Digera muricata (L.) Mart.(False Amaranth)

Digera muricata (L.) Mart.

False Amaranth !!

BOTANICAL NAME: Digera muricata (L.) Mart.

FAMILY NAME: Amaranthceae

SYNONYMOUS NAMES: Achyranthes alternifolia L.
Achyranthes muricata L.
Digera alternifolia (L.) Aschers.
Digera arvensis Forssk.

COMMON NAME(s): Lesua in Hindi

PART USED: Fruits, Whole Plant.

HABITAT: cultivation and waste places.

DISTRIBUTION:Widespread in southern Asia from tropical Arabia and the Yemen to Afghanistan, India, Ceylon, Malaysia and Indonesia. Also in S., C. and E. tropical Africa and Madagascar. Everywhere as a weed of cultivation and waste places, and occurring as such in Pakistan up to an altitude of at least 1500 m.

DESCRIPTION:>>Annual herb, (15-) 20-50 (-70) cm, simple or with ascending branches from near the base; stem and branches glabrous or very sparingly pilose, with pale ridges.

>>Leaf-blade narrowly linear to broadly ovate or rarely subrotund, (12-) 20-60 (-90) x (2-) 6-30 (-50) mm, glabrous or the petiole and principal veins of the lower surface of the leaf spreading-hairy, acute or acuminate at the apex, longly or (in broader-leaved forms) rapidly narrowed to the base; petiole slender, in the lower leaves up to c. 5 cm, shortening in the upper leaves.

>>Flowers glabrous, white tinged with pink to carmine or red, usually becoming greenish-white in fruit, in long and slender or shorter and denser axillary racemes, long-pedunculate, up to c. 30 cm long, laxer below; peduncles slender, the lower up to c. 14 cm in length, both they and the inflorescence axis glabrous or sparingly spreading-hairy; bracts persistent, deltoid-lanceolate, acuminate, 1-2.75 mm, glabrous, membranous with a green or brownish percurrent midrib, each subtending a very shortly pedunculate partial inflorescence of 3 flowers. Central flower fertile, the 2 membranous, navicular outer perianth segments c. 3-4.5 mm long, oval or oblong, 7-12-nerved (in Asia), acute; the 2-3 inner segments slightly shorter, more delicate, blunt or erose, 1-3-nerved, hyaline, with a darker central vitta; stamens sub-equalling or shorter than the style; style c. 1.5-4 mm, the 2 stigmas finally recurved. Lateral flowers appressed, 1-bracteolate, bracteoles similar in form to the bract, these flowers much reduced and increasingly so in the upper part of the spike (sometimes absent there), modified into accrescent, antler-shaped scales, these scales with the lateral lobes narrow (in Asia) to broad and wing-like.

>>Fruit subglobose, slightly compressed, 2-2.5 mm, bluntly keeled along each side, surmounted by a thick rim or a corona of short, firm processes furnished throughout with verrucae or ridges, style persistent.

FLOWERING SEASON: August-September.

PLANT CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTSAnalysis of various fractions of the D. muricata indicated the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, coumarins,
tannins, cardiac glycosides and anthraquinones.

USES & BENEFITS>In India, the young leaves and shoots of False Amaranth are made into curries, or the entire plant is boiled and seasoned.

>Though almost all of its parts are used in traditional systems of
medicines, leaves, roots and shoots are the most important parts which are used medicinally.

>wide numbers of phytochemical constituents have been isolated from the plant which possesses activities like antibacterial, antifungal, diuretic, laxative, Free radical scavengic activity, anthelmintic, and various other important medicinal properties.

>The crushed plant is used as mild astringent in bowel complaints.

>Flowers and seeds used in the treatment of urinary discharges.

SOURCES:>>>> http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=250064265

>>>>http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/False%20Amaranth.html

>>>>http://globalresearchonline.net/journalcontents/v20-1/19.pdf

>>>>http://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/229563

>>>>http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/90613185/review-digera-muricata-l-mart-great-versatile-medicinal-plant

>>>>https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/species/a---l/a/amaranthaceae/digera/digera-muricata

>>>>http://books.google.co.in/books?id=6jrlyOPfr24C&pg=PA286&lpg=PA286&dq=digera+muricata&source=bl&ots=DqxgqQSuV-&sig=XHoUQuHJd1qGLft6BteyjMV0fco&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cH9BVMnsC86NuATesoKIBw&sqi=2&ved=0CFoQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=digera%20muricata&f=false

Solanum Xanthocarpum(Yellow-Berried Nightshade)

Kantakari !!

BOTANICAL NAME: Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad.

FAMILY NAME: Solanaceae

COMMON NAME(s): Yellow-Berried Nightshade, Choti Katheri, Kantkari, Kateli

PART USED: Fruits, Whole Plant.

HABITAT: Wastelands, Roadside as well as Open lands.

DESCRIPTION: It is a very spiny diffused herb, with a height of up to 1.2 meters.

The young branches are densely covered with minute star-shaped hair, while the mature branches are zigzag, covered with yellow, sharp shining prickles and spread close to the ground.

The midribs and other nerves of the leaves have sharp yellow prickles and grow up to 10 cm in length.

The purple flowers, that are 2 cm long with five petals, can be seen in small bunches, sometimes opposite to the leaves.

Kantkari plant bears glabrous, globular drooping berries as fruits, yellow or pale in color, with green veins. The plant is cultivated throughout India.

The herb is also known as Kantakari and Nidigadhika in Sanskrit; Kateli, Katai and Ringani in Hindi; Kantakari in Bengali; Bhuiringani in Marwai; Bhoyaringani in Gujarati; Pinnamulaka, Nelamulaka and Vankuda in Telugu; Kandankattiri in Tamil and Malayalam; Bhejibegun and Ankranti in Oriya; Kandyali, Mahori and Warumba in Punjabi; and Rengnie, Bhat-khataya and Rangaini Janum in Bihar.

PLANT CHEMICAL: (+)- solanocarpine, carpesterol, solanocarpidine, potassium nitrate, fatty acid, diosgenin, sitosterol, isochlorogenic acid, neochronogenic acid, chronogenic acid, caffeic acid, solasodine, solasonine, solamargine, quercetin, apigenin, histamine, acetylcholine.

USES & BENEFITS:>>Kantkari is useful in treating worms, cold, hoarseness of voice, fever, dysuria, enlargement of the liver, muscular pain, spleen and stone in the urinary bladder.
>>Nasal administration of kantkari is beneficial in migraine, asthma and headache.
>>Its dried fruit is used in making cigarettes. The smoke from these cigarettes is held in the mouth cavity, to treat dental infections.
>>The juice of the berries is used in curing sore throat.
>>The fumigation of kantakari is helpful in piles.
>>The herb is made to a paste and applied on swollen and painful joints to reduce the pain and swelling in arthritis.
>>Roots and seeds are used as an expectorant in asthma, cough and pain in chest.
>>The decoction of the root is given with honey, to treat cough.
>>The root is ground to a paste and mixed with lemon to cure snake and scorpion bites.
>>Its stem, flowers and fruits, being bitter and carminative, are used for relieving burning sensation in the feet.
>>Kantakari fruits also facilitate seminal ejaculation, alleviate worms, itching, and fever and reduce fats.
>>The fruit works as an aphrodisiac in males.
>>Its seeds are helpful for treating irregular menstruation and dysmenorrheal in females.
>>The herb is beneficial in the treatment of cardiac diseases associated with edema, since it is a stimulant to the heart and a blood purifier.

CAUTION: Kantkari should not be taken during pregnancy.

SOURCES:>>>>>>http://www.alwaysayurveda.com/solanum-xanthocarpum/

>>>>>>http://saspublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/SAJP32-146-149.pdf

>>>>>>http://www.himalayawellness.com/herbfinder/solanum-xanthocarpum.htm

>>>>>>http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/10295/1/JSIR%2069(10)%20732-740.pdf

>>>>>>http://www.motherherbs.com/solanum-xanthocarpum.html

>>>>>>http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-herbs/solanum-xanthocarpum.html

>>>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-fruit_nightshade