Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Pedalineæ
N. 0. PEDALINEÆ.
909. Martynia diandra, Glox. h.f.b.i., iv. 386.
Vern :— Bichchhu (H), Naka-tali (Tam).
English : — Tiger claw or Devil's claw.
Habitat : —An American weed, it is now common in the Gangetic plain and elsewhere in India on road sides and in waste places, flowering during the rainy season.
A tall coarse herb. Leaves large, opposite, cordate, glutinous. Flowers diandrous, rose-colored and handsome like those of Sesamum indicum, DeC. Fruit large, woody, beaked by two curved spines, having somewhat the appearance of a beetle.
Uses : — The fruit is rubbed down with water and applied to the part stung by scorpion.
910. Pedalium Murex, Linn., h.f.b.i., iv. 386, Roxb. 496.
Vern. — Farid-búti, bará gôkhru (Hind.); Khasake-kabir (Arab.); Khasake-kalán (Pers.) ; Barâ-ghokru (Dec); Peru- nerunji (Tam.) ; Enuga-palleru-mullu. pedda-palleru (Tel.)'; Bara-ghokru (Beng.;; Motto-ghokru (Guz.) ; Hatti-charátte, mothe gokharu (Mar.); Anne-galu-gida (Kan.}.
Habitat -Dekkan and Konkan. Found by me in Thana district at nchni (Tarapur) and at Ghat Kopar hill spur (K. R. K. )
An annual herb, growing in sandy places near the sea. Stems decumbent, much branched, thick, slightly rough with scaly glands or hairs. Leaves opposite, 1-1½in., broadly oval-oblong, acute at base, truncate or obtuse, very coarsely crenate-serrate or lobed, glabrous above, covered with minute scaly glands beneath, rather fleshy, pale glaucous green. Petiole ¼-½in. Flowers sulphur yellow, on very short curved peduncles, Calyx-tube very short and wide ; segments linear, spreading. Corolla limb lin. diam.; lobes broad ; throat hairy within ; filaments glandular — hairy at base. Fruit ½-¾in., narrowed below into a short thick stalk, broadly ovoid, bluntly 4-angled with the spines from the angles, pericarp very tough, fibrous woody.
Uses :— The fresh leaves and stems, briskly agitated in cold water, speedily convert it into a thick mucilage, nearly of the consistence of the white of a raw egg, inodorous and tasteless, An infusion, thus prepared, is a highly prized remedy amongst the people of Southern India, in gonorrhœa and dysuria. Facts communicated to the Editor, leave little doubt that in these cases it is a remedy of considerable value, and that as a diuretic its action is speedy and marked. Dr. Ives (Voyage to India, p. 466) speaks very favourably of the virtues of this plant, under the name of Ghanti-gura or Gocrow (Gokeroo, Hind.) ; and he adds to his own testimony that of Dr. Thomas, as to the power of the mucilage to cure gonorrhœa without the aid of any other medicine. Water thus rendered mucilaginous, soon returns to its original fluidity, and it therefore requires to be freshly prepared each time before its exhibition. Its virtues are well deserving of further investigation. To the fruits, demulcent and diuretic properties are assigned, and they are extensively employed as such by the natives (Ph. Ind.).
The fruits are possessed of antispasmodic and aphrodisiac properties. The decoction of the fruit is useful in irritation of the urinary organs. The juice is a good gargle and the plant makes a good poultice (Dymock.) The juice is used in aphthæ as a local application (Dr. Emerson). Of late years it has been introduced into European medicine as a remedy for spermatorrhœa, incontinence of urine, and impotence {Practitioner, XVII. 381). " The juice of the fruit is an emmenagogue ; it is employed in puerperal diseases, and to promote the lochial discharge. Leaves are used as a cm-ry in splenic enlargements. Decoction of the root is antibilious" (Dr. Thompson, in Watt's Dictionary.)
Chemical composition.— The fruits contain a greenish-coloured fat, a small quantity of resin, and an alkaloid in the alcoholic extract. The mucilage separated by water is precipitated by acetate of lead solution and alcohol, and in these respects resembles the mucilage of gum arabic. The ash of the airdried fruit amounts to 5*43 per cent. (Pharmacographia Indica, III. 36).
911. Sesamum indicum, DeC. h.f.b.i., iv. 387.
Syn. : — S. orientale, Linn. Roxb. 491.
Sans :— Tila.
Vern. :— Míthá til, krishna-til (Hind.) ; Tíl (Beng.) ; Simsim (Arab.) ; Kunjad (Pers.) ; Wal lenney, yelloocheddi, (Tam.) ; Manchinúne nuvulu (Tel.); Bárik til (Dec) Kasi, Khasa (Uriya.)
Eng : — Gingelly ; Sesame.
Habitat :— Cultivated throughout the warmer parts of India.
Erect annual herbs, l-2ft. high, pubescent or puberulous. Leaves 3-5in., variable on the same plant, upper often narrowly oblong, sub-entire, middle ovate, ovate-toothed, lower lobed or pedatisect. Petiole ½-2in. Pedicels 1/5in., solitary, rarely 2-3-nate. Flowers with a strong, unpleasant odour. Sepals ¼in., lanceolate. Corolla 1¼in., pubescent, whitish or with red, purplish or yellow marks. Capsule tetragonous, oblong, 1 by ¼in., erect, scabrid pilose, the same width, from top to bottom, usually shortly acuminate ; 2-valved half-way down, or sometimes to the base or ultimately 4-valved. Seeds brown, smooth. There is a black-seeded variety.
Uses : —In Hindu medical works, three varieties of til seeds have been described, — black, white and red. The black kind is the best suited for medicinal use. " Sesamum seeds are considered emollient, nourishing, tonic, diuretic and lactagogue. They are said to be especially serviceable in piles, by regulating the bowels and removing constipation. Sesamum seeds ground to a paste with water are given with butter in bleeding piles. Sweetmeats made of the seeds are also beneficial in this disease. A poultice made of the seeds is applied to ulcers. Both the seeds and the oil are used as demulcents in dysentery and urinary diseases in combination with other medicines of their class " (Hindu Mat. Med.) " In decoction the seed is said to be emmenagogue ; the same preparation, sweetened with sugar, is prescribed in cough ; a compound decoction with linseed is used as an aphrodisiac ; a plaster made of the ground seeds is applied to burns, scalds, &c; a lotion made from the leaves is used as a hair-wash, and is supposed to promote the growth of the hair and make it black ; a decoction of the root is used to have the same properties ; a powder made from the roasted and decorticated seeds is called Rahisee in Arabic and Arwah-i- kunjad in Persian ; it is used as an emollient both externally and internally (Dymock).
The Editor for many years employed the oil as a substitute for olive oil, in the preparation of Linimentum calcís, and found it answer well. The poorer natives use it much for dietetical purposes. The seeds have powerfully emmenagogue properties assigned to them, and it is believed by the natives and Indo- Britons that, if taken largely, they are capable of producing abortion. In amenorrhœa, the employment of a warm sitz bath containing a handful of the seeds, bruised, has been reported to the Editor, on good authority, to be an efficient mode of treatment. The alleged emmenagogue properties of these seeds deserve further investigation. The leaves (Sesami folia or Benne leaves) are officinal in the secondary list of the U. S. Pharmacopœia ; they abound with thick viscid mucilage, which is readily imparted to water, and an infusion of them is much used in the Southern States of North America in all affections requiring demulcents. One or two full-sized fresh leaves, infused or agitated in half a pint of cold water, will soon render it sufficiently viscid for this purpose. If the dried leaves be used, hot water should be substituted for the cold. The leaves also serve for the preparation of emollient poultices (U. S. Disp,, p. 714). How far the leaves of the Indian grown plant may be used in this way remains to be determined (Ph. Ind.).
" I have employed," Dr. Evers says, " the mucilage, obtained from the leaves of the Indian plant, in the treatment of sixteen cases of dysentery, and in all recovery followed. From six to seven days was the time necessary for such treatment. I confess, however, that my cases were not of the virulent type seen towards the end of the rainy season. The drug acts simply as a demulcent, and does not, in my opinion, exert any specific influence on the disease ; furthermore, it is necessary to combine an opiate with it, to relieve the tenesmus, so that probably the opium added has as much to do in checking the disease as the mucilage itself." With regard to the value of the seeds as an emmenagogue, Dr. Evers says : " In three cases of congestive dysmenorrhœa I administered the powder of the seeds in 10- grain doses, three or four times a day, with benefit. I have at the same time employed the hip-bath recommended by Waring. It is commonly believed in the south of India that the seeds, when eaten by pregnant women, are likely to induce abortion ; but no instance of the kind has ever come under my notice, nor have I heard of any."
" I have for a long time used the following in gonorrhœa, and prefer it to copaiba or liquor potassæ, R. 01. Sesami m xx ; Aquæ Calcis m xx ; Aquæ 3j. in mixture." (Hon. Surg. Morris in Watt's Dictionary.)
Regarding the amount of oil in the seed, Leather found that the variation is from 48 to 52 per cent, though some specimens contained as much as 56 per cent, and some as little as 45 per cent. These differences appear to be independent of variety, province or climate. Prom 42 to 48 per cent, of oil may be obtained by expression. The seeds also contain about 3 per cent, of nitrogen and the cake is an excellent cattle-food. If made from unsound seed the cake may be used as a manure.
Sesame oil has been frequently examined by chemists, and the following average constants are quoted : Specific gravity at 15°, 0.923 to 0.926 ; solidifying point,— 5° ; saponification value, 187.6 to 194.6 ; iodine value, 103 to 115 ; Reichert-Meissl value, 1.2 ; Maumene test, 63° to 5° ; butyro-refractometer at 25°, 68.0 ; insoluble fatty acids and unsaponifiable, 95.7 ; melting point, 25° to 30° : neutralisation value, 196 to 201 ; mean molecular weight, 286.
Sesame oil contains, according to Farnsteiner, 12.1 to 14.1 per cent, of solid scids, and according to Lane 78.1 per cent, of liquid fatty acids. These consist of oleic and linolic acids. Sesame oil is dextro-rotatory, a property which may be used as an additional means of identifying the oil. The Indian oil has a lower rotation than African. The amount of unsaponifiable matter in sesame oil varies from 0.95 to 1.32 per cent, and contains phytosterol, sesamin and a socalled red oil. The phytosterol receystallised from alcohol melts at 139° -139.2°. In 1891 Tocher extracted from the oil, by means of glacial acetic acid, a crystalline substance named sesamin. This melts at 118° and assumes a green and then bright red colour with nitro-sulphuric acid. An extremely characteristic colour reaction, called Baudouin's test, is now used to detect the presence of sesame oil in mixtures with other oils. The test is applied as follows : Dissolve 0.1 grm. of sugar in 10 c.c. of hydrochloric acid of specific gravity 1.19 in a test tube, add 20 c.c. of the oil to be tested, shake thoroughly for one minute and allow to stand. The aqueous solution separates readily, and in the presence of even the smallest quantity of sesame oil, it will be found coloured crimson.— (Agricl. Ledger, 1911-12, No. 5).
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