If you walk a little along the village road, you will find a tall tree and the fruits hung down like bells.  It is a tree of Sendan(Chinaberry).  As with many vegetation, the fruit of Sendan is poisonous when eaten by humans and livestock, and in severe cases it contains deadly poison.  However, this poison can also be a medicine depending on the formulation.  The fruit of Sendan is an important drug in Chinese medicine, and it has been heavily used as an external medicine for cracks, and chilblains, as an intestinal regulator, and as an internal medicine by decoction as an analgesic.  In addition, it was also used as an anthelmintic (insect repellent) and an insecticide for farmers, and recently, the extract component of Sendan has been attracting attention as it is effective against influenza virus.  Sendan is a typical plant of “there’s only a slight deference between poison and medicine”.  By the way, the bulbul is a favorite of the fruit of Sendan, and it seems to be okay no matter how much you eat.

里道を少し歩くと背の高い木があって実が鈴なりです。センダンの木です。多くの草木がそうですが、センダンの実にも人や家畜が食べると中毒を起こし、酷い時には死に至る毒を含んでいます。しかしこの毒は調合次第で薬にもなります。センダンの実は漢方では重要な薬剤で、ひび、あかぎれ、しもやけに外用剤として、整腸薬、鎮痛剤として煎じて内服薬として重用されました。そのほか、駆虫剤(虫下し)や農家の除虫剤としても使われましたし、最近ではセンダンの抽出成分が、インフルエンザウイルスに効くとして注目されています。センダンはまさに「毒と薬は紙一重」の典型的な植物なんですね。因みにヒヨドリはセンダンの実が好物でいくら食べても平気のようです。