Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Annona squamosa L. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)].
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Annona squamosa
L. [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
34. Anona
squamosa, Linn, h.f.br.l, i. 78,
Roxb. 453.
Vern. :-^-Atd,
katal (Ass.); Maudar gom (Santalj; Sirpha
(Mai). ;
Sita-palam or Sita-pazham (Tarn.) ; Sitapandn (Tel.) .
Sharifah, at or
ata, Sitaphal, (H. Deck. Guj. Mar.) ; Ata, lema (B.).
Habitat :—
Introduced from the West Indies, and natural-
ized throughout
India,
A small tree
wholly glabrous. Bark thin, grey. Wood soft,
close-grained,
greyish-white. Leaves 2-3 by -f-l§ in., mem-
branous, oblong
or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or acuminate,
glaucous and
pubescent when young; base acute, pellucid-
dotted, with a
peculiar smell. Flowers solitary or in pair,
N. 0. ANONACEA. 45
1 in. long,
pubescent on pedicels as long as the flowers.
Exterior Petals
3, narrow-oblong, lanceolate, triquetrous, thick
and fleshy, 3 ;
interior minute or wanting. Sepals small.
Stamens
indefinite, crowded round a hemispherical torus. Con-
nective
overlapping the anthers. Carpels many, subconnate 5
style oblong,
Ovule, 1, erect. Ripe carpels confluent into a many-
celled ovoid or
globose many-seeded fruit. Fruit fleshy, areolate,
2-4 in. diam,
juicy with the pleasant and agreeable odour of
the English
Heliotrope. Seeds oblong, brownish-black,
This is the
genuine Custard Apple of India.
A native of the
West Indies, naturalized in India, especially
the Western
Peninsula, and the Dekkan, Bijapur ; in the Madras
Presidency in
the Krishna district. Wild in the old Forts of
the Dekkan,
cultivated as far as G-urdaspur in the Punjab.
Parts used:— The
fruit (both ripe and unripe) ; leaves, seeds.
roots. [Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: All
parts are used as medicine. Insects attacking its wild population are
used with indigenous Medicinal Rice types in Traditional Entomotherapy.]
Uses : -The ripe
fruit is medicinally considered a maturant,
and when bruised
and mixed with salt, is applied to malignant
tumours to
hasten suppuration, The seeds contain an acrid
principle fatal
to insects, and the dried unripe fruit, powdered
and mixed with
gram flour, is used to destroy vermin . An
infusion of the
leaves is considered efficacious in prolapsus ani
of children, The
root is considered a drastic purgative ; natives
administer it in
acute dysentery. It is also employed inter-
nally in
depression of spirits and spinal diseases. (T. N.
Mukerji.) The
seeds are a powerful irritant of the conjunctiva.
Lt. Col.
Kirtikar, while in charge of the Thana Central Prison,
came across a
case in which a Life-Convict used the seed
powder in
destroying the cornea of both eyes to produce blind-
ness for the
purpose of avoiding being sent to the Andamans
to undergo his
sentence there.
[Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: In
Indian Traditional Healing Annona parts are used as important ingredient in
thousands of Herbal Formulations. I have collected information about over
350,000 Traditional Herbal Formulations in which the combination of Annona
roots and seeds are used as Denary ingredient. The seeds are used alone with
other medicinal herbs in over 56,000 Traditional Herbal Formulations as
tertiary ingredient. Annona roots are added in over 11000 Traditional Herbal Formulations
as tertiary ingredient. These Formulations are still in use and many of the
Formulations are popular among the Healers. The young Healers are adding new
herbs in it in order to make the formulations stronger. Annona fruits are used
for Heart diseases in form of 100,000 Traditional Herbal Formulations. Please
see Tables Annona-1 to Annona-350 for exhaustive information on Traditional
Medicinal Knowledge about this medicinally important species.]
The bruised
leaves with salt make a cataplasm to induce
suppuration
(Atkinson).
E-documents on
Annona
Citation
Oudhia, Pankaj (2013).
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Annona squamosa L. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu.
"Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian
Medicinal Plants. (1918)]. www.pankajoudhia.com
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