultivated throughout the hotter parts of India.
English: Jackfruit, Jack tree.Ayurvedic: Panasa, Kantakiphala, Ativrihatphala, Aamaashayaphala.Siddha/Tamil: Murasabalam.Folk: Katahal, Phanasa.Action: Latex—bacteriolytic, promotes healing of abscesses. Juice of the plant—applied to glandular swellings and abscesses for promoting suppuration. Root— used for diarrhoea, asthma, skin diseases. Unripe fruit—acrid, astringent. Ripe fruit—cooling, laxative, difficult to digest. Seeds— diuretic. Lactin extraction showed potent and selective stimulation of distinct human T and B cells.
The seed extract stimulates the heart and causes a fall in arterial blood pressure of experimental animals pretreat- edwithphysostigmine. The seeds show equal inhibitory activity against trypsin and chymotrypsin. (The activity is destroyed when the seeds are boiled or baked.)The leaves and stems show presence of sapogenins, and exhibit estrogenic activity.An aqueous extract of mature leaves exhibited hypoglycaemic activity in experimental animals. Leaves contain cycloartenone, cycloartenol and beta-sitosterol. Heartwood contains flavonoids, artocarpesin and norarto- carpetin and their structures.Dosage: Fruit—50-100 ml decoction. (CCRAS.)