(0.36%) and free amino acids. Sanguinarine is the toxic factor in seeds.
Argyreia speciosa Sweet.
Family Convolvulaceae.
Habitat Found all over India, ascending to 300 m.
English Elephant Creeper.
Ayurvedic Vriddhadaaruka,
Vriddhadaaru, Vriddhadaaraka,
Bastaantri, Sthavira, Sthaviradaaru,
Atarunadaaru, Samudrashosha.
(Seeds of Salvia plebeia R. Br. are
also known as Samudrashosha.)
Unani Samunder sokh.
Siddha/Tamil Ambgar, Samuddirapacchai
Folk Bidhaaraa.
Action Root—aphrodisiac (considered as a rejuvenator), nervine (used in diseases of nervous system, sexual disorders), diuretic (used in strangury), antirheumatic. Seeds—hypotensive, spasmolytic. Leaves—used externally in skin diseases (ringworm, eczema, boils, swellings); rubefacient, topically stimulant.
The seeds contain hallucinogenic ergoline alkaloids, the main ones be ing ergine and isoergine. EtOH (50%) extract of seeds exhibits hypotensive activity. (Seeds of all species of Argyreia contain ergoline alkaloids and are hypotensive.) Leaves of Argyreia sp. contain sitosterol and are antiphlogistic.
In Indian medicine, A. speciosa is not used as a single drug for sexual disorders in men, but as a supporting drug for exerting its antiphlogistic, spasmolytic and hypotensive actions on the central nervous system. The
Synonym A. nervosa (Burm. f.) Boj.
Aristolochia indica Linn. 61
drug, in itself, did not show anaboliccum-androgen-like or spermogenetic activity experimentally.
Ipomoea petaloidea Chois and Ipomoea biloba Forsk of the Convolvulacae Family are also used as Vriddhadaaru.
In Western herbal medicine, Hawaiian Baby Woodrose is equated with Argyreia nervosa (synonym Argyreia speciosa; grows in Florida, California and Hawaii). The seed is used for pain relief and as a hallucinogen.
