Unani Ushbaa Hindi.
Siddha/Tamil Nannaari, Suganthipala.
Action Blood purifier, antisyphiitic, antileucorrhoeic, galactogenic, antidiarrhoeal, antirheumatic, febrifuge, alterative. Roots used against gonorrhoea, leucoderma, bleeding piles, jaundice and dysentery.
Family Liliaceae.
Heracleum candicans Wall. ex DC. 307
Key application Smilax sp.—in skin diseases and urinary infections.
(German Commission E included Smilax sp. among unapproved
herbs.)
Hemidesmus indicus does not contain the same saponins or other principal constituents which are found in sarsaparilla. (Tyler’s Honest Herbal.)
The root contains coumarino-lignoids, hemidesmine, hemidesmin-1, 2. The stem contains pregnane glycosides, hemidine, hemidescine, emidine and indicine, a triterpene lactone, a lupanone, besides lupeol acetate, sitosterol and hexadecanoic acid and several hydroxy- methoxybenzaldehydes.
Aqueous extract of the root is bacteriostatic against Myco bacterium leprae.
Dosage Root—20—30 g for decoction. (API Vol. I.)
Hemidictyum ceterach L.
Synonym Ceterach officinarum Willd.
Asplenium ceterach L.
Family Athyriaceae, Polypodiaceae.
Habitat Western Himalaya, from Kashmir to Garhwal, up to 3,000 m.
Action Fern—diuretic, astringent; used for diseases of the urinary
tract, infirmities of spleen, also for treating jaundice.
The plant contains caffeic acid, neohesperidin, kaempferol-3, 7-digluco- side, chlorogenic acid and quercetol3-glucoside. The leaves gave methyl esters of the acids—myristic, palmitic,
palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and arachidic. Pyrocatechol, tannins, flavonoids and amino acids were also present.
Hemionites arifolia
(Burm. f) Moore.
Family Adiantaceae.
Habitat Plains and mountains of South India up to 1,200., and in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
