Abutilon indicum(Linn.) Sweet.

Family : Malvaceae

Synonym(s) : Abutilon mauritianum (Jacq.) Medik., Sida indica L.

English Name : Indian Mallow, Country mallow, Indian abutilon, Monkey bush

Origin : Southeast Asia

Description

Indian mallow is an erect, woody plant. It is velvety, shrubby and greyish green in color. It grows up to one and a half meters in length.Stem is round, often tinged with purple color. The leaves are petiolate, ovate to orbicular-cordate, acuminate and toothed. Flowers are borne solitary in long, jointed and axillary pedicels. Calyx lobes divided in the middle, ovate and apiculate. Corolla is yellow or orange-yellow and opens in the evening. Carpels are 15-20 in number.The Fruits are hispid, scarcely longer than the calyx and the awns are erect. Seeds are three to five, kidney-shaped, dark brown or black, tubercled or with minutely stellate hairs.

Habitat

The plant grows as a weed, and is found abundantly in waste lands from the sea shore to 1,200 metres high in India and in the sub Himalayan tracts.


Parts Used : Root, bark, leaves, seeds and fruits

Herb Effects

Demulcent, aphrodisiac, laxative, diuretic, pulmonary and sedative (leaves); Astringent and diuretic (bark); Laxative, expectorant and demulcent (seeds); laxative and tonic, promoting the libido and relieving feverishness and producing a felling of coolness, antiinflammatory and anthelmintic (plant); analgesic (fixed oil).

Active Ingredients

Alantolactone, isoalantolactone and gallic acid (roots), beta-sitosterol and vanillic, P-coumaric, P-hydroxybenzoic, caffeic and fumaric acids (plant); linoleic, oleic, palmitic, stearic and capric acids (fixed oil of root).

Medicinal Use

In fevers, chest affections, gonorrhoea and urethritis (infusion of leaves and roots); used as an eyewash and as a mouthwash in toothache, tender gums, in gonorrhoea and for the inflammation of the bladder (leaf decoction); ; to boils and ulcers (flowers); used in piles and coughs (seed decoction); used in relieving strangury, haematuria and leprosy (root infusion).

Contraindication

Avoid during pregnancy

Reference