Wall.Family: Celastraceae.
Habitat: Tropical Himalayas from Simla to Bhutan between 2,150 and 3,200 m, and in Assam.
English: Spindle Wood, Wahoo. (Euonymus atropurpureus, found in Eastern and Central USA and Canada, is equated with Wahoo and Spindle tree.Ayurvedic: Bhillotaka.Folk: Chopra, Mermahaul, Kunku, Barphali.Action: Cholagogue, laxative, diuretic, circulatory stimulant. Used for constipation, torpidity of liver, gall bladder disorders, jaundice and dyspepsia. Bark is used in diseases of the eye.
Key application: Bark—as laxative.(The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia.)The plant yielded triterpenes—epi- friedelinol, taraxerol, dulcitol, pris- timerin and tingenins A and B. Pris- timerin exhibited antitumour activity.Only bark and root bark is used medicinally. The seeds are poisonous.Toxic constituents of E. atropur- pureus are furan-a-carboxylic acid; d- phenyl-glucosone (sterol glucoside); euatroside; euatromonoside (steroid glycosides). (Francis Brinker.)