Bess Health Dictionary

Linn.

Family: Araceae.

Habitat: Wild and cultivated throughout India in damp marshy places from 900 to 1,800 m; common in Manipur and Naga Hills.

English: Sweet Flag, Calamus.

Ayurvedic: Vachaa, Ugragandhaa, Ugraa, Golomi, Shadgranthaa, Shataparvaa, Tikshnagandhaa, Kshudra-patra, Maangalyaa, Ghor- bach.

Unani: Waj-e-Turki, Waj.

Siddha/Tamil: Vasambu.

Action: Rhizome—nervine tonic, hypotensive, tranquilizer, sedative (with neuroleptic and antianxiety properties), analgesic, spasmolytic, anticonvulsant; used for bronchial catarrh, chronic diarrhoea and dysentery.

Along with other therapeutic applications, The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India indicates the use of the dried rhizomes as a brain tonic in weak memory, psychoneurosis and epilepsy.

Four types of Calamus are used in herbal medicine: type I—Acorus calamus L. var. americanus, a diploid American var.; type II—var. vulgaris L. (var. calamus), a European triploid; type III and type IV—var. augustatus Bess. and var. versus L., subtropical tetraploids.

Beta-asarone is carcinogenic in animals. Volatile oil of types II, III and IV—major constituent is usually beta- asarone (isoasarone), up to 96%. Indian calamus oil contains asarone up to 82% and its beta-isomer. In type I, beta-asarone and other phenylpropa- noids are absent. It is superior in spasmolytic activity to the other types.

Indian practitioners mostly use A. calamus externally. Shveta Vachaa (Haimavati, equated with Acorus gra- mineus Scoland. Ex Ait., a diploid, is used internally. Unani physicians use Paris polyphylla Sim. as Khuraasaani Bach.

The essential oil-free alcoholic extract of A. calamus possesses sedative and analgesic properties.

Alpha-asarone potentiates pento- barbital, accounts for some, but not all, neurodepressive activity. Beta-asarone is reportedly hallucinogenic. (Francis Brinker.)

The ethanolic extract of rhizomes show significant antisecretory and an- tiulcerogenic activity; also, protective effect against cytodestructive agents, experimentally.

Dosage: Rhizome—60-120 mg powder. (API Vol. II.)... acorus calamus

Linn.

Family: Compositae; Asteraceae.

Habitat: The western Himalayas from Kashmir to Kumaon.

English: Wormseed, Santonica.

Ayurvedic: Chauhaara, Kirmaani Yavaani, Chuhaari Ajawaayin; not related to Ajawaayin.

Unani: Dirmanah, Kirmaalaa, Afsanteen-ul-bahar. (Dirmanah Turki is equated with A. stechmani- ana Besser.)

Folk: Kirmaani Ajawaayin, Kirmaani-owaa, Kirmaani-ajmo.

Action: Deobstructant, stomachic, anthelmintic (effective against roundworms), antifungal.

A decoction of the fresh plant is given in cases of intermittent and remittent fever.

A. maritima var. thomsoniana C. B. Clarke is a santonin-yielding var.; A. maritima var. fragrans (Willd.) Ledeb. is a non-santonin var.

Immature flowerheads and leaves contain santonin. Roots, stems and twigs are devoid of santonin. Santonin, a sesquiterpene lactone, is used for the treatment of ascaris and oxyuris infections. Large doses (0.3 g is adults and 0.06 in children) are toxic.

Beta-santonin is less anthelmintic in action than santonin; pseudosantonin is devoid of anthelmintic property.

Studies is albino mice revealed that santonin had no androgenic, estro- genic, antiestrogenic, progestational and antiprogestational effects.

Santonin is toxic at 60 mg in children; 200 mg in adults. (Francis Brinker.)

Dosage: Whole plant—3-6 g powder. (CCRAS.)... artemisia maritima

Spreng.

Family: Cucurbitaceae.

Habitat: Cultivated throughout the country, especially found in Assam, Bengal, South India and Andaman Islands.

Ayurvedic: Karkataka, Kaaravella- jalaja.

Folk: Kakrol (Maharashtra), Bhat-karelaa, Gulkakraa.

Action: Leaf and fruit—used externally for lumbago, ulceration, fracture of bone. Seed—bechic, aperient, emmenagogue, anti- inflammatory, deobstruent. (Used for obstructions of liver and spleen).

The tuberous root contains saponins belonging to the pentacyclic tri- terpene glycoside series. Seeds contain momordica saponins I and II (ester glycosides of gypsogenin and quilla- ic acid respectively), the diterpenoid columbin, oleanolic acid, its derivative momordic acid and bessisterol.

The seeds contain the glycoprotein, momorcochin S, which exhibits RNA N-glycosidase activity.... momordica cochinchinensis