Local names: Co xuoc, Nguu tat nam, Tho nguu tat
English name: Prickly chaff-flower.
Description:
Herbaceous plant about 1m. high. Stems erect, pubescent, swollen at the nodes. Leaves opposite, short-petioled, margins undulate. Flowers numerous, stiffly deflected against the pubescent rachis in elongate terminal spike, 20-30 cm. long. Utricle oblong-cylindrical, enclosed in the hardened perianth, brown. Seeds oblong-ovoid.
Achyranthes aspera L.; Amaranthaceae
Flowering period: July - December.
Distribution: Grows wild along roadsides.
Parts used: The whole, plant, especially the roots. Collected throughout the year, they are carefully washed and sun-dried or heat-dried.
Chemical composition:
Leaves, stems and roots contain alkaloids, sterol and saponins. Root contains ecdysone, ecdysterone (polypodine A) and insect moulting hormones. Seeds contain saponin A&B. Fruit contains two oleanolic acid based saponins. The plant also contains an alkaloid achyranthine(=betaine), amino acids, arginine, histidine, lysine, cystine, threonine, methionine, lucine, isolucine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and carbohydrate, valine, α-rhamnopyranosyl, ß-D glucopyranosyl, ß-D galactopyranosyl, galactose, xylose, rhamnose and glucose, large amount of potash, hormones, ecdysterone and inokosterone. (Asolkar et al., 1992; Rastogi & Mehrotra, 1993; Ghani, 2003; Qureshi and Bhatti 2006).
Therapeutic uses:
The whole plant and especially the roots, characterized by their anti-inflammatory and uterine stimulant activity, are prescribed in the therapy of rheumatism, contusions, lumbago, osteodynia, dysuria, post-partum haematometra and dysmenorrhoea. The daily dose is 8 to 16g in the form of a decoction. The drug is used on its own or in combination with some other plants.
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