Roxb.
Family: Celastraceae.
Habitat: Throughout India, also planted as an ornamental.
Ayurvedic: Krishnamokshaka.
Siddha/Tamil: Selluppaimaram.
Folk: Kaalaa-mokhaa, Ratangaruur. Jamrasi (gum).
Action: Astringent, anti- inflammatory, emetic.
The bark and the leaves contain 813.5 and 8-15% tannin respectively.Powdered leaves have a sternutatory action and are used as snuff to relieve headache and as a fumigatory in hysteria (in folk medicine it is believed that the smoke wards off ghosts.)Fresh root bark is rubbed into a paste with water and applied to swellings. A cold water extract of the crushed roots is used as an emetic (fatal in overdoses).
Family: Elaeocarpaceae.
Habitat: Western Ghats from Kanara southwards. Ayurvedic: Rudraaksha (var.).
Roxb. ex G. Don.
Synonym: E. sphaericus K. Schum. Ganitrus sphaericus Gaertn.
Family: Elaeocarpaceae.
Habitat: West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Western Ghats.
English: Utrasum Bead tree.
Ayurvedic: Rudraaksha, Panch- mukhi.
Siddha/Tamil: Rudraaksham.
Action: Fruit—used for epileptic fits and headache. Powdered fruits (0.5 g) mixed with warm water are given two/three times daily in asthma. Stem bark— hypoglycaemic.
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India indicated the use of the seed in hypertension, insomnia, psychoneurosis and mental diseases.The fruits contain palmitic, iso- palmitic, linoleic and myristic acids. Leaves gave alkaloids—rudrakine, (+)- elacocarpine and (+)-iso-elacocarpine; phenolics—quercetin, gallic acid and ellagic acid. EtOH (50%) extract of stem bark—hypoglycaemic. Aqueous extract of fruits—sedative, hy- potensive, spasmolytic, anticonvul- sant, choleretic, bronchodilatory and cardiostimulant.The fruit of E. oblongus Mast. non- Gaertn., synonym E. glandulosus Wall. ex Merrill (Western Ghats) is used in mental disorders and tetanus.
Dosage: Seed—1-2 g. (API Vol. IV.)
Siddha/Tamil: Ruthracham, Pagumbar.
Folk: Rudirak, Bhutali.
Action: Bark—stomachic, antibil- ious. Used in haematemesis. Nut— antiepileptic, antirheumatic.
The leaves gave quercetin, kaempfer- ol, gallic acid and ethylgallate.... elaeocarpus ganitrus
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