Cheiranthus cheiri Health Dictionary

Linn.

Family: Cruciferae; Brassicaceae.

Habitat: Native to South Europe, grown as an ornamental.

English: Wall-flower, Gilli Flower.

Unani: Tudri (Surkh, Safed, Zard)

Action: Flowers—cardioactive, tonic, antispasmodic, purgative, emmenagogue, deobstruent (used in liver diseases and sexual debility). Seeds— stomachic, diuretic, expectorant (in bronchitis and asthma); also goitrogenic. Juice of leaves and seeds—antibacterial.

Flowers contain flavonoids (querce- tin and rhamnetin derivatives); seeds contain high levels of cardiac aglycones (30 cardiac glycosides have been isolated); oil contains cherinine, a glucoside of the digitalis group.

In Unani medicine, the drug is used as a tonic to the male reproductive system, but recent findings do not validate its therapeutic use. The flavonoid, kaempferol, isolated from the young plant, inhibits spermatogenesis and alters leydig cell number and diameter, affecting the fertility.