Cullen corylifolium
# Cullen corylifolium

Cullen corylifolium, synonym Psoralea corylifolia, (babchi) is a plant used in Indian and Chinese traditional medicine. The seeds of this plant contain a variety of coumarins, including psoralen.

## Etymology

Corylifolium comes from similarity of the leaves to those of Corylus, a genus of tree in northern world regions, such as Sweden.

## Description

Cullen corylifolium grows 50–90 cm tall and is an annual plant. It has pale-purple flowers in short, condensed, axillary spikes. Its corolla is pale purple. Flowers one-seeded fruits. The most distinctive feature is the occurrence of minute brown glands which are immersed in surface tissue on all parts of the plant, giving it a distinctive and pleasant fragrance.

## Habitat and distribution

Cullen corylifolium is native to north-east tropical Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, and tropical and subtropical Asia, including India and Sri Lanka. It was occasionally cultivated in Arabia for its supposed medicinal properties.

## Chemical constituents

Cullen corylifolium extract contains numerous phytochemicals, including flavonoids (neobavaisoflavone, isobavachalcone, bavachalcone, bavachinin, bavachin, corylin, corylifol, corylifolin and 6-prenylnaringenin), coumarins (psoralidin, psoralen, isopsoralen and angelicin), meroterpenes (bakuchiol, and 3-hydroxybakuchiol).

## Use in traditional medicine

Cullen corylifolium, or bu gu zhi in traditional Chinese medicine, is an herb used as a therapy for several disorders, such as treatment of lichen planus by psoralen extract combined with sunlight exposure.

