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.
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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

Sow thistle

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Botanical Name :Sonchus oleraceus Linn.
Family:Asteraceae/ Compositae
Tribe: Cichorieae
Genus: Sonchus
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales
Synonyms :Hare’s Thistle. Hare’s Lettuce.
Scientific names :  Sonchus oleraceus Linn.,Hieracium oleracerum Linn. ,Lactuca oleracerea Linn.
Common names :Gagatang (Ig.),Common sowthistle (Engl.),Milkweed (Engl.) ,Milk thistle (Engl.) ,Smooth sow thistle (Engl.) ,Swinles (Engl.) ,Sow thistle (Engl.)

Habitat :Found in the Benguet subprovinces, Rizal and Laguna provinces in Luzon. In waster places, along trails, old gardens, on talus slopes at altitudes of 1,200 to 2,000 meters

Description:
Sow thistle is an herb, erect, annual, milky, hairy or slightly glandular, growing 40 to 80 cm high. Leaves are oblong to lanceolate, 10 to 20 cm long, coarsely and lyrately lobed; the lobes somewhat reflexed and toothed, the terminal ones large, the lateral pointing downwards, and those of the stem clasping at the base. Heads are peduncled, about 1 cm long. Bracts are smooth, thin and green. Flowers are numerous and yellow. Achenes are nearly 3 mm long, compressed, ribbed and rough.

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It has hollow thick, branched stems full of milky juice, and thin, oblong leaves, more or less cut into (pinnatifid) with irregular, prickly teeth on the margins. The upper leaves are much simpler in form than the lower ones, clasping the stem at their bases.

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The flowers are a pale yellow, and when withered, the involucres close over them in a conical form. The seed vessels are crowned with a tuft of hairs, or pappus, like most of this large family of Compositae.

Edible Uses:
The young leaves are still in some parts of the Continent employed as an ingredient in salads It used in former times to be mingled with other pot herbs, and was occasionally employed in soups; the smoothest variety is said to be excellent boiled like spinach.

Constituents:
* Contains fixed oil with stearic and palmitic acids, ceryl-alcohol, invert sugar, choline, tartaric acid.
* Milky juice contains oxydase, coautchoue, mannite, l-inosite, etc.
* Phytochemicals of aqueous extracts yielded sugar reducers, phenolic compounds, tannins, flavonoids and coumarins.
* Study yielded four sesquiterpene glycosides – sonchusides A, B, C and D together with five known glycosides – glucozaluzanin C, macrocliniside A, crepidiaside A and picrisides A and C.

Medicinal Uses:
Parts used: Stem, leaves, gum, juice.

Folkloric:-
* Brownish gum formed by the evaporation of the common sow thistle, when taken internally in a dose of two to four grains, acts as a “powerful hydragogue cathartic” with strong effects on the liver, duodenum and colon. Its effects resemble elaterium, producing large and watery discharges, thus an effective agent in ascites and hydrothorax. However, it may cause griping like senna and produce tenemus like aloes. To counteract that effect, the gum is administered with manna, aniseed, and carbonate of magnesia, or with stimulants and aromatics

* Infusion of leaves and roots used by the natives of Bengal as tonic and febrifuge.

*In Indochina, stems used as sedative and tonic.

*In Italy, used as a laxative and diuretic.

*Juice of the plant used for cleaning and healing ulcers.

*In Brazilian folk medicine, used as a general tonic.

Studies
• Antidepressant: Study of S oleraceus extracts in mice showed evidence of an antidepressant-like effect comparable to that of amitriptyline (10mg/K p.o.).

• Antinociceptive: Extracts of SO markedly demonstrated antinociceptive action in mice, supporting previous claims of traditional use. At 300 mg/kg, it had a stronger antinociceptive effect than indomethacin (5 mg/kg) and morphine (10 mg/kg).

• Anxiolytic: Study of extract of aerial parts showed anxiolytic effects in mice similar to clonazepam (0.5 mg/kg).

• Phytochemicals / Low Toxicity: Study of aqueous extracts showed phenolic compounds, tannins, flavonoids and coumarins. Toxicity test on Artemia salina indicated low toxicity.

• Antioxidant / Cytotoxicity: Study of SO extracts showed concentration-dependent antioxidant activity. The methanol extracts yielded the greatest the most phenolic and flavonoid contents. Cytotoxicity activity showed the ethanol extract had the best activity against the growth of stomach cancer cell.

• Anti-Quorum Sensing / Antimicrobial: A study of 14 ethanolic extracts of different parts of 8 plants for antimicrobial and antiquorum sensing activity showed Sonchus oleraceus and Laurus nobilis to have superior activity against Chromobacterium violaceum. Quorum sensing is involved in microbial pathogenesis, and its inhibition may be a way of controlling bacterial infections with the advantage of reducing risks of resistance development.

Other Uses:
Its chief use nowadays is as food for rabbits. There is no green food they devour more eagerly, and all keepers of rabbits in hutches should provide them with a plentiful supply. Pigs are also particularly fond of the succulent leaves and stems of the Sow-Thistle.

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://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sowthi71.html
http://www.stuartxchange.com/Gagatang.html
http://www.plantsystematics.org/imgs/kcn2/r/Asteraceae_Sonchus_oleraceus_33896.html

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