The leaves gave flavonol glycosides, cyclopeptide alkaloids. The triterpenoids and steroids, isolated from the aerial parts, are friedelin, betasitosterol and its beta-D-glucoside and stearate.
Melothria maderaspatana
(L.) Cogn.
Synonym Cucumis maderaspatana
Linn.
Bryonia scabrella Linn. f.
Mukia scabrella (Linn. f.) Am.
Family Cucurbitaceae.
Habitat Throughout India,
ascending up to 1,800 m in the hills.
Ayurvedic Ahileithana, Trikoshaki.
Siddha/Tamil Musumsukkai.
Folk Agmaki.
Action Tender shoots—gentle aperient, diuretic, stomachic;
decoction used in biliousness and
flatulence.
The root contains columbin; seed oil gave linoleic, oleic and palmitic acids. Fresh aerial parts exhibit potent antihepatotoxic activity.
In carbon tetrachloride-induced liver dysfunction in albino rats, the recovery of liver, treated with the extract from aerial parts, was significant and there was marked decrease in serum levels of the enzymes, alanine, aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase.
Kuruvikizhangu of Siddha medicine, used for acute diarrhoea and fever, is equated with Malothria perpusilla (Blume) Cogn. Zehneria hookeriana Am., found in upper Gangetic plain from Nepal to Assam and in Peninsular India.
Memecylon edule Roxb.
Synonym M. umbellatum Burm. f. Family Melastomataceae.
Habitat Orissa, Assam and Western Peninsula.
English Iron Wood. Ayurvedic Anjani.
Siddha/Tamil Kasai, Anjani.
Folk Yaalki, Lokhandi (Maharashtra).
Action Fruit and leaf—astringent. Leaf—antileucorrhoeic, spasmolytic, hypoglycaemic. A lotion
