Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)].
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Mucuna
pruriens (L.) DC. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba
Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)].
Pankaj Oudhia
Introduction
Based on Ethnobotanical
surveys since year 1990 in different parts of India Pankaj Oudhia has
documented vital information about Medicinal Plants mentioned in the famous
publication by Kirtikar and Basu (1918). Through this research document Pankaj
Oudhia has tried to present original document with additional notes. For
complete paper with pictures, Interactive Tables, Video and Audio clips please
visit pankajoudhia.com
For original publication by Kirtikar and Basu (1918) please visit https://archive.org/details/indianmedicinalp01kirt
384. M. pruriens, D.C.,
h.f.b.i., ii. 187.
Sans.- -Atmagupta,
kapikachhu, vanari.
Vern. :— Kiwach, goucha(PL)
; Alkusa (B.) Konatch (Nepal.) ;
Kach-kuri (Dec.) ; Kuhili
^Bomb.) ; Kavach (Mar.) ; Kivanch
(GuzO ; Punaik-kali (Tam.)
; Pilliaduga (Tel.) ; Nayik-korana
(Mai.) ; Nasaguni-gida
(Kan.)
Habitat : — Cosmopolitan in
the Tropics, from the Himalayas
in the plains to Ceylon and
Burma. Western Peninsula, Assam,
Khasi Hills.
[Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: It
is one of the popular medicinal crops in India these days. Mucuna is grown both
organically and chemically by Herb Growers. The Traditional Healers are growing
this herb in their Badi since generations by using Traditional Allelopathic
Knowledge.]
A semi-woody climber,
annual or perennial, with slender
terete branches, usually
clothed with short, white, deflexed
hairs. Leaves large, rachis
3-5in. ; sparingly deflexed, hairy.
Leaflets 3-4in., on short
thick hairy stalks, terminal ones smaller
and rhomboid-oval, lateral
ones very unequal, with the lower
half greatly dilated, all
acute, mucronate, pubescent above,
438 INDIAN MEDICINAL
PLANTS.
densely covered with
shining, silvery, adpressed hair beneath ;
flowers dull, dark-purple,
the keel yellowish-green, numerous,
lj-lf in. long, on short
pubescent pedicels, usually two or three
together at intervals, on a
slender pubescent raceme 6-12in, long.
Bracts Jin., lanceolate,
hairy, soon falling. Calyx densely silky,
2 upper segments completely
connate ; lower much longest.
Pod 2f-3in. by about Jin.
broad, linear, blunt, falcately curved
at both ends, a
longitudinal rib along whole length of each
valve, but without wings,
densely covered with close, rather
weak, orange-brown,
irritant bristles, pointing backward and
readily detached,
4-6-seeded, with partitions between them.
Seed ovoid, }in.,
compressed, brownish, mottled with black,
hiluin oblong, not half the
length of seed.
Parts used. — The seeds,
root and legume. [Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: All parts are used as
medicine. I have documented information about plus 300,000 Traditional Herbal
Formulations in which Mucuna plant parts are added as important ingredients.
Thousands of Formulations are still waiting for documentation.]
Use. — According to
Susruta, the seeds are aphrodisiac; the
root is tonic and useful in
nervine diseases (DuttJ.
[Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: Please
see Table Mucu-25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 for list of Herbal Formulations with major
ingredients popular among Traditional Healers of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.]
Ainslie says that a strong
infusion of the root, mixed with
honey, is prescribed by the
Tamool doctors in cholera. [Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: The Traditional
Healers of present generation use it less commonly for this trouble.]
The use of the hairs of the
mucuna pod as a vermifuge to
expel ascarides appears to
have originated in the West Indies, no
mention of such an
employment of them being found in Indian
works (Dymock).
The pods are officinal in
the Indian Pharmacopoeia, to be
used as an anthelmintic.
In the West Indies [Pankaj
Oudhia’s Comment: Also in India and Nepal.], a decoction of the root
is reckoned a
powerful diuretic and
cleanser of the kidneys, and also made
into an ointment for
elephantiasis. Leaves are applied to
ulcers. A vinous infusion
of the pods is said to be a certain
remedy for dropsy (Drury).
The root is prescribed as a
remedy for delirium in fever in
Chutia Nagpur. [Pankaj
Oudhia’s Comment: Also in other parts of India.] Powdered and made
into a paste, it is applied
to the body in dropsy, a
piece of the root being also tied to the
wrist and ankle. The seed
is believed to absorb scorpion-
poison when applied to the
part stung (Revd. A. Campbell).
An ointment prepared with
the hairs acts externally as a
local stimulant and wild
vesicant. (Watt.)
Some selected e-documents on
Mucuna
Citation
Oudhia, Pankaj (2013). Pankaj
Oudhia’s Notes on Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu.
"Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian
Medicinal Plants. (1918)]. www.pankajoudhia.com
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