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Herbs & Plants

Euphorbia resinifera

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Botanical Name: Euphorbia resinifera
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Euphorbia
Species: E. resinifera
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

Synonyms: Euphorbia officinarum. Poisonous Gum-Thistle. Dergmuse. Darkmous. Euphorbium Bush. Gun Euphorbium.

Habitat:  Euphorbia resinifera grows in the slopes of the Great Atlas range in Morocco.

Description:    Euphorbia resinifera is a leafless perennel shrub growing about 4 feet in height, resembling a cactus in appearance forming multi-stemmed cushion-shaped clumps up . It has many branches. The stems are erect, succulent, four-angled, with short but sharp pairs of 6 mm spines on the angles, spaced about 1 cm apart up the stem..CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

The flowers are small, simple, and bright yellow, and the fruit a small capsule with one seed in each cell. Specimens sent to Kew in 1870 have never flowered, but others have done so in Paris. Both Pliny and Dioscorides knew the drug, and its name is classical.

The milky juice is collected from incisions made in the fleshy branches, and is so acrid that it burns the fingers. It flows down the stems and encrusts them as it hardens in the sun. Poor Arabs bring in the resinous masses for sale in Morocco, whence it is chiefly exported from Mogador. The dust is so intensely irritant to the mucous membrane that the mouth and nose of those handling it must be covered by a cloth.

In commerce the drug is found in yellowish-brown ‘tears’ that have a waxy appearance. They are almost transparent, slightly aromatic only when heated, and often pierced with holes made by the prickles of the plant while drying. The taste is slight, but becomes very acrid.

It is said to be employed as an ingredient of paint used for preserving ships’ bottoms.

Part Used in medicines: Concrete resinous juice.

Constituents: The chief constituent is resin, and it also contains wax, calcium malate, potassium malate, lignin, bassorin, volatile oil, and water, with no soluble gum. Another analysis gives euphorbone, euphorbo-resene, euphorbic acid, calcium malate, a very acrid substance not yet isolated, and vegetable debris.

The acrid resin is soluble in alcohol, and will burn brilliantly, becoming very aromatic.

The powder is yellowish, and violently sternatatory.

Medicinal Uses:
The internal use of the drug has been abandoned, owing to the severity of its action. It is an irritant emetic and cathartic. Its chief use is as a vesicant, and principally in veterinary practice. It has been used in dropsy; mixed with cantharides as a ‘gout plaister’; and as an errhine in chronic brain, ear, or eye complaints, sometimes mitigated with the powder of Convallaria maialis, but accidents have led to its use being discontinued.

In commerce the drug is found in yellowish-brown ‘tears’ that have a waxy appearance. They are almost transparent, slightly aromatic only when heated, and often pierced with holes made by the prickles of the plant while drying. The taste is slight, but becomes very acrid.

Other Uses:  

It is said to be employed as an ingredient of paint used for preserving ships’ bottoms.

At Mogador, the branches are used for tanning leather.
Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_resinifera
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/spurge84.html

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Euphorbia lathyrus

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Botanical Name : Euphorbia lathyrus
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily: Euphorbioideae
Tribe: Euphorbieae
Subtribe: Euphorbiinae
Genus: Euphorbia
Species: E. lathyris
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

Common Names :Caper Spurge or Paper Spurge

Other Names : Gopher Spurge, Gopher Plant or Mole Plant.

Habitat:Euphorbia lathyrus  is native to southern Europe (France, Italy, Greece, and possibly southern England), northwest Africa, and eastward through southwest Asia to western China.

Description:
Euphorbia lathyrus is an erect biennial (occasionally annual) plant growing up to 1.5 m tall, with a glaucous blue-green stem. The leaves are arranged in decussate opposite pairs, and are lanceolate, 5–15 cm long and 1-2.5 cm broad, glaucous blue-green with a waxy texture and pale greenish-white midrib and veins. The flowers are green to yellow-green, 4 mm diameter, with no petals. The seeds are green ripening brown or grey, produced in globular clusters 13–17 mm diameter of three seeds compressed together.It grows in partial shade to full sun in USDA zones 5–9.

CLICK  &  SEE  THE  PICTURES

Medicinal Uses:
Euphorbia lathyrus is so violent a purgative that it is rarely if ever used in contemporary herbal medicine.  Euphorbia lathyrus seeds were commonly employed, but an oil extracted from them was also used in very small doses (the oil is highly toxic).  In the past, the milky latex of caper spurge was used as a depilatory and to remove corns and warts, but is too irritant to be used safely.

The euphorbia lathyrus plant is sold by some nurseries as it is believed to repel moles (so sometimes it is called mole plant). It is used in folk medicine as a poison, antiseptic, and a purgative. It is used as a folk remedy for cancer.

Known Hazards: All parts of the plant, including the seeds and roots are poisonous. Handling may cause skin irritation as the plant produces latex. While poisonous to humans and most livestock, goats sometimes eat it and are immune to the toxin. However, the toxin can be passed through the goat’s milk

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_lathyris
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_C.htm
http://www.kuleuven-kulak.be/kulakbiocampus/lage%20planten/Euphorbia%20lathyrus%20-%20Kruisbladige%20wolfsmelk/kruisbladige_wolfsmelk.htm#1

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Herbs & Plants

Euphorbia maculata

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Botanical Name : Euphorbia maculata
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Euphorbia
Species: E. maculata
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

syn. : Chamaesyce maculata (L.)

Common Names:Milk-purslane,Spotted spurge or Prostrate spurge

Habitat :Euphorbia maculata is  native to North America.

Description:
Euphorbia maculata is an annual plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, It is a variably prostrate to erect plant, with stems growing along the ground up to 45 cm long, but only reaching up to 30 cm tall. The leaves are oval, up to 3 cm long, and arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are very small, with four white petals. It grows in sunny locations and a variety of soils, and is frequently found as a weed …

click to see the pictures..…(01)......(1).…...(2)..…...(3).…....(4).…....(5)..

Medicinal Uses:
The milky sap, when taken orally, causes vomiting and acts as a strong laxative.  An alcoholic extract of the plant has been given to control dysentery.  The Indians rubbed the sap on their skin to treat warts, sores, eruptions, and sore nipples.  They also drank a root infusion as a laxative.

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_maculata
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm
http://digilander.libero.it/ipdid/photos-eng/euphorbia-maculata—milk-purslane.htm

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Indian Spurge Tree

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Botanical name: Euphorbia neriifolia
Family:Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily:Euphorbioideae
Tribe: Euphorbieae
Subtribe: Euphorbiinae
Genus: Euphorbia
Family:  Euphorbiaceae (castor family)
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

Other scientific names :   Euphorbia ligularia Roxb.     ,Euphorbia pentagona ,Euphorbia trigona Merr.

Common Names : Bait (Tag.), Hedge euphorbia (Engl.,Blanco Karimbuaya (Ilk.), Common milk hedge (Engl.),Sorog-sorog (Tag.)  ,Indian spurgetree (Engl.), Oleander-leaved euporbia  (Engl.),  Soro-soro (Tag.),Sudusudu (Bis.), Oleander Spurge, {Thor, Patton ki send} (Hindi), Neya-dungra (Marathi), Yelekalli (Kannada)

Habitat : Indian Spurge Tree is cultivated in gardens, and is apparently nowhere spontaneous. It also occurs in India to Malaya, probably introduced in the latter region.

Description:
This is a shrubby, erect, branched, fleshy, cactuslike plant, 2 to 4 meters high, the trunk and older branches being grayish and cylindric; the medium branches being slightly twisted, stout, fleshy, and 4 or 5 angled or winged; the younger ones usually 3-winged, the wings lobulate, with a pair of stout, sharp, 2- to 4- millimeter-long spines rising from the thickened bases at each leaf or petiole-scar. The leaves arise from the sides of wings towards the end of the branches, are fleshy, oblong-obovate, 5 to 15 centimeters long, or in young plants somewhat longer, painted or blunt at the tip. The cymes are short, solitary in the sinuses, and usually of 3 involucres. The involucres are green or pale yellow and about 6 millimeters in diameter, with the lobes fimbriate.
click to see…>….….(01).....(1).…(2).……..(3)...
Constituents:
Studies have yielded euphorbon, resin, gun caoutchouc, malate of calcium, among others.
Phytochemical studies have yielded triterpenes like nerifolione, cycloartenol, euphol, euphorbiol, nerifoliene, taraxerol, b-amyrin among others.

Medicinal Uses:
Parts used :Leaves, roots and latex.

Properties:

*Considered purgative, rubefacient, expectorant.
*Leaves considered diuretic.
*Latex considered purgative, diuretic, vermifuge and antiasthma.
*Studies have reported cytotoxic, antiarthritic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing and immunomodulatory properties.


Folkloric
:
*Roots have been used for snake bites.
*Fluid from roasted leaves used for earache.
*The milky juice used for asthma, cough, earahce. Also, used as an insecticide.
*Externally, applied to sores, cysts, warts, and calluses.
*Juice mixed with tumeric powder used for hemorrhoids.
*By mouth, it is a drastic purgative.
*For internal use: decoction or infusion of 10 grams for 1 liter of water, 2-3 cups daily.
*Juice of leaves used for spasmodic asthma.
*In India, used for bronchitis, tumors, leukoderma, piles, inflammation, fever, earaches, anemia and ulcers.
*In Malaya, used for earache.
*In French Guiana, leaves are heated, squeezed, and the salted sap used for wheezing in babies, colds and stomach upsets. Also used for infected nails, fevers, coughs and diabetes in NW Guyana. source
In Ayurveda, whole plant, leaf and roots used for abdominal complaints, bronchitis, tumors, splenic enlargement, coughs and colds.

Studies
• Anesthetic Activity: Both the alcoholic and aqueous extracts from the fresh stem of E nerifolia revealed significant anesthetic activity on intradermal wheal in guinea-pig and foot-withdrawal reflex in frog.
• Radioprotective / Cytotoxic: Study isolated Euphol from the triterpenoidal sapogenin fraction of E nerifolia leaf which exerted moderate antioxidant activity with highly significant reduction of gamma radiation-induced chromosomal aberrations. It also showed cytotoxic activity on melanoma cell lines. Results provide scientific basis for claimed anticarcinogenic use.
Wound Healing: In a research for wound healing drugs, E nerifolia was one of the Ayurvedic medicinal plantsfrom Ayurvedic medicinal plants found to be effective in animal models.
• Triterpene: Study isolated a new triterpene from the leaves and stems of Euphorbia nerifolia – glut-5(10)-en-1-one.
• Antifungal: Study on the antifungal activity of ethanolic extracts of medicinal plants against Fusarium oxysporum showed various extracts with inhibition of mycelial growth. However, the bark of E nerifolia exhibited absolute toxicity against the test fungus.
Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.


Resources:

http://www.stuartxchange.com/SoroSoro.html

Click to access soro-soro.pdf

http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Indian%20Spurge%20Tree.html
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/90610/

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Euphorbia Tirukalli(Milk bush)

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Botanical Name:Euphorbia tirucalli L. (Euphorbiaceae)

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Genus: Euphorbia

Species: E. tirucalli

Other Names:Indian Tree Spurge, pencil tree or milk bush

English name
: Milk bush, Indian tree spurge.

Sanskrit names : Shatala, Trikantaka.

Vernacular names: Ben: Ganderi, Lankasij, Latadoona; Guj : Thor dandalio; Konpol, Sehund; Hin :Kan : Bantakalli; Mar: Shera; Tam: Tirukalli, Kalli; Tel: Chemudu.

Trade name:
Tirukalli.

Habitat: Introduced from tropical Africa, naturalised in the drier parts of India; elsewhere largely cultivated as hedges and fuel plants.

Description:
Euphorbia tirucalli is an Erect tree, 3-6 m high, branches thin, cylindrical, spreading, scattered, clustered, whorled, latex extraordinarily abundant, sticky and acrid; leaves alternate, linear, caducous, petioles modified to phylloclade; involucres clustered in the forks of branches, inconspicuous, flowers shortly pedicelled, bracteoles numerous; cocci dark brown, velvety, compressed; seeds ovoid, smooth.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Flowering: very scarce, mainly in June-July; Fruiting: July-October.

Ecology and cultivation: Xerophytic.
According to Melvin Calvin, Euphorbia tirucalli “will grow in the same soils sugarcane will grow in, even without irrigation” (Gogerty, 1977). Calvin notes that 5 cm cuttings take readily and increased one-thousand fold in one growing season, attaining more than 50 cm height in the first growing season (Calvin, 1980).

General Uses:
Euphorbia tirucalli is a shrub that grows in semi-arid tropical climates. Milk bush produces a poisonous latex which can, with little effort, be converted to the equivalent of gasoline. This led chemist Melvin Calvin to propose the exploitation of milk bush for producing oil. This usage is particularly appealing because of the ability of milk bush to grow on land that is not suitable for most other crops. Calvin estimated that 10 to 50 barrels of oil per acre was achievable.

Chemical contents: Root: cycloartenol, euphorbol and its hexacosanoate, taraxerone, tinyatoxin; Bark: euphorbol and its hexacosanate, euphorginol=taraxer­14-en-6-01, ingenol and its triacetate, taraxerone; Latex: a-amyrin, β-sitosterol, cycloartenol, cycloeuphordenol, 4-deoxyphorbol and its esters, euphol, euphorbinol, isoeuphorbol, palmitic acid, taraxerol, tinyatoxin, tirucallol, trimethyl ellagic acid; it may be noted that there are differences in chemical contents of latex of plant growing in differenet countries; Stem: campesterol, hentriacontane, hentriacontanol, kaempferol, stigmasterol, methyl ellagic acid.

Different  Uses:
Probably most familiar as a subtropical and tropical ornamental, aveloz has recently made popular headlines as a potential “cancer cure” and more important, as an energy source. Growing in rather arid zones as well as more mesophytic zones, the species makes a good living fence post. A large shrub, Euphorbia tirucalli, is used as a hedge in Brazil. According to Calvin, these plants grow well in dry regions or land that is not suitable for growing food. He estimates that the plants might be capable of producing between 10 and 50 barrels of oil per acre. Cut near the ground, they would be run through a mill like a cane crushing mill, while the plants would regrow from the stumps. Crude obtained from these plants would run $3.00 to $10.00 per barrel. Calvin discussed this concept with Petrobas, the Brazilian national petroleum company, which is investigating. Calvin’s most exciting statement, if true, would be a boon to Brazil and the United States. “He estimates, assuming a yield of 40 barrels per acre (100 barrels per hectare) that an area the size of Arizona would be necessary to meet current requirements for gasoline” (in the U.S.). (Science 194: 46, 1976). The latex is toxic to fish and rats. Africans regard the tree as a mosquito repellent. In Ganjium, rice boiled with the latex is used as an avicide. Aqueous wood extracts are antibiotic against Staphylococcus aureus. The wood, weighing 34 pounds per cu. ft., is used for rafters, toys, and veneer. The charcoal derived therefrom can be used in gun powder. Since the latex contains rubber, whole plant harvesting seems most advisable from an energy point-of-view (if the tree coppices well) with rubber, petroleum, alcohol as energy products, and resins, which may find use in the linoleum, oil skin, and leather industries. In Brazil, Euphorbia gymnoclada, very similar to tirucalli (both are called aveloz), is much used for firewood. One cu. m. of wood yields 2 kg latex with the fibrous residue usable for paper pulp.

Milk bush also has uses in traditional medicine in many cultures. It has been used to treat cancers, excrescences, tumors, and warts in such diverse places as Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malabar and Malaysia. It has also been used as an application for asthma, cough, earache, neuralgia, rheumatism, toothache, and warts in India. There is some interest in milk bush as a cancer treatment.

In the 1980s the Brazilian national petroleum company – Petrobras – began experiments based on the ideas that Calvin put forth.

.Medicinal Uses:
Traditional use: IRULAR: Latex: in body pain, eczema, scabies; ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF CHAMPAKARAI and DHOOMANOOR (Tamil Nadu): Latex: on wounds; NAYADI : Latex: in rheumatism; ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF MADHYA PRADESH: Latex: in earache, rheumatism, warts; ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF CHHOTANAGPUR : Latex: in earache.

BHAVAPRAKASHA: Itis pungent, bitter, helps digestion, beneficial in oedema, deranged phlegm, epistasis, deranged bile, constipation and dyscrasia.

AYURVEDA : Root: beneficial in colic; Latex of stem and leaf: cures cough, earache, emetic, laxative and rubefacient.

Modern use: Stem-extract: antifungal; Aerial parts (50% EtOH extract) : antiprotozoal.

Folk Medicine :
Recently (SPOTLIGHT July 14, 1980) Alec de Montmorency kindled long-sleeping interests in aveloz (Euphorbia spp. including tirucalli) inferring that it “seems to literally tear cancer tissue apart.” Several Brazilian Euphorbias, E. anomala, E. gymnoclada, E. heterodoxa, E. insulana, E. tirucalli, known as aveloz, have local notoriety as cancer “cures,” and often find their way into the U.S. press as cancer cures. I fear they are more liable to cause than cure cancer. Still the following types of cancer are popularly believed in Brazil to be alleviated by aveloz: cancer, cancroids, epitheliomas, sarcomas, tumors, and warts. Hartwell (1969) mentions E. tirucalli as a “folk remedy” for cancers, excrescences, tumors, and warts in such diverse places as Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malabar and Malaya. The rubefacient, vesicant latex is used as an application for asthma, cough, earache, neuralgia, rheumatism, toothache, and warts in India. In small doses it is purgative, but in large doses it is an acrid irritant, and emetic. A decoction of the tender branches as also that of the root is administered in colic and gastralgia. The ashes are applied as caustic to open abscesses. In Tanganyika, the latex is used for sexual impotence (but users should recall “the latex produces so intense a reaction … as to produce temporary blindness lasting for several days.” In Zimbabwe, one African male is said to have died of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis after swallowing the latex to cure sterility.) The root is used as an emetic for snakebite. In Malabar and the Moluccas, the latex is used as an emetic and antisyphilitic. In Malaya, the stems are boiled for fomenting painful places. The pounded stem is applied to scurf and swelling. In the Dutch Indies, pounded stems are used as a poultice for extracting thorns. The root infusion is used for aching bones, a poultice of the root or leaves for nose ulcers and hemorrhoids. The wood decoction is used for leprosy and for paralysis of the hands and feet following childbirth. Javanese use the latex for skin complaints and rub the latex over the skin for bone fractures.
Remark: The plant is worshipped as a sacred one.

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_tirucalli
http://www.bsienvis.org/medi.htm#Eclipta%20alba
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Euphorbia_tirucalli.html

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