Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Carica papaya L. [Kirtikar, Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)].
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Carica papaya 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
522. Carica
Papaya, Linn: h.f.b.i., ii. 599.
Roxb. 736.
Eng : — The
Papaw or Papaya Tree.
Vern: — Pappiya,
pepiya (B.) ; Papaya, papiya-amba,
popaiyah (H.) ;
Arand-kharMza, kharbiiza. (Pb.); Popai (Duk.);
Papai, papaya
(Mar., Cutch and Bomb.); Paputa, katha chibhado
(Sind); Papia,
papayi, kath, chibda, eranda kakdi (Guz.) ;
Pappayi, pappali
(Tarn. I; Bappayi or boppayi, rnadana-anapakaya
(Tel.) ;
Perangi, perinji (Kan,; ; Pappaya (Mai.).
Habitat ' —
Cultivated in gardens throughout India.
Introduced from
South America. A small, fast-growing
tree, usually
unbranched, with milky juice. Bark thin, fleshy
within, papery
outside. Wood soft, consisting of an outer ring
of fibrous wood
bundles surrounding a large central mass of
cellular pith
tissue. In the wood ring the bundles are wedge-
shaped, crossed
ladder-like at intervals by bars in which, the
rather small
pores are found. Between the bundles comes trie
rather
indistinct soft medullary rays on the vertical outer
surface of the
wood circle ; the ends of the bundles form a dia-
mond, shaped
network Gamble). Leaves glabrous, palmatifid-
12-24in. across,
on long hollow petioles, forming a round
tuft at the top
of the stem. Stipules 0. Male flowers pale-
yellow,
fragrant, in long, drooping axillary panicles, generally
dioecious, but
occasionally there are a few hermaphrodite flowers
on a male plant.
Female flowers in short clusters. Calyx
small, 5-lobed.
Corolla-male: — tubular, 5-lobed ; Female:— of
5 tincar
deciduous petals. Stamens 10, inserted in two rows
in the mouth of
the Corolla. Ovary free, ovules numerous,
attached to
5-parieal Placentas. Fruit indehiscent, fleshy,
sulcate. Seeds
black, numerous, embedded in sweet pulp, the
testa consisting
of an inner hard, and an outer soft, larger.
Embryo straight
; cotyledons flat, in oily albumen.
Uses : — Used in
cases of enlarged spleen. [Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: I have documented information
about over 9000 Traditional Herbal Formulations for enlarged spleen in which
Carica is used as nonary ingredient. Please see Tables Carica-1 to Carica-40
for details.]
The juice esteem-
ed good for
ringworm and also vermifuge (Lindley). [Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: I have
documented information about over 12000 Traditional Herbal Formulations for Ringworm
in which Carica is used as tertiary ingredient. Please see Tables Carica-41 to
Carica-60 for details.] The
seeds are also
considered vermifuge (O'Sliaughnessy).
N. 0.
PASSIFL0R.E. 575
The anthelmintic
properties of the milky juice of the
unripe fruit
were first noticed in the 17th century by Hernandez ;
and the
attention of the profession in India was called to it in
1810, by Dr.
Fleming {Asiatic Researches, vol. xi.) who cites an
interesting
passage from the writings of M. Charpentier
Cossigni in
support of its alleged virtues. Further confirmatory
evidence has
more recently been adduced by M. Bouton (Med.
Plants of
Mauritius, 1857, p. 65), and it may justly be con-
cluded that the
statements as to its efficacy as an anthelmintic
are founded on
fact. The following mode of administration,
employed by the
late Dr. Lemarchand, of the Mauritius (cited
by Bouton), it
would be desirable to adopt in all future trials
with this remedy
: Take of fresh Papaw milk and honey, of
each a
tablespoonful ; mix thoroughly, gradually add three or
four
tablespoonfuls of boiling water : and when sufficiently cool
take the whole
at a draught, following its administration two
hours
subsequently by a dose of castor oil, to which a portion of
lime juice or
vinegar may be added. This may be repeated two
days
successively if required. The above is a dose for an adult ;
half the
quantity may be given to children between 7 and 10
years of age ;
and a third, or a teaspoonful, to children under
three years. If
it cause griping, as it occasionally does, enemas
containing sugar
have been found effectual in relieving it,
Taking the dose
above-named as correct, the statement of Sir
W. O'Shaughnessy
(Bengal Disp. p. 352), that he had adminis-
tered the milky
juice as an anthelmintic, in doses of from 20
to 60 drops,
without obvious effect, is fully explained. It is
principally
effectual in the expulsion of lumbrici. On taenia it
is reported to
have little effect. Anthelmintic virtues have also
been assigned to
the seeds, which have a pungent taste, not
unlike that of
mustard and cress, but the evidence of their
efficacy is very
inconclusive. A belief in their powerfully em-
menagogue
properties prevails amongst all classes of women
in Southern
India ; so much so, that they assert that, if a preg-
nant woman
partake of them, even in moderate quantities,
abortion will be
the probable result. This popular belief is
noticed in many
of the reports received from India. In them it
576 INDIAN
MEDICINAL PLANTS.
is also stated
that the milky juice of the plant is applied locally
to the os uteri,
with the view of inducing abortion. Facts in
support of the
alleged emmenagogue properties of the papaw are
still wanting.
It is not within the scope of this work .to con-
sider the
alleged power of the juice of the papaw to lessen the
cohesion of the
muscular fibre, or, in homely language, to render
tough meat tender.
The subject, which is discussed in extenso
by Sir W. J.
Hooker {Bot. Mag. Nos. 2998 and 2999), Dr. Wight
(Illust.y vol.
ii., p. 34, et seq.), and Dr. John Davy (Edin. Med.
Phil. Mag.,
Oct., 1855) must still be regarded as sub-judice.
(Ph. Ind.). [Pankaj Oudhia’s Comment: I
have documented information about over 20000 Traditional Herbal Formulations
for gynecological diseases in which Carica is used as septenary ingredient.
Please see Tables Carica-61 to Carica-100 for details.]
Papaw leaves
contain an alkaloid Carpaine, which has
been used as a
heart tonic and febrifuge.
From Papaw juice
is extracted Papain, which is a white,
or whitish,
amorphous powder, possessing a solvent action on
animal
proteids.- A five per cent, solution of Papain is stated
to dissolve
false membrane in diphtheria, and to be a good
application to
warty epitheliomatous growths.
Injections of
-J-2 grains and upwards have been success-
fully used in
scirrus and other malignant tumours {B. M. J.
1906, Vol. L, p.
1439 et seq., also 1907, Vol. I. p. 135).
The leaves
contain an alkaloid Carpaine,* which crystallises in anhydrous,
colourless,
lustrous prisms melting at 121°, and resolidifies at about 90°; on
further heating,
it undergoes partial decomposition, some subliming in
colourless
needles. The alkaloid is extremely soluble in chloroform and
carbon
bisulphide, more sparingly in light petroleum and alcohol, and in-
soluble in
water; in alcoholic solution it is dextrorotatory, [a]D=+21'55°.
The base does
not give a colour reaction with sulphuric acid either alone or
in presence of
bromine water or vanadic anhydride ; with potassium
chromate and
sulphuric acid, a green coloration is produced, nitric acid
gives no
reaction. The formula of the alkaloid, is 14 H 25 N0 2 .
Carpaine does
not react with benzoic chloride or acetic chloride, but,
on treatment
with acetic anhydride, a compound is formed which has not
yet been
investigated. Ammonia and an acid free from nitrogen are formed
by the oxidation
of carpaine with sulphuric acid and potassium permanganate.
—J. Ch. S. LX1V.
at I. 1893, pp. 740-741.
On methylation,
carpaine yields methylcarpaine, crystallising from dilute
alcohol in small
colourless prisms, melting at 71°, benzoylation of nitrosocar-
* The alkaloid
is contained in leaf epidermis and to a lesser extent in the
underlying
parenchyma, epidermis of leaf stalk.
N. 0.
PASSIFLOR^. 577
paine yields a
colourless crystalline substance melting at 100°, and contain-
ing the
nitroso-group unchanged ; the alkaloid on oxidation with potassium
permanganate in
acid solution, gives rise to a variety of compounds which
are still under
investigation —J. Ch. S. LXXII pt, I. (1897), p. 647.
Since
methylcarpaine, C 14 H 24 MeNO^, reacts with benzoic chloride, it
probably
contains a hydroxyl group, A glucoside, carposide, has been
obtained from
the leaves ; this crystallises in colourless needles, and is
insoluble in
ether, but soluble in alcohol, and in water. Its aqueous solution
reduces
Fehling's solution only after boiling with dilute sulphuric acid.— J.
Ch, S. LXXIV.,
pt. I. (1898), p. 283.
Pure dried juice
should give no reaction for starch with iodine, nor reduce
Fehling's
solution before or after hydrolysis.
" A
question of importance to be settled is the most serviceable form of com-
mercial papain.
And since prolonged moisture is deleterious, the juice should
be dried as soon
as possible ; but heat is said to destroy its activity, hence
it should be
dried at a low temperature. A preparation of this kind is sold
in commerce
under the name of ' Finkler's Papain.' The best method to prepare
papain is to
collect the juice of the unripe fruit, mix it with twice its own
volume of
rectified spirit, let the mixture stand for a few hours, and then filter
off the
insoluble matter and dry in vacuo or over calcium chloride at the ordinary
temperature of
the atmosphere. After being powdered it should be kept
in
well-stoppered bottles ready for use. In view of a possible trade either in
India or in
Europe, manufacturers are recommended to observe carefully the
precautions just
enumerated. On account of caste difficulties, it might not
prove possible
to introduce animal pepsin very largely into use in India, but
a good vegetable
substitute might be of much value and find a ready sale."
(Watt's
Commercial Products of India.)
E-documents on
Carica
Citation
Oudhia, Pankaj (2013).
Pankaj Oudhia’s Notes on Carica
papaya L. [Kirtikar,
Kanhoba Ranchoddas, and Baman Das Basu. "Indian Medicinal Plants." Indian Medicinal Plants. (1918)]. www.pankajoudhia.com
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