hill stations of South India.
English Horseradish.
Action Root—used for catarrhs of the respiratory tract. Antimicrobial and hyperemic.
The root contains glucosinolates, mainly sinigrin, which releases allylisothiocyanate on contact with the enzyme myrosin during crushing and 2-phenylethylglucosinolate. Crushed horseradish has an inhibitory effect on the growth of micro-organisms.
Fresh root contains vitamin C on an average 302 mg% of ascorbic acid.
A related species, C. cochlearioides (Roth) Sant & Mahesh, synonym C. flava Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb. (upper
and lower Gangetic valleys), is used for fevers.
Cochiospermum gossypium
DC.
Synonym C. religiosum (Linn.) Alston.
Family Cochlospermaceae. Habitat Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar; cultivated at Agartala in Tripura.
English Golden Silk tree, White Silk Cotton tree.
Unani Samagh, Kateeraa (substitute for gum tragacanth).
Siddha/Tamil Kongilam (flower juice), Tanaku.
Action Gum—cooling, sedative, bechic, useful in coughs, hoarse throat, diarrhoea, dysentery, scalding urine. Dried leaves and flowers—stimulant.
The leaves contain terpenoids, sap 0- nins and tannins. Flowers contain naringenin and beta- sitosteryl-glucoside (0.3%). The gum, after hydrolysis, furnished a mixture of acidic oligosaccharides.
Cocos nucif era Linn.
Family Palmae; Arecaceae.
Habitat Cultivated chiefly in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
English Coconut Palm.
164 Coffea arabica Linn.
Ayurvedic Naarikela, Naalikera, Laangali, Tunga, Skandhaphala, Sadaaphala, Trnaraaja, Kuurchshirshaka.
Unani Naarjeel, Naariyal.
Siddha/Tamil Thenkai. Kopparai (kernel of ripe coconut).
Action Water from tender fruit— cooling, used in thirst, fever, urinary disorders, gastroenteritis, and as
