कर्मरङ्गम् - Averrhoa carambola
Name - कर्मरङ्गम्
Botanical name - Averrhoa carambola
Description - Trees with drooping branches. Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets 5 to 11, ovate-oblong, entire, base oblique. Flowers white or purple, in short axillary recemes or arising from old wood. Fruit, a berry, arise from old wood through out the tree, 7.5-13 cm long ovoid, oblong or ellipsoid; distinctly star shaped in cross section deeply ribbed (5-5) ribbs), acidic or sweet; golden yellow in colour when ripe with waxy skin. Fruits contain 8-10 arillate yellow or light brown, compressed, shining
Chemical Constituents- Flowers contain rutin, cyanidin glucoside and cyanidin-di-glucoside. Fruit contains iron, oxalic acid, potassium oxalate and vitamin C.
Use - Root given as an antidote in poisoning. Crushed leaves or shoot used externally in chicken pox, ringworm, scabies and headache, anti scorbutic. Decoction of leaves used for aptha and angina and to arrest vomiting. Flowers vermicidal. Fruits laxative, anti-scorbutic, febrifuge, anti- dysenteric and antiphlogistic. Fruit juice used-in bleeding, piles. Seeds used as galactagogue, emmenagogue, abortificient, emetic, in asthma, colic and jaundice.
