Thalictrum foliolosum Health Dictionary

DC.

Family: Ranunculaceae.

Habitat: The temperate Himalayas from 1,500 to 2,400 m, in the Khasi hills and in Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa.

Ayurvedic: Pitarangaa, Piyaaraan- gaa. Pitamuulikaa (substitute).

Unani: Mamiri. (Mamiraa is equated with Coptis teeta Wall.)

Action: Plant—used against gout and rheumatism. Root—febrifuge, antiperiodic; a bitter tonic during convalescence.

The root contains alkaloids berberine and magnoflorine. (Berberine causes a stimulant action on the movements of the gastrointestinal tract, a depression of both the auricles and ventricles and distinct dilatation of the heart. Magnoflorine induces hypoten- tion.) Berberine content is reduced to one-fourth and magnoflorine to traces after 6 months. The root also contains palmitine and jatrorrhizine.

Thalictrum sp. (about 17 species are found in India)—alkaloidal structure exhibits antitumoral activity.

Over 60 isoquinoline and diter- penoid alkaloids have been isolated. (See The Wealth of India, Vol. X.)

Following are the important Thalic- trum sp. occurring in India:

T. alpinum Linn. (the alpine Himalayas and western Tibet at altitudes between 3,000 and 5,100 m); T. ele- gans Wall. ex Royle (the sub-alpine Himalayas from Kashmir to Sikkim at altitudes from 3,000 to 3,900 m); T. foetidum Linn. (North-West Himalayas); T. javanicum Blume (the temperate Himalayas from Kashmir to Sikkim, Khasi hills, Kodaikanal and Nilgiri hills); T. minus Linn. (the temperate Himalayas); T. reniforme Wall. (the temperate Himalayas from Kulu to Sikkim between 2,400 and 3,000 m).