|
Botany
· A perennial herb,
the leaves of which occur in a rosette near the ground.
· Leaves: oblong or oblong ovate, 5 to 10 cm long, with
entire or toothed margins, usually 5-nerved, and borne on petiole
often as long as the leaf blades.
· Flowers: usually in crowded or erect, slender spikes,
6 to 12 cm long; corolla small and smooth, with the lobes spreading
or reflexed. Sepals ciliated.
· Fruits: capsules, ovoid, about 3 mm long and containing
2 cells. Each cell has 4 to 8 angular, very minute seeds.
Distribution
Found in cultivation and occasionally on wastelands at medium
altitudes.
Parts
utilized
· Seeds and leaves.
· Harvest the seeds when fruits are ripe, fully grown
with a plump and shiny.
· Sun-dry.
Constituents
Citric acid;
aucubin; glucoside; invertin and emulsin.
Properties
· Slightly sweet, cooling.
· Antipyretic, stomachic, diuretic, lymph deobstruent.
Folkloric
uses:
· Boils, furuncles,
abscesses: Cover the lesion with fresh crushed material.
· Anuria and dysuria due to beriberi: Concentrated decoction
of the whole plant or seeds. Use 9 to 15 gms of the whole plant
or 6 to 12 gms of seeds.
· Severe cough with plenty of phlegm which cannot be smoothly
expectorated: Concentrated decoction of the whole plant or seeds
with bark of Morus alba
· Insomnia, bloody urine, urinary lithiasis, nephritic
edema, beriberi edema, hypertension, bronchitis: Decoction of
30 to 60 gms of dried or 30 to 90 gms of fresh material.
· Reddening and swelling pain of the eye.
· For furuncles, eczema and various skin irritation: Poultice
of pounded fresh material.
· Gum inflammation
or gingivitis: Use decoction as mouth wash or as gargle.
· Skin irritation: Apply decoction over affected
area.The powdered seeds may be mixed
with oil for treatment of dermatitis.
· Used as antidote and diuretic.
Also used as poultice for sores, particularly inflamed fingernails.
A watery extract of the seeds is given for whooping cough. To
purify blood, stomachaches, and malaria, the whole plant is boiled
and the decoction is taken internally as a diuretic for stone
in the bladder.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
|
