Baliospermum montanum (WILLD.) MUELL.-ARG.

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Synonym(s) : Baliospermum axillare Blume., Baliospermum polyandrum Wight, Jatropha montana Willd.

Description

A stout shrub, 0.9 to 1.8 m tall, with many shoots arising fromt he base; bark light brown. Leaves alternate, very variable in shape; upper leaves small, lanceolate; lower leaves large, up to 30 cm long and 25 cm wide, ovate, palmately lobed and sinuately toohted, 3 to 5 nerved at base; petiole 2 to 15 cm long, hairy with a pair of stipular glands at the apex. Flowers small, greenish-yellow, borne in axillary racemes or contracted panicles with either all male or male with a few female flowers in lower positions. Fruits (capsules) obovoid, 3-lobed, 0.8 to 1.3 cm long, usually hairy; seeds oblong, smooth, shiny, 0.6 to 0.8 cm long, mottled, with an oily endosperm.

Habitat

Shady areas and along forest edges of subHimalayas from Kashmir to the Khasi hills. West Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Parts Used : Root, seed and plant .

Herb Effects

Laxative (seed and plant); stimulates the cardiovascular system and respiration and anticancer, rubefacient (plant).

Active Ingredients

Montanin, baliospermin, 12-deoxyphorbol-13-palmitate and 12-deoxy-5B-hydroxyphorbol-13-myristate (root).

Medicinal Use

Rheumatism (seed oil); snakebite antidote (seed); to treat piles, anaemia, jaundice, skin diseases, cyst, as purgative, wound, conjunctivitis, diabetes, numbness, dropsy, general anasarca, asthma.

Reference