Tag: Business

Buri Plam

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Botanical Name :Corypha elata Roxb.
Family: Arecaceae/Palmae
Subfamily: Coryphoideae
Tribe: Corypheae
Genus: Corypha
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Arecales
Species: C. utan

Other scientific Names :Corypha umbraculifera Blanco ,Sagus rumphii Perr. ,Livistona vidalii Becc ,Corypha sylvestris Mart. ,Corypha gebanga Blume ,Corypha utan

Common Names : Gebang Palm, or Cabbage Palm, Bagatai (Is.), Buli (Tag.),Buri ( Bis., Bik., Pamp., Tag.), Busi (Pamp., Bis., Tag.,Ibus (Tag.),Piet (Tag., Pamp.),Silad (Bik.) Silag (Ilk., Pang.) ,Silal (Sub.) ,Sirar (Bag.) ,Taktak (Is.) ,Gebang (Span.), Buri palm (Engl.), Gao xing li ye ye zi (Chin.)

Parts Used : Roots, trunk.

Habitat :
Buri Plam grows in areas from India through to the Philippines, down to Australia’s Cape York Peninsula.Widely scattered in some regions; abundant in low and medium altitudes.Growing along watercourses, floodplains and grasslands, the Palm and Cycad Socieites of Australia write about the Corypha utan palms occurring in Cape York:

Buri Plam is undoubtedly one of the most imposing species in the Australian palm flora (with its massive pachycaul trunks and hapaxanthic flowering and fruiting extravaganza

Description:
The buri palm is the most stately and largest of the Philippine palms. Trunk is straight and erect, up to 1 meter in diameter and 20 meters in height. Leaves are large and fan-shaped, rounded in outline, up to 3 meters long, palmately split into about 100, lanceolate, 1.5 to 6 cm wide, segments extending one-half to two-thirds to the base; petioles are very stout, up to 3 meters long, 20 cm thick at the base, the margins armed with stout black spines. Inflorescence is pyramidal, up to 7 meters high, the lower branches up to 3.5 meters long, the upper gradually shorter, the ultimate branches about 1 meter long. Flowe rs are numerous, greenish-white, 5-6 mm in diameter. Fruits are globose, fleshy, 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter. Seeds are hard, about 1.5 cm in diameter.

click & see the pictures

You may click to see more pictures:

These palms (like all Corypha) only flower towards the end of their lifetime, but when they do flower they send up a massive inflorescence up to 5m high, and with up to 1 million flowers .

Chemical constituents and properties:
*Sucrose is the produce of the sugar cane.
*Sugar is demuilcent, antiseptic, cooling, laxative and diuretic.
*Roots are demulcent, emollient, diuretic and stimulant.

Edible Uses:
*Trunk yields a large quantity of starch.
*Buds (ubod) used for salads or eaten as vegetable.
*Kernels of young fruits are edible and made into sweetmeats.
*It produces a fermented drink (tuba), alcohol, vinegar, syrup and sugar.

Medicinal Uses:
*Folkloric
*Decoction of young plant used for febrile catarrh.
*In Malaya, starch used for bowel complaints and the juice of roots used for diarrhea.
*In Celebes, roots chewed for coughs.

Others Uses:
*Ornaments: Mature seeds used for rosary beads and buttons.

*Fiber: Petiole yields the “buntal fiber,” used in making the famous Baliuag and Lucban hats. Also, used for making rope. From the leaf is obtained a fiber, similar to raffia, used in making cloth, strings, and other fancy articles. Fiber from the ribs of unopened leaves used in making Calasiao or Pototan hats. Strips of unopend

*leaf usedin making hats, mats, sails, baskets.

*Leaf: Mature leaf used for covering tobacco bales; rarely, as thatch for hiouses; the ribs used for making brooms.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://www.stuartxchange.com/Buri.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corypha_utan

http://www.indi-journal.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/corypha-elata.jpg

Tags Arecaceae, Australia, Business, Cape York Peninsula, Corypha, Corypha utan, George Samuel Perrottet, Leaf, Livistona, Philippines, Plant, Tree

Herbs & Plants

Chukrasia tabularis

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Botanical Name : Chukrasia tabularis A.Juss.
Family : Meliaceae
Synonyms : Chukrasia velutina (M.Roem.) C.DC. (1878).Chikrassia tabularis A. Juss.
Vernacular names : Chickrassy, Chittagong wood, Burma almondwood, East Indian mahogany (En).
Common Names :-

(Bengali) : boga poma, chikrassi, pabba
(Burmese) : kinthatputgyi, tawyinma, yinma
(English) : Burma almond wood, chickrassy, chittagong wood
(Khmer) : voryong
(Lao (Sino-Tibetan)) : nhom, nhom hin, nhom khao
(Malay) : cherana puteh, repoh, suntang puteh, surian batu
(Tamil) : agil, maleivembu
(Thai) : fakdap, siat-ka, siay-ka, yom-hin
(Trade name) : chickrassy
(Vietnamese) : l[as]t hoa

Habitat : Chukrasia tabularis originates from tropical Asia (from India and Sri Lanka eastwards to Borneo and China). It has been planted in many countries outside tropical Asia, in Africa in Nigeria, Cameroon and northern South Africa, and elsewhere e.g. in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Australia.

Description:
Deciduous, medium-sized to large tree up to 30(–40) m tall; bole branchless for up to 20(–25) m, with a diameter of up to 120 cm, with convex buttresses up to 1.5 m high or without buttresses; bark surface rusty brown or deep brown, deeply fissured or cracked, with lenticels, inner bark reddish; crown spreading. Leaves alternate, up to 50 cm long, paripinnate with up to 24 leaflets in larger leaves; stipules absent; petiole 4–9 cm long; leaflets alternate, shortly stalked, ovate to oblong, asymmetric, 4–17.5 cm × 2–6.5 cm, apical ones largest, acute to acuminate at apex, entire, glabrous to pubescent, pinnately veined. Inflorescence an axillary panicle, often appearing terminal, up to 30 cm long. Flowers functionally unisexual, regular, 4–5-merous, sweetly scented; pedicel 2–4 mm long; calyx shallowly cup-shaped, c. 3 mm in diameter, with short lobes; petals free, narrowly oblong to spatulate, 1–1.5 cm long, contorted, cream-coloured to yellowish, often tinged pink; stamens 8–10, filaments united into a cylindrical tube, with the anthers attached to the margin; ovary superior, flask-shaped, pubescent, 3– 5-celled, style slender, stigma head-shaped. Fruit an ovoid or ellipsoid capsule (2.5–)3.5–5 cm long, woody, opening by 3–5 valves from the apex, valves splitting into 2 layers, many-seeded. Seeds c. 12 mm long, flat, with large terminal wing. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons leafy; first 2 leaves opposite, subsequent ones arranged spirally, seedling leaves often imparipinnate and bipinnate with incised or lobed leaflets.

CLICK TO SEE THE PICTURES…>….(01).….(1).…....(2)....

Medicinal Uses:
A bark extract has powerful astringent properties and is used as a febrifuge and to treat diarrhoea.

The different parts of C. tabularis (leaves, bark, fruits) are having both ethnobotanical and medicinal significance along with biopesticidal activity. The biological activities of plant are due to the abundance of phenolic compounds including different terpenoids and limonoids. During recent years, bioactivities of extracts and pure compounds isolated from C. tabularis have been increasingly investigated. The dire need for such a review arises as the plant is included in the list of threatened species due to its high exploitation for timber utilization.

Other Uses
In tropical Asia, especially India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand and southern China, the wood is highly prized for high-grade cabinet work, decorative panelling, interior joinery such as doors, windows and light flooring, and for carving, toys and turnery. It is also used for light to medium-heavy construction work, e.g. for posts, beams, scantlings and planks, and for railway sleepers, ship and boat building, furniture, musical instruments, packing cases, sporting goods, lorry bodies, mallet heads, anvil blocks, brush wares, drawing equipment, rifle butts, veneer and pulp.In India Chukrasia tabularis is planted as a shade tree in coffee plantations, and in Vietnam and Malaysia as an ornamental tree.

Fuel: The wood can also be used as a fuel. Timber: Heartwood is pale reddish-brown, yellowish-red to red, darkening to dark yellowish-brown, reddish-brown to medium dark brown on exposure, sharply differentiated from the yellowish-white, pale yellowish-brown, pinkish-brown or greyish-brown sapwood; dark streaks may be rather prominent. The density is 625-800 kg/cubic m at 15% mc. The grain is interlocked and sometimes wavy, producing a rose figure; texture moderately fine but uneven. Freshly cut wood has a fragrant odour, but dried wood has no characteristic odour or taste. Planed surfaces have a high lustrous satiny sheen. The wood peels well and gives exceedingly fine veneer. It is suitable for commercial and moisture proof plywood. Gum or resin: A yellow, transparent gum exudes from the trunk and is marketed in admixture with other gums. Tannin or dyestuff: The flowers contain a red and a yellow dye. The young leaves and bark contain 22% and 15% of tannin respectively.

Resources:
http://database.prota.org/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?ac=qbe_query&bu=http://database.prota.org/search.htm&tn=protab~1&qb0=and&qf0=Species+Code&qi0=Chukrasia+tabularis&rf=Webdisplay
http://www.academicjournals.org/JMPR/abstracts/abstracts/abstracts2009/Apr/Kaur%20and%20Arora.htm

Chukrasia tabularis

http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/sea/Products/AFDbases/af/asp/SpeciesInfo.asp?SpID=525

Tags Biology, Burma, Business, Common Name, Germination, India, Leaf, Leaf shape

Herbs & Plants

Barringtonia acutangula

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Botanical Name :Barringtonia acutangula Gaertn
Family: Lecythidaceae
Genus: Barringtonia
Species: B. acutangula
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Ericales
Synonym(s):
Barringtonia edaphocarpa Gagnep
Barringtonia pedicellata Ridley
Barringtonia spicata Blume

Common Names :Ingar, Ambuja, Hijjala, Samudraphala, Dhatri phala, Indian Oak

Habitat :Native to coastal wetlands in southern Asia and northern Australasia, from Afghanistan east to the Philippines and Queensland.
Barringtonia racemosa is mainly a coastal species that thrives under very humid, moist conditions. It is common along tropical and subtropical coasts in the Indian Ocean, starting at the east coast of South Africa. It is also common in Mozambique, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, southern China, northern Australia, the Ryukyu Islands of Japan and a number of Polynesian islands. It does grow well under dry conditions but it cannot tolerate even mild frost

Description:
Barringtonia acutangula is a midium size freshwater mangrove tree or shrub grows in alluvium sandy clay on banks of river & creeks,floodplains. It has a straight, unbranched stem that leads to a rounded crown and is usually 4-8 m tall, but occasionally reaches 15 m. The bark is greyish brown to pink with white blotches and raised dots and lines. The branches are marked with leaf scars.
The leaves are alternate and carried in clusters at the ends of branches, are 180-320 x 55-145 mm, with petioles 5-12 mm long. The midribs are prominent on the lower side of the leaf and the branching veins are visible on both sides.

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The flowers are produced on hanging racemes up to 1 m long.It blooms during January -December. The buds are pinkish red and split open to bring forth masses of delicate stamens in white sprays up to 35 mm wide, which are often tinged with pink. The flowers give off a pungent, putrid yet faintly sweet odour in the morning. The fruit are quadrangular, 65 x 40 mm. Each fruit contains a single seed surrounded by spongy, fibrous flesh that provides the buoyancy that allows the fruit to be carried off with the tide.

Click to see for more pictures:

Conservation status : Barringtonia racemosa is not threatened in any way.

Medicinal Uses:
Its bark contains potent opioid painkillers.The fruit is spoken of as Samudra-phala and Dh?triphala or “nurse’s fruit,” and is one of the best known domestic remedies. When children suffer from a cold in the chest, the seed is rubbed down on a stone with water and applied over the sternum, and if there is much dyspnoea a few grains with or without the juice of fresh ginger are administered internally and seldom fail to induce vomiting and the expulsion of mucus from the air passages. To reduce the enlarged abdomen of children it is given in doses of from 2 to 3 grains in milk. Rumphius states that the roots are used to kill fish, and this use of the bark is known in most parts of India. The fish are said to be not unwholesome.
Barringtonia racemosa has similar properties, the bark, root and seed being bitter. Ainslie states that in Java and in Ternate the seeds are used for intoxicating fish. The powdered seeds of these plants induce sneezing.

You may click to see :-
*Antibacterial activity of Barringtonia acutangula against selected urinary tract pathogens

* Traditional use of Barringtonia acutangula Gaertn in fish farming

Resources:
http://vaniindia.org.whbus12.onlyfordemo.com/herbal/plantdir.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barringtonia_acutangula
http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/5289
http://iu.ff.cuni.cz/pandanus/database/details.php?id=242
http://www.worldagroforestry.org:8090/sea/Products/AFDbases/WD/asps/DisplayDetail.asp?SpecID=399
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phuonglovejesus2782010/5065287585/

Tags Barringtonia, Business, India, Indian Ocean, Leaf, Philippines, Plant, Seed, South Africa, South Asia, Sri Lanka

Herbs & Plants

Argyreia nervosa

Botanical Name : Argyreia speciosa
Family: Convolvulaceae
Genus: Argyreia
Species: A. nervosa
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Solanales
Synonyms: Argyreia speciosa, Convolvulus nervosus, Convolvulus speciosus.
Common Names: Baby Hawaiian Woodrose, Baby Woodrose, Cordon Seda, Coup D’Air, Elephant Creeper, , Adhoguda or Vidhara, Liane A Minguet, Liane D’ Argent, Samudrasokh, Silver Morning Glory, Woolly Morning Glory.

Habitat : Native to eastern India and Bangladesh, Argyreia nervosa, Baby Hawaiian Woodrose has become panTropical. Now introduced to numerous areas worldwide, including Hawaii, Africa and the Caribbean, it can be invasive, although is often prized for its aesthetic value. Common names include Hawaiian Baby Woodrose,

Description:
Perennial climber, height of vine is 10m.

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Flower: clusters of trumpets, 5cm (about 2 inches) violet/lavender inside with a deep coloured throat, white with fine hairs outside. The plant can start growing flowers as early as 18 months from seed. For this to occur, there must be sufficient watering and adequate room for the roots to grow; it can take up to five years for the first signs of flowering to become visible.
Fruit: “Woodrose”; globular berry, 1 to 2cm diameter, with rosette of “wooden” petals. Often sold for dried flower arrangements/pot-pourri.

Foliage: 15 to 40cm long cordate (heart-shaped) prominently nerved leaves, felted (tomentose) beneath with minute silky hairs.

Seeds :The seeds are found in the pods of dried flowers. These cannot be harvested until the pods are completely dried. There are 3 to 5 seeds, commonly 4, per flower.

Roots
Some people place approximately 1 to 2 inches (2 to 4 cm) in rich potting soil with a good drainage system. It is very important during the first stages of growth to keep the soil moist, though well drained, as saturation will cause root rot and possibly rot. It is important to keep the mix well aerated.

The massive root system of this plant can cause the plant to become rootbound within the first year or so. For example, a 5-year-old plant in a 15-gallon pot (after only six months) will begin to show signs of becoming rootbound. It is suggested to use a 55-gallon drum or a feeding trough (commonly used for livestock and horses).

Cultivation:

Very easy !

Just soak the seeds in water overnight, then keep them on a moist paper towel until the roots start to poke out.

When you can see a little white root starting to push out from one end of a seed sow the seed into a water retaining but free draining growing mix – about an inch (2 cm) or slightly more below the surface with the little root pointing upwards !

Within a few days the first 2 leaves will pull themselves out of the ground.

Chemical constituents — The plant contains tannin and amber-colored resin, soluble in ether, benzole; partly soluble in alkalis; and fatty oil.103

The seeds have shown the presence of alkaloids, viz., chanoclavine, ergine, ergonovine, and isoergine by various workers.10

Pharmacological action — Alterative, aphrodisiac, antiphlogistic, antiseptic, tonic, and emollient.

Medicinal Uses:
Parts used — Root and seeds.
Ayurvedic description — Rasa — katu, tikta, kasaya; Guna — laghu, snigdha; Veerya — ushna; Vipak — madhur.

Action and uses—Kapha vatsamak, branpachan,daran, sodhan, ropan, naribalya, dipan, pachan, ampachan, anulomon, rachan, hiridya sothahar, surkrjanan, pramehangan, balya, rasayan.

Powder of the root is given with “ghee” as an alterative; in elephantiasis the powder is given with rice water. In inflammation of the joints it is given with milk and a little castor oil. A paste of the roots made with rice water is applied over rheumatic swelling and rubbed over the body to reduce obesity. The whole plant is reported to have antiseptic properties.1 The leaves are antiphlogistic; they are applied over skin diseases and wounds;109 the silky side of the leaf is applied over tumors, boils, sores, and carbuncles;, as an irritant to promote maturation and suppuration.50 The leaves are also used for extracting guinea worms. A drop of the leaf juice is used in otitis.

The root of this plant is regarded as alterative, tonic and useful in rheumatic affections, and diseases of the nervous system. As an alterative and nervine tonic it is prescribed in the following manner. The powdered root is soaked, seven times during seven days, in the juice of the tubers of Asparagus racemosus ( satamuli) and dried. The resulting powder is given in doses of a quarter to half a tola, with clarified butter, for about a month. It is said to improve the intellect, strengthen the body and prevent the effects of age.1 In synovitis the powdered root is given with milk.2

Ajamod?di churna.3 Take of ajowan, baberang, rock salt, plumbago root, Cedrus deodara, long pepper root, long pepper, black pepper and dill seeds each two tolsa, chebulic myrobalan ten tolas, root of Argyreia speciosa twenty tolas, ginger twenty tolas; powder and mix. Dose, about two drachms with treacle. This preparation is said to be useful in rheumatic affections and hemiplegia

Other Uses: Psychotropic, in India it is an Ayurvedic medicinal plant, ornamental (dried flower arrangements).

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_baby_woodrose
http://b-and-t-world-seeds.com/365.htm
http://www.iamshaman.com/hbwr/ayurvedic.htm
http://chestofbooks.com/health/materia-medica-drugs/Hindus-Materia-Medica/Argyreia-Speciosa-Sweet-Syn-Lettsomia-Nervosa-Roxb-Sans.html

Herbs & Plants

Argemone mexicana Linn

Botanical Name :Argemone mexicana Linn
Family : Papaveraceae
Common Names :Bharband, Siyal kanta, Bramadandi, Pitapushpa, Mexican poppy, Prickly poppy, Yellow thistle, Shialkanta, Darudi, Pila-dhatura, Kanta dhotra, Kantakusham.Danarese: Balurakkisa, Datturi, Pirangi, datturi, Daruri, Firangi-kote-pavola, dhotara, Brahmadandi, Pitopushpa, Srigalkanta, Svarnakshiri, Ponnummattu, Kantankattiri, Kutiyotti, Ponnummuttai, Brahmadandicettu,Satiyanasi.

Bengali Name:: Shyal kanta

Habitat: It is introducd in India and naturalised and occur as wasteland weed in almost every part of India.Weed in waste places, widely scattered in the Philippines, in and about towns. Introduced, now pantropic. In many parts it is repoorted as crop weed also.

Description:
It is a prickly, glabrous, branching herb with yellow juice and showy yellow flowers, The Sanskrit name svarnakshiri is given because of the yellow juice (Svarna – Gold; Kshiri – Juice ). The height of this plant varies between 0.3 to 0.12 meters, Leaves are thistlelike. Stem clasping, Oblong, sinuately pinnatifid, spinous and viens are white. Flowers are terminal, yellow and of 2.5–5.0 cm diameter. Fruits are capsule. Prickly and oblong ovoid. Seeds numerous, globose, netted and brownish black. Flowering time is all round the year in Indian conditions. The plants is toxic to animals and cattle avoid grazing this plant. Harmful allelopathic effects of Argemone mexicana on germination and seedling vigour of wheat, mustard, fenugreek, sorghum, fingermillet, tomato, cucumber etc. (important crops in India ) have been reported. The allelochemicals cinnamic and benzoic acid are identified as harmful chemicals responsible for inhibition of germination and seedling vigo

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Constituents: The plant contains alkaloids as berberine, protopine, sarguinarine, optisine, chelerytherine etc. The seed oil contains myristic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic acids etc.

Phytochemical screening yielded the presence of reducing sugars, flavonoids, sterols/terpenes, tannins and alkaloids.
– Seed analysis yielded 36% oil, 49% carbohydrate and albumin, 9% moisture and 6% ash.
– Seeds contain a pale yellow non-edible oil, 22-36%, called argemone oil or katkar oil, which contains the toxic alkaloids sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine.
– Plant contains alkaloids berberine, protopine, sarguinarine, optisine, chelerytherine, among others.
– Seed contains myristic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic acids.

Medicinal Uses:
Parts Used : Roots, leaves,stems, seeds and yellow juice.

Considered analgesic, antispasmodic, antitussive, demulcent, emetic, expectorant, hallucinogenic, purgative and sedative.
Berberine is a bitter yellow substance with an effect on circulation; an overdose can cause death by paralysis of the central nervous system.
Protopine is narcotic.
Root is considered alterative.
Leaves considered narcotic and sedative.
Flowers considered pectoral and sedative.
Seeds considered laxative, emetic, nauseant, expectorant and demulcent.

According to Ayurveda the plant is diuretic. purgative and destroys worms. It cures lepsory, skin-diseases, inflammations and bilious fevers. Roots are anthelmintic. Juice is used to cure ophthalmia and opacity of cornea. Seeds are purgative and sedative. Seeds resemble mustard seeds and in India it is used to adulterate mustard seed. Seed yield non edible toxic oil and causes lethal dropsy when used with mustard oil for cooking.

In Homoeopathic system of medicine, the drug prepared from this herb is used to treat the problem caused by tape-worm.

Popular Ayurvedic Formulations: Svarnakshiri churna and tail.

Folkloric
Infusion of roots is given to women at the start of parturition pains.
Roots given for various skin diseases.
Decoction of roots given for blenorrhagia.
In French Guinea, decoction of roots or stems given for vesicular calculus. Decoction also used as an eye-wash and a lotion used for inflammatory swellings. Also, used as a mouthwash for toothaches and taken internally for gleet.
Powdered root used for tapeworm.
In French Guinea, stem used as diuretic.
In Gambia, infusion of leaves used for coughs.
Leaves used as narcotic and sedative.
Latex with slightly corrosive property, applied to warts, chancres, etc. Also used for eczema.
Yellow juice of the plant used for dropsy, jaundice, cutaneous affections.
Used as a diuretic, relieves blisters, heals excoriations and indolent ulcers.
Used as externally application for conjuctivitis.
In Konkan, juice is given with milk for leprosy.
In Jodhpur, the yellow juice is used for eye affections and rubbed on the body to relieve rheumatic pain.
In the West Indies, used as a substitute for ipecacuanha.
Seeds used for catarrhal affections of the throat, cough, pertussis and asthma.
In Mexico, used as an antidote to snake venom.
In French Guinea, used as a cathartic and emetic.
In Delhi, smoke from burning seeds used to relieve toothaches; also, for preventing dental caries.
Oil is aperient, used for herpetic lesions and other skin diseases.
In Delhi and Sindh, oil is used on indolent ulcers and eruptions and as an external application for headaches.
Oil of seeds is considered purgative.

In many “fringe” and tribal cultures, leaves are smoked or made into tea, for its sedating and psychoactive properties. Euphorant and aphrodisiacal properties have been reported. Also, used as tea for its beneficial effects as a smoking-cessation aid.
Cold remedy: Leaf extracts being recommended as new-age cold remedy.

You may click to see :

Pharmacognosy of Argemone Mexicana Linn. (Ghamoya):

Digest Journal of Nanomaterials and Biostructures

Traditional Medicine

Other uses:
The plant is found suitable for the reclamation of alkaline soils.

Dried and powdered plants are recommended as green manure as it contain sufficient amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium.

Oilcake is used as manure.

Seed oil, popularly known as Satyanashi oil is used as an illuminant, lubricant, in soapmaking, and for protection from termites.

A plant used as “nourishment for the dead” by the Aztecs. The plant latex is collected into a pliable mass and fashioned into an image of an Aztec god. In a sacrifice ritual, the “god” image is killed and its “flesh” distriburted among the worshippers. Its became cemented into the culture of poppy when Chinese residents in Mexico extracted from the latex a product with opium-effects.

Studies
• Antibacterial: Study on the extracts of seeds and leaves of Amexicana all showed activity against S aurues, B subtilis, E coli and P aeruginosa; the methanol extract showed maximum inhibition.
• Toxicity / Neuro-entero-hepato-nephropathy: Rats receiving seed, seed oil and ethanolic extracts of A. mexicana suffered hyperesthesia, inappetence, intermittent diarrhea, emaciation and decrease body weight, with hepatorenal lesions and increase in BUN and SGOT. Results suggest that the seed and seed extract toxicity in rats are more of neuro-enterohepatonephropathy.
• Epidemic Dropsy / Toxicity Report: Four cases manifesting epidemic dropsy following massage with contaminated mustard oil was reported. The oil was found adulterated with Argemone mexicana oil, and the diagnosis confirmed a transcutaneous route of absorption of the toxin with the presence of sanguinarine in the serum and urine of all four cases.
• Anti-Malarial: A study compared the Argemone mexicana decoction versus artesunate-amodiaquine (artemisinin combination therapy [ACT]) for the management of malaria. In view of the low rate of severe malaria and good tolerability, AM may also constitute a first-aid treatment when access to other antimalarials is delayed. (2)
• Larvicidal / Insecticide: Study showed the crude methanol extract of P minima and the methanol leaf and flower extract of Argemone mexicana might be used as larvicide and insecticide.
• Effect on Ileum Contraction: Study showed CHCl3/MeOH and MeOH extracts dose-dependently reduced the contractions of isolated guinea-pig ileum. The effects were attributed to the active compounds identified as protopine, allocryptopine and berberine.
• Phytochemical Screening: Phytochemical screening yielded reducing sugars, flavonoids, sterols / terpenes, tannins and alkaloids. Its biological active compounds could serve as a potential source of vegetable drugs in herbal medicine.
• Anti-Stress / Antiallergic / Anti-Asthma: Study of various extracts showed the aqueous extracts of Argemone mexicana stems caused a significant decrease in leucocytes and eosinophils, results suggesting a usefulness as antiallergic in asthmatic conditions.
• Neurotoxicology of Argemone Oil / Neuroprotective Extract: Argemone oil shows acute and subacute as well as dose-dependent toxicity in whole brain as well as discrete areas of the brain. Oral supplementation of aqueous extract of A mexicana stem and leaves showed a protective effect on the brain and liver.