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Herbs & Plants

Coix lacryma-jobi

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Botanical name: Coix lacryma-jobi
Family: Gramineae, grass family
Genus :    Coix L. – Job’s tears
Species :Coix lacryma-jobi L. – Job’s tears
Kingdom :Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom :Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: MagnoliophytaFlowering plants
Class : Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Subclass: Commelinidae
Order : Cyperales

Common name: Coix, Job’s tears
Habitat :
Coix lacryma-jobi is  perhaps native  to southeast Asia, but now rather pantropical as cultigen and weed. Listed as a serious weed in Polynesia, a principle weed in Italy and Korea, a common weed in Hawaii, Iran, Japan, Micronesia, and Puerto Rico, also in Australia, Borneo, Burma, Cambodia, China, Congo, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Melanesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rhodesia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Thailand, United States, and Venezuela (Holm et al, 1979).

Description
Coix lacryma-jobi is an Annual (in the temperate zone) but perennial plant where frost is absent or mild, freely branching upright or ascending herb 1-2 m tall, the cordate clasping leaf blades 20-50 cm long, 1-5 cm broad. Spikelets terminal, and in the upper axils, unisexual, staminate spikelets two-flowered, in twos or threes on the continuous rachis; pistillate spikelets three together, one fertile, and two sterile; glumes of the fertile spikelet several-nerved, all enclosed finally in a bony beadlike involucre, the grain, white to bluish white, or black, globular orvoid, 6-12 mm long.

Coix lacryma-jobi L.
Coix lacryma-jobi L. (Photo credit: adaduitokla)

You may click to see the picture

Propagation & Cultivation:
Propagation by seeds, sown during monsoon (in India) at rate of 6-10 kg/ha. Seed dibbled 2.5 cm deep, at spacing of 60 x 60 cm. One intercultivation, before the plants tiller, and shade on ground may be necessary. Sufficient rains in early stage of growth and a dry period when grain is setting are necessary for good yields. Plants respond well to liberal applications of organic manure.

Chemical constituents:
Per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 380 calories, 11.2 g H2O, 15.4 g protein, 6.2 g fat, 65.3 g total carbohydrate, 0.8 g fiber, 1.9 g ash, 25 mg Ca, 435 mg P, 5.0 mg Fe, 0 ug beta-carotene equivalent, 0.28 mg thiamine, 0.19 mg riboflavin, 4.3 mg niacin, and 0 mg ascorbic acid. According to Hager’s Handbook (List and Horhammer, 1969-1979), there is 50-60% starch 18.7% protein (with glutamic-acid, leucine, tyrosine, arginine, histidine, and lysine) and 5-10% fatty oil with glycerides of myristic- and palmitic-acids.

Uses
Weed to some, necklace to others, staff-of-life to others, job’s tear is a very useful and productive grass increasingly viewed as a potential energy source. Before Zea became popular in South Asia, Coix was rather widely cultivated as a cereal in India. Still taken as a minor cereal, it is pounded, threshed and winnowed, as a cereal or breadstuff. The pounded flour is sometimes mixed with water like barley for barley water. The pounded kernel is also made into a sweet dish by frying and coating with sugar. It is also husked and eaten out of hand like a peanut. Beers and wines are made from the fermented grain. Chinese use the grain, like barley, in soups and broths.

Medicinal Uses:
Folk Medicine
According to Hartwell (1967-1971), the fruits are used in folk remedies for abdominal tumors, esophageal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancers, various tumors, as well as excrescences, warts, and whitlows. This folk reputation is all the more interesting when reading that coixenolide has antitumor activity (List and Horhammer, 1969-1979). Job’s tear is also a folk remedy for abscess, anodyne, anthrax, appendicitis, arthritis, beriberi, bronchitis, catarrh, diabetes, dysentery, dysuria, edema, fever, gotter, halitosis, headache, hydrothorax, metroxenia, phthisis, pleurisy, pneumonia, puerperium, rheumatism, small-pox, splenitis, strangury, tenesmus, and worms (Duke and Wain, 1981). Walker (1971) cites other medicinal uses.

In Chinese medicine, the seeds strengthen the spleen and counteract “damp heat”, and are used for edema, diarrhea, rheumatoid arthritis and difficult urination.  Drains dampness, clears heat, eliminates pus, tonifies the spleen. This herb is added to medicinal formulas to regulate fluid retention and counteract inflammation. It is very good for all conditions and diseases associated with edema and inflammation, including pus, diarrhea, phlegm, edema or abscesses of either the lungs or the intestines, and rheumatic and arthritic conditions. A tea from the boiled seeds is drunk as part of a treatment to cure warts. It is also used in the treatment of lung abscess, lobar pneumonia, appendicitis, rheumatoid arthritis, beriberi, diarrhea, oedema and difficult urination.  The roots have been used in the treatment of menstrual disorders. The FDA has approved testing for cancer therapy. Currently going through testing, the Kanglaite Injection is a new effective diphasic anti-cancer medicine prepared by extracting with modern technology the active anti-cancer component from the Coix Seed, to form an advanced dosage form for intravenous and intra- arterial perfusion. It had been proved experimentally and clinically that the Kanglaite Injection had a broad spectrum of anti-tumor and anti-metastasis action, such as hepatic cancer and pulmonary cancer, along with the action of enhancing host immunity. When used in combined treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, the Kanglaite Injection can increase the sensitivity of tumor cells, reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, relieve cancerous pain, improve cachexia, and raise the quality of life in advanced cancer victims. As a fat emulsion, the Kanglaite Injection can provide patients with high-energy nutrients with little toxicity.  It inhibits formation of new blood vessels that promote tumor growth, counteracts weight loss due to cancer.

Some of the latest research also shows that Job’s tears is immunostimulating, induces interferon, Bronchodialates; Lowers blood sugar; Reduces muscle spasms and is anti-convulsant; Stimulates respiration in small doses and inhibits it in higher doses; reduces arterial plaque; Anti-inflammatory, possibly through the suppression of macrophage activity

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.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Coix_lacryma-jobi.html
http://www.jadeinstitute.com/herbal-detail-page.php?show=25&order=common_name
http://www.robsplants.com/plants/CoixLacry
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_IJK.htm

 

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Herbs & Plants

Setaria viridis

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Botanical Name : Setaria viridis
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Setaria
Species: S. viridis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Poales

Common Name:Green foxtail and Green bristlegrass

Habitat :
Setaria viridis is native to Eurasia, but it is known on most continents as an introduced species and is closely related to Setaria faberi, a noxious weed. It is a hardy grass which grows in many types of urban, cultivated, and disturbed habitat, including vacant lots, sidewalks, railroads, lawns, and at the margins of fields. It is the wild antecedent of the crop foxtail millet.

Description;
This is an annual grass with decumbent or erect stems growing up to a meter long, and known to reach two meters or more at times. The leaf blades are up to 40 centimeters long and 2.5 wide and glabrous. The inflorescence is a dense, compact, spikelike panicle up to 20 centimeters long, growing erect or sometimes nodding at the tip only. Spikelets are 1.8 – 2.2 mm long. Each is subtended by up to three stiff bristles. Its fertile lemmas are finely cross-wrinkled.

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Seedling: Leaves are rolled in the bud, leaf sheaths and blades without hairs, but the leaf sheaths often have slightly hairy margins.  The ligule is a row of hairs approximately 1/2 mm long, therefore this is rarely seen by the casual observer.

Leaves: Leaf blades may reach 12 inches in length and 5-15 mm in width, and are most often without hairs or only very sparsely hairy.  The leaf sheath is closed and is without hairs, except along the margin near the mouth.  The ligule is short and fringed with hairs to 2 mm long.

Stems: Erect, without hairs, bent at the nodes, may be branched at the base, reaching 3 feet in height.

Flowers: The seedhead is a cylindrical bristly panicle, reaching 6 inches in length and 1/3-2/3 inch in width.  Spikelets are approximately 3 mm long, green, and each spikelet has 1-3 bristles that are 5-10 mm long.

Roots: Fibrous.
Cultivation: Succeeds in any well-drained soil in full sun.

Propagation:
Seed – sow early spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination is usually quick and good. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on fast. Plant them out in late spring, after the last expected frosts. Whilst this is fine for small quantities, it would be an extremely labour intensive method if larger amounts were to be grown. The seed can be sown in situ in the middle of spring though it is then later in coming into flower and may not ripen its seed in a cool summer.

Edible Uses: Seed. Small. It is used in the same ways as rice or millet, either boiled, roasted or ground into a flour. The seed (roasted?) is said to be a coffee substitute.

Medicinal Uses:

The seed is diuretic, emollient, febrifuge, refrigerant and tonic. The plant is crushed and mixed with water then used as an external application in the treatment of bruises..

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.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_FGH.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setaria_viridis
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/setvi.htm

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Setaria+viridis

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Herbs & Plants

Lolium temulentum

Botanical Name: Lolium temulentum
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Lolium
Species: L. temulentum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Poales

Synonyms:
XWALK: Lolium temulentum var. leptochaeton
ICPN: Lolium temulentum ssp. temulentum

Common Names:Darnel or Cockle

Habitat:It has a global distribution.

Description:
Lolium temulentum, a monocot, is an annual herb. The plant stem can grow up to 1 meter tall,

Spikes many-flowered, distichous, sessile, contrary to the rachis. Flowers beardless at the base. Glumes 2, nearly equal, herbaceous, lanceolate, channelled, awnless; the lower or inner ones very often deficient in the lateral spikelets. Paleae 2, herbaceous; the lower concave, awnless, or awned below the point; the upper bicarinate. Stamens 3. Ovary smooth; styles 2, very short, inserted below the point; stigmas feathery, with long, simple, finely-toothed, transparent hairs; scales 2, fleshy, smooth, acute, entire or two-lobed. Caryopsis smooth, adhering to the upper paleae (Kunth).

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Darnel usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and is considered a weed. The similarity between these two plants is so extensive that in some regions cockle is referred to as false wheat. It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. The ears on the real wheat are so heavy that it makes the entire plant droop downward, but L. temulentum, whose ears are light, stands up straight. The wheat will also appear brown when ripe, whereas the darnel is black. When the Lolium matures, the spikelets turn edge ways to the rachis where the wheat spikelets remain as they grew previously.

The darnel can be infected by an endophytic fungus of the genus Neotyphodium, and the endophyte-produced, insecticidal loline alkaloids were first isolated from this plant. It parasitizes wheat fields. The French word for darnel is “ivraie” (from Latin ebriacus, ‘intoxicated’), which expresses that weed’s characteristic of making one feel poisoned with drunkenness, and can cause death. This characteristic is also alluded to in the scientific name (Latin temulentus = drunk).

Chemical Characteristics:
According to Ruspini , the presence of grains of Lolium temulentum in wheat-flour may be detected by digesting the suspected farina in rectified spirit. If the Lolium be present, the spirit immediately acquires a characteristic green tint, which gradually deepens; and the taste of the tincture is astringent, and so disagreeable that it may even excite vomiting. By evaporation it yields a green resin. But I have not succeeded in obtaining these results. By digesting bruised and coarsely powdered grains of Lolium temulentum in rectified spirit, the liquid had acquired in forty eight hours a pale yellow colour and scarcely any flavour, and yielded, by spontaneous evaporation, a minute portion of yellowish residue with a saline taste.

Medicinal Uses:
This grass was used medicinally by the ancient Greeks and Romans, though it is somewhat remarkable that it is mentioned neither by Hippocrates nor Celsus.

Darnel has been recently employed in headache, in rheumatic meningitis, and in sciatica. Fantoni used it with success in the case of a widow who, at the climacteric period, was affected with giddiness, headache, and epistaxis, which had resisted various other remedies. In a case of violent rheumatic meningitis, very great benefit was obtained by its use.

Occasionally used in folk medicine to treat headache, rheumatism, and sciatica.  It is occasionally used externally in cases of skin eruption and tumorous growth.  It is sometimes used by doctors to treat dizziness, insomnia, blood congestion, and stomach problems. It may also be used for skin problems like herpes, scurf, and sores.

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.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_DE.htm
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/pereira/lolium.html
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LOTE2&photoID=lote2_001_avd.tif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolium_temulentum

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Herbs & Plants

Digitaria sanguinalis

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…Botanical Name : Digitaria sanguinalis
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus: Digitaria
Species: D. sanguinalis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Poales

Synonyms: Panicum sanguinale Linnaeus, Syntherisma sanguinale (Linnaeus) Dulac

Common Names: Crabgrass, hairy crabgrass or large crabgrass

Habitat :Grows throughout the world. It is found  on waste places.

Description & Uses;
It is an annual grass with an inflorescence of up to nine very long, very thin, radiating branches atop its stems. Each branch is lined with pairs of very tiny spikelets. The inflorescences may be reddish or purplish.

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The seeds are edible and have been used as a grain in Germany and especially Poland, where it is sometimes cultivated.   This has earned it the name Polish Millet, and it was brought to the United States by some emigrants to serve as hand-foraged grain. The grass is also highly nutritious, especially before the plant exhausts itself producing seed. It is frequently sown in fields to provide graze for animals, or clipped and bundled as hay. Compared to other grasses, it has a relatively high protein percentage. Farmers will sometimes till patches in their pastures in the late spring, with the intent of encouraging crabgrass seed.

For human consumption, crabgrass necessarily must be harvested by hand, because it produces grain throughout summer, rather than simultaneously. Machine harvesting would require monthly passes, and even then much of the seed would go to waste. This said, crabgrass produces an exceptionally high amount of grain, it smothers other weeds, it acts as its own mulch, and it can survive both heat and drought. Its adaptability makes it a candidate for environmental small-farming.

Its usefulness to nineteenth-century homesteaders, however, has made its seed widespread, and today is considered an unattractive nuisance. Crabgrass takes advantage of low fertility and drought, since this tends to weaken other grasses. It is difficult to kill, as it will regenerate, and chemicals will likely harm surrounding grasses. The most efficient means of control is to pull patches, and keep the rest of the lawn watered and mowed at a height of two-three inches.

Cultivation:
Prefers a sandy soil. Requires a warm sheltered position. This species is occasionally cultivated, especially in Poland, for its edible seed. Special Features: Invasive.

Propagation :
Seed – best sown in situ in the spring. Only just cover the seed.

Medicinal Uses:
A decoction of the plant is used in the treatment of gonorrhea. A folk remedy for cataracts and debility, it is also said to be emetic.

Other Uses: A fibre obtained from the plant is used in making paper.

Known Hazards : There is a report that the leaves might be cyanogenic.

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/Digitaria_sanguinalis
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_C.htm
http://www.wnmu.edu/academic/nspages/gilaflora/digitaria_sanguinalis.html

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Herbs & Plants

Bambusa arundinacea Willd

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Botanical Name : Bambusa arundinacea Willd
Family :Graminae, Poaceae
Common Name :Mungil, Bans, Kotoha, Ketua, Kantaki, Keechaka, Vamsha, Spiny thorn bamboo

Bengali/vernacular name: Bans, Kantabans, Ketsi.
 English name: Bamboo, Spiny Bamboo.

Habitat : The plant grows wild all over India, mainly in forests of western and southern parts of the country.Thorny Bamboo is native over much of India. It is Wild in most parts of tropical India and Pakistan, growing up to 1000 m altitudes in the Nilgiris and hills of southern India; north into China.

Description:
It grows up to 1500 – 2000 meters elevation. It is an erect, 15-35 meters tall, thorny tree , with many stems. The plant is hollow between the joints, with 2-3 alternate thorns on the stem. The leaves sheathing, linear, 20 cm long and 2 cm broad, lanceolate, tapering in the pointed tips. The flowers in bunches, yellow or yellowish green in long panicles. The fruits are oblong grains, resembling like yava fruits, hence called as vamsayava.

…..Click to see the pictures..

Tall woody bamboo, stems thorny, numerous, tufted, up to 40 m tall, curving at top; branches numerous, internodes 30–45 cm long, prominent, bearing in lower parts of stems dense half whorls of stiff, naked, horizontal branches, armed with 2–3 recurved, stout spines; lowest nodes rooting; stem-sheaths leathery, orange-yellow when young, hairy outside, shining and ribbed inside, 30–45 cm long; blade triangular, glabrous, covered with a brown felt of bristly hairs inside; leaves thin, linear, up to 20 cm long, glabrous above, hair beneath; leaf-sheaths hairy, small; inflorescence an enormous panicle, often occupying the entire stem; branchlets loose clusters of pale, glabrous spikes.

Cultivation:
Bamboos may be produced by means of seeds, vegetative portions or by layering the stems and letting them root at the nodes. Seeds are sown in soil about 0.6 cm deep and about 2.5 cm apart in rows 7.5–10 cm apart. Germination occurs in about a week and seedlings grow rapidly. When plants are 15–20 cm tall, they are transplanted to individual containers. Transplanting to the field is done when plants are about 1 m tall. Growing plants from seed is the most economical and convenient method of propagating large numbers of plants. Clump division is the traditional and most generally prevalent method of propagating bamboos vegetatively. Active growth of young shoots from buds on the rhizome in this group of bamboos is initiated during the summer. The commonly recommended practice is to process vegetative propagules just before the initiation of growth of these buds. A clump is divided into two equal parts, retaining the root system, branches and leaves of each part as fully intact as possible. Properly set out, these propagules usually give the highest degree of success. Clump divisions taken from the edge of the clump are apt to give superior results. The rhizome should be severed at one point only, at the neck of the oldest rhizome axis in the propagule. Cut should be made at the slender neck where the minimum damage to the rhizome is done. Roots are best preserved and protected keeping them in a ball of earth when the propagule is taken from the parent plant. Some species, as B. tulda, has been successfully propagated by rhizomes planted in situ, with 95% survival not uncommon. Culm segments, with one or more nodes, bearing buds or branches, are used widely as a means of propagation in both the Old and New World. Branches are usually pruned to 30 cm or less, with no foliage retained. Such cuttings are set upright or at an angle, with at least one node well covered. B. vulgaris is often propagated this way.

Harvesting:
Bamboos are harvested for food when the young shoots are 30–75 cm tall. Other parts of the plant are harvested whenever needed, as the leaves, branches and woody stems.

Edible Uses: The roots, leaves, sprouts, fruits and the gum resin – vamsarocana, have great medicinal value.

Constituents :
It contains silica 90% or silicon as hydrate of silicic acid, peroxide or iron, potash, lime, alumina, vegetable matter. The grains of the plant contain water 11.0%, starch 73.1%, albuminoids 11.86%, fiber 1.7% and ash 1.2%. The young shoots containing cyanogenic glycoside are poisonous. The glycoside is gydrolysed by an enzyme also present in the shoots when they are cut and soaked in water.

The stem consists almost entirely of cellulose and hemicellulose (xylans, arabans, polyuronides, etc.) and lignins, with a small amount of resins. Oven-dried stems contain 3.3% ash, 1.8% silica, 6.0% hot water solubles (see above), 19.6% pentosans, 30.1% lignin, and 57.6% cellulose. Analyses from paper pulping showed 8.5% water extract, 1.2% fat, wax, etc., 24.4% pectose, 15.6% lignin, 50.3% cellulose, and 1.6% ash. Per 100 g, the seeds are reported to contain 11.0% H2O, 11.8 g protein, 0.6 g fat, 75.4 g total carbohydrate, 1.7 g fiber, and 1.2 g ash (C.S.I.R., 1948–1976). On a zero moisture basis the fresh leaves (57.1% DM) contain 18.6% CP, 24.1% CF, 11.8% ash, 4.1% EE, 41.4% NFE. With sheep the CP exhibits 72.4% digestibility, CF 49.1%, EE 10.8%, and NFE 48.8% (Gohl, 1981). Per 100 g, the shoot is reported to contain 29 calories, 90.7 gH2 0, 2.3 g protein, 0.2 g fat, 6.6 g total carbohydrate, 0.5 g fiber, 0.7 g ash, 33 mg Ca, 41 mg P, 0.4 mg Fe, 20 meg b-carotene equivalent, 0.15 mg thiamine, 0.7 mg riboflavin, 0.6 mg niacin, and 4 mg ascorbic acid (Food Comp. Table Latin America).

Medicinal Uses:
Properties
Vamsa is sweet and astringent in taste, sweet in the post digestive effect and has cold potency. The seeds are bitter in taste, pungent in the post digestive effect and have hot potency. The gum resin is astringent and sweet in taste, sweet in the post digestive effect and has cold potency. All these, mentioned above, alleviate kapha and pitta doshas. The seeds aggravate pitta and vata doshas, whereas the sprouts aggravate all the three doshas. The chief properties of vamsa are diuretic, wound-healer and cleanse the urinary bladder. Vamsarocana is anti-tussive, anabolic and a general tonic. The seeds have vermicidal property. Vamsa is used in the diseases like dermatitis, wounds, edema, blood disorders etc. Vamsarocana is a rejuvenative for lungs and is salutary in cough, asthma, tuberculosis and urinary disorders and the seeds (vamsayava) in helminthiasis. (Kaiyadeva and Dhanvantari Nighantu)

Vamsa is used both, internally as well as externally. Externally, the paste of roots is panacea for various skin disorders and discoloration. The sprouts are beneficial in dressing the wounds. The burnt ash of roots is useful in ringworm infestations and premature hair loss. Internally, vamsa is used in vast range of diseases. The decoction of the sprouts is beneficial in anorexia, dyspepsia and worms. Vamsarocana (bamboo manna) is useful in various disorders like hyperdipsia, diarrhea, vomiting, Rakta pitta, heart diseases, cough, asthma, fever, tuberculosis and a general tonic in convalescents. The leaves are cooling, emmenagogue, hence, beneficial in dysmenorrhea. The roots are diuretic, tonic, depurative, laxative and cooling; they are used in skin diseases, burning sensation, arthralgia, general debility and dysuria. The fruits are salutary in diabetes whereas, the seeds are useful in obesity to reduce fats. The decoction of roots is an antidote for arka (Calotropis procera) poisoning.

Very young shoots are consumed as food in some parts of India and China. In raw state, shoots (ca 8 cm in diameter and 37.5 cm long) are very acrid, but with two changes of water in cooking and with addition of salt and butter, they make a pleasant vegetable. Young shoots pickled or made into curries. Wood used by Chinese in household carpentry, furniture, boxes, ornamental vases, scaffolding, etc. Leaves used as fodder. Stems in great demand for manufacture of paper pulp of good quality. Seeds edible and used in times of scarcity of food. Other species of Bambusa, found in various parts of the tropics, are used for similar purposes: those used for the young shoots or buds as a vegetable include B. cornuta Munro, B. multiplex Raeusch, B. oldhami Munro, B. spinosa Roxb., B. tulda Roxb., and B. vulgaris Schrad.; species used for construction and other such purposes include B. balcooa Robx. (one of the best and strongest bamboos for building purposes), B. multiplex Raeusch (culms used for paper), B. nana Roxb. (fishing poles), B. pervariabilis McClure (heavy construction), B. polymorphs Munro (roofs of houses, floors and walls), B. sinospinosa McClure (sheaths made into sandals), B. spinosa Roxb. (timber bamboo), B. texilis McClure, B. tulda Roxb., and B. tuldoides Munro (weaving mats, hats, baskets and ropes), B. vulgaris Schrad. (paper pulp), B. beecheyana Munro [Sinocalamus beecheyanus (Munro)McClure] is an important source of commercial edible bamboo shoots.

Folk Medicine :
An ointment from the root is said to be a folk remedy for cirrhosis and hard tumors, especially tumors of the abdomen, liver, spleen and stomach (Hartwell, 1967–1971). Tabasheer, a siliceous secretion (up to 97% SiO2), considered aphrodisiac, cooling, and tonic, is used in asthma, cough and debilitating diseases (C.S.I.R., 1948–1976). Leaves given to horses suffering coughs and colds.

Other uses: The culms are strong and extensively used for building purposes. A single herbarium collection is known: Kashmir, Falconer 1245(K).

Toxicity:
Eight grams of raw shoots or slightly more improperly cooked shoots can cause death. Young shoots contain 0.03% HCN (C.S.I.R., 1948–1976). Hairs on various bamboos, and fungi which live thereon, may cause dermatitis (Mitchell and Rook, 1979). Benzoic acid and traces of cyanogenic glucoside present in shoots have lethal effect on mosquito larvae (has antiseptic and larval properties).

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.herbalcureindia.com/herbs/bambusa-arundinacea.htm
http://www.eol.org/pages/1115603
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Bambusa_arundinacea.html

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