demulcent; given in diarrhoea and dysentery. Root—prescribed as a mouthwash to cure toothache. A decoction of the herb is used in the treatment of headache.
The weed is rich in calcium and phosphorus; contains beta-sitosterol, ursolic acid and D-mannitol.
The plant gave alkaloid borreline, along with beta-sitosterol, ursolic acid and iso-rhamnetin.
Sphaeranthus indicus
Linn. (also auct. non L.)
Synonym S. senegalensis DC. S. hirtus Willd.
Family Compositae; Asteraceae.
Habitat Tropical parts of India, in rice fields, cultivated lands as a weed.
Ayurvedic Mundi, Mundika, Munditikaa, Bhuukadamba, Alambusta, Shraavani, Tapodhanaa.
Spilanthes calva DC. 621
(Mahamundi, Mahaa-shraavani is equated with S. africanus Linn.)
Unani Mundi.
Siddha/Tamil Kottakarthai.
Folk Gorakh-mundi.
Action Juice—styptic, emollient, resolvent. Also used in hepatic and gastric disorders. Seeds and root—anthelmintic. Decoction is used in cough and other catarrhal affections and chest diseases. Root bark—given in bleeding piles. Flowers—blood purifier, alterative, depurative.
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India recommends the dried leaf in cervical lymphadenitis, chronic sinusitis, migraine, epilepsy, lipid disorders, diseases of spleen, anaemia, dysuria.
The drug is mostly administered in the form of its steam-distillate. Steam distillation of fresh flowering herb yields an essential oil containing methyl chavicol, alpha-ionone, d-cadinene, p-methoxycinnamaldehyde as major constituents. A bitter alkaloid, sphaeranthine, has been reported in the plant.
Capitula contains albumin, a fatty oil (up to 5%), reducing sugars, tannins, mineral matter, a volatile oil (0.07%), and a glucoside. No alkaloid was detected in the inflorescence. The glucoside on hydrolysis gave a aglycone, phenolic in nature. The unsaponifiable matter of the fatty oil showed beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, n-triacontanol, n-pentacosane and hentriacontane. The essential oil is active against Vibrio cholera and Micrococcus pyogenes var. aureus. The
flower heads gave beta-D-glucoside of beta-sitosterol.
Eudesmanolides, cryptomeridiol and 4-epicryptomeridiol have been isolated from flowers.
Flowers gave a sesquiterpene glycoside, sphaeranthanolide, which exhibited immune stimulating
