Lagenaria siceraria (MOLINA) STANDLEY

English Name : Bottle gourd, calabash gourd

Family : Cucurbitaceae

Origin : Asia or Africa

Description

A large, pubescent, climbing or trailing herb with stout, 5-angled stems and bifid tendrils. Leaves to 15 cm diameter, ovate or orbicular, base cordate, margins dentate, usually 5-lobed; petiole long, with 2 glands at its apex. Flowerslarge, white solitary, monoecious or dioecious, the male long and the female short-peduncled; calyx tube funnel-shaped, subcampanulate, teeth 5, narrow, petals 5, free, obovate, crumpled, hairy on both sides. Fruits of variable size and shape, but usually bottle-shaped, up to 1.8 m long, with a hard, durable, smooth shell. Seeds numerous, white, smooth, horizontally compressed with marginal groove.

Parts Used : Fruit and leaves.

Herb Effects
Antibiotic, antidote, diuretic, emetic, febrifuge, lithontripic, odontalgic, poultice, purgative, vermifuge.

Active Ingredients
Arginine, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, choline, cucurbitacin B, cucurbitacin D, folacin, histidine, linoleic acid, lysine, methionine, niacin, oleic acid, palmitic acid, phenylalanine, riboflavin, stearic acid, thiamin, threonine, tryptophan, valine (fruit).

Medicinal Use
To treat headaches, aching teeth and gums, boils etc. It is also used for the treatment for diabetes mellitus.

Reference

Hiptage benghalensis Kurz.

English Name :Hiptage

Family : Malpighiaceae

Origin : Temperate and Tropical Asia

Description

A large, handsome, evergreen climbing shrub. Bark brown, exfoliating in flakes : leaves opposite, 4-6 in. long, elliptic-oblong or ovatelanceolate ; flowers fragrant, silky, in racemes : petals fringed, white, uppermost yellowish ; fruit of 1-3 unequally winged samaras : seeds subglobose.

Habitat
Chiefly in damp places, ascending up to an altitude of 6,000 ft.

Parts Used : Leaf, bark, plant

Herb Effects
Hot, acrid, bitter, insecticidal, vulnerary (leaf and bark)

Active Ingredients
Hiptagin (bark)friedelin, epi-friedelinol, octacosanol, a-amyrin, ß-sitosterol its -ß-D-glucoside and traces of alkaloid (stem and its bark)

Medicinal Use
In cutaneous diseases, for scabies (leaves); in chronic rheumatism and asthma (plant); biliousness, cough, burning sensation, thirst and inflammation (leaf and bark).

Reference

Flacourtia indica (BURM.F.)

English Name : Governor’s Palm

Family : Flacourtiaceae

Origin : Tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia

Description

A deciduous shrub up to 10 m tall. Leaves alternate, red-pink when young, variable in size, 3 to 12 cm long and 2.5 to 5.0 cm wide, apex obtusely acuminate, base cuneate to round, margins coarsely crenate or serrate, glabrous; petioles 0.3 to 2 cm. Flowers greenish-yellow, unsexual; short tomentose racemes; sepals 4 to 5, 2 mm long, ovate or orbicular, hispid and ciliate; petals absent. Fruit globose dark-red or black, fleshy berry, persistent style. Seeds pale brown, rugose testa.

Parts Used : Seed, gum, fruit, bark, plant and its aerial part.

Herb Effects
Antirheumatic (seed); diuretic, alleviates spasms, hypothermic, antistrychnine and stimulates the central nervous and cardiovascular systems (aerial part); anthelminthic (fruit).

Active Ingredients
A cyanogenetic glycoside and an emulsion-like enzyme (plant).

Medicinal Use
In cholera (gum); enlargement of the spleen and in jaundice and against roundworms (fruit). Used to treat biliousness, rheumatism, gout, skin diseases, urinary disorders and mental disorders (bark).

Reference

Fagonia cretica Linn.

Family : Zygophyllaceae

Description

A small spiny undershrub with stiff, more or less prostrate,branches. Leaves opposite, 1-3 foliolate: leaflets entire, linear-elliptic; flowers small, pink.

Habitat
Ravines and rocky areas; western and peninsular India and the upper Gangetic plains.

Parts Used : Plant and its aerial part

Herb Effects
Alleviates spasms, antiviral, stimulates the cardiovascular system and antagonistic to the effect of amphetamine (aerial part); bitter astringent, tonic, antiseptic and febrifuge (plant)

Active Ingredients
Betulin, beta-sitosterol, diosgenin, fagogenin, harmine, kryptogenin, lanosterol, and oleanolic acid (plant).

Medicinal Use
Fever, thirst, vomiting, dysentery, asthma, urinary discharges, liver trouble, dropsy, delirium, typhoid, toothache, stomach troubles, skin diseases and protects against acquiring smallpox(plant).

Reference

Evolvulus alsinoidesL.

English Name : Slender Dwarf-Morning Glory, English speedwheel

Family : Convolvulaceae

Origin : American tropics

Description

A perennial herb with a small woody and branched rootstock. Its branches are annual, numerous, more than 30 cm long, often prostrate, slender and wiry with long hairs. Leaves are small, entire, elliptic to oblong, obtuse, apiculate, base acute and densely hairy. Petiole is minute or nearly absent. Bracts are linear and persistent. Flowers are blue, solitary and rarely 2 from a bract. Peduncle is long and axillary. Calyx 4 is lobed, lanceolate and the tip acute. Capsule is globose and 4 valved. Seeds are 4 and glabrous.

Habitat
Along roads and open sandy areas of India

Parts Used : Plant, powder and fruits

Herb Effects
Antifungal, anthelmintic, reduces fever, diuretic and anti-phlogistic.

Active Ingredients
Beta-sitosterol and evolvine (alkaloid); oleic, stearic and linoleic acids.

Medicinal Use
In dysentery, asthma, bronchitis, reducing fever, as a vermifuge and brain tonic, febrifuge, useful in internal haemorrhages, malarial fever, as blood purifier (decoction), in syphilis and scrofula.

Contraindication
Do not use during pregnancy.

Reference

Euryale ferox Salisb.

English Name : Foxnut, Fox nut, Euryale, Gorgon, Prickly water lily, Gorgon plant

Family : Nymphaeaceae

Origin : East Asia

Description

Very prickly, aquatic, annual herb with short rhizome. Submerged leaves not prickly; leaf blade sagittate or elliptic, 4-10 cm, base deeply cordate. Floating leaves prickly on petioles and along veins; leaf blade abaxially dark purple and adaxially green, to 1.3(-2.7) m in diam., subleathery, abaxially sparsely pubescent, adaxially glabrous, base emarginate or sinuate; veins abaxially strongly ribbed; primary veins prickly on both surfaces. Flower to 5 cm in diam. Peduncle stout, densely prickly. Sepals triangular-ovate, 1-1.5(-3) cm, abaxially densely prickly; prickles retrorse. Petals outer purple-violet fading to inner white, oblong-lanceolate, 1(-2.5) cm. Ovary 7-16-loculed, each locule with 6-8 or more ovules. Fruit dark purple, globose, 5-10 cm in diam., spongy, densely prickly. Seeds black, 8 to many, globose, 6-10 mm in diam.

Habitat
Ponds and lakes in lowland, C. and S. Japan

Parts Used : Plant, seed and leaves

Herb Effects
Astringent, deobstruent and tonic (whole plant); analgesic and aphrodisiac (seed)

Medicinal Use
The seed is a sweet and sour astringent herb that acts as a tonic for the kidney and the spleen. It is taken internally in the treatment of chronic diarrhoea, vaginal discharge, kidney weakness associated with frequent urination and incontinence, impotence, premature and involuntary ejaculation and nocturnal emissions. The leaf is used in cases of difficult parturition.

Reference

Euphorbia tirucalli L.

English Name : Milk Bush

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Origin : Africa

Description

Erect tree, 3 to 6 m high, branches thin, cylindrical, spreading, scattered, clustered, whorled, latex extraordinarily abundant, sticky and acrid; leaves alternate, linear, caducous, petioles modified to phylloclade; involucres clustered in the forks of branches, inconspicuous, flowers shortly pedicelled, bracteoles numerous; cocci dark brown, velvety, compressed; seeds ovoid, smooth.

Parts Used : Stem, plant and its aerial part

Herb Effects
Its stem-extract has antifungal properties and the aerial parts are antiprotozoal. Emetic, laxative, rubefacient, anticancer and astringent (plant); stimulates the central nervous system. hypothermic and antiprotozoal (aerial part).

Active Ingredients
Beta-sitosterol, ellagic acid, hentriacontanol, hentriacontane (stem); citric acid, mallic acid, methyl-ellagic acid, sitosterol, triucallol, taraxerone (plant).

Medicinal Use
In cancer (plant). The local medicinal practices employ its parts for dealing with body pain, eczema, scabies, rheumatism, earache, oedema, deranged phlegm, epistaxis, deranged bile, constipation and dyscrasia.

Dosage
Doses of a drachm, mixed with flour, daily as an antisyphilitic.

Reference

Euphorbia thymifolia L.

English Name : Thyme-leaf Spurge, gulf sandmat, chicken weed

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Origin : Pantropics

Description

A small annual herb. Leaves opposite, very small, 3 to 6 mm long and 2.5 to 4 mm wide, obliquely oblong, apex round, margins crenulate, base round, glabrous, petioles very short. Flowers involucres, axillary, solitary or 2 to 3 together, campanulate, 0.8 mm long, stalk very short. Capsules 1.5 mm long, obtusely keeled, pubescent. Seeds quadrangular, bluntly pointed.

Habitat
Gardens and gravelly areas of India.

Parts Used : Leaf, seed, latex, root, plant and its aerial part

Herb Effects
Stimulant, laxative, antidiarreal and astringent (seed and leaf); antispasmodic. dilates bronchial tubes and antifungal (plant).

Active Ingredients
Euphorbol, hexacosanol, epitaraxerol, sterols and esters (aerial part)

Medicinal Use
In amenorrhea (root) and skin diseases (latex); to treat ringworm (fresh plant juice). An essential oil distilled from the plant is used in medicinal soaps used to treat erysipelas and as a mosquito and fly repellent.

Reference

Euphorbia nerifolia L.

English Name : Dog's Tongue

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Description

It is a small tree or shrub with large branches, fleshy glabrous and about 1.8 to 4.0 m high. Branches are jointed, cylindric or obscurely 5 angled with the pairs of stipular spines on tubercles or swelling of the branches. Leaves are deciduous, 10.0 to 20.0 cm long, fleshy, obovate-oblong or obovate or linear and rounded at the apex. Involucres are yellowish, the lateral ones of the cymes thickly pedicelled and hemispheric. The fruit is compressed and glabrous capsule. Seeds are smooth.

Habitat
Arid hilly areas containing many rocks.

Parts Used : Stem, latex, root and leaf

Herb Effects
The plant is bitter, pungent, laxative, carminative and alexipharmic. The milky juice of its stem is used as purgative, rubefacient and expectorant, laxative, expectorant and diuretic (latex); dilates bronchial tubes (latex and stem).

Active Ingredients
Nerifoliol and euphol (latex); taraxerol, friedelan-3-alpha-ol and -3-beta-ol (leaf and stem).

Medicinal Use
As a laxative and expectorant (latex); antidotes for scorpion and snakebites (root); to remove cutaneous affections, warts and in earache; in the cure of hydrophobia (herb juice)).

Reference

Euphorbia dracunculoides Lam.

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Description

A much branched annual, 12-18 in. high, with sessile, linear-lanceolate leaves; capsules 3-4 mm. in diam. containing ellipsoid seeds, 3 mm. long.

Parts Used : Leaves

Active Ingredients
Sitosterol, myristic, palmitic, stearic, arachidic, behenic, linolenic, linoleic, and oleic acid (oil); kaempferol, quercetin, quercetin-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranosyl (1-4)-O-a-L-rhamno-pyranoside.

Medicinal Use
For removing warts (capsules)

Reference