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| Latin Name |
English Name |
Sanskrit Name |
Plumbago zeylanica
Linn. (Plumbaginaceae) |
White Leadwort |
Chitraka |
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| History |
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In the Nighantus, there
are passages that describe the herbs burning and acrid properties.
Religious mendicants attending fairs used the root to generate
sores on their bodies in order to obtain alms. Several European
writers of Indian drugs have mentioned this plant.
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| Habitat |
Found wild in peninsular
India and also cultivated as ornament.
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| Morphology
Description (Habit) |
It is a perennial,
sub-scandent shrub. The leaves are ovate and glabrous. The flowers
are white, in elongated spikes. The capsules are oblong, pointed,
contained in a viscid glandular persistent calyx.
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| Principal
Constituents |
Plumbagin was isolated
from the plant1.
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| Toxicology |
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No adverse effect is reported
on use of this plant as a drug.
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| Indications |
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It is used as a stimulant, adjunct
to other preparations. It enters in numerous compound preparations.
In small doses it is a powerful stimulant of the mucus membrane of
the digestive organs.
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| Product
Range |
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Muscle & Joint
Rub.
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| References |
- Planta med. 1980, (Supp.) 185.
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