Scientific Name Holarrhena pubescens(Buch.-Ham.) Wall. ex DC. syn. Holarrhena antidysenterica (Linn.) Wall. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Family Apocynaceae
Used Part: Seeds
Distribution: The plant is found throughout the drier parts expecially deciduous forests upto 3000 ft. Also distributed in tropical <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Himalayas.
Common Uses . The seeds are considered to have similar properties as stem bark, but have milder action. Seeds astringent,. febrigue, in fever, dysentery, diarrhea and intestinal worms .Alleviative of all three dosas and cure bleeding piles, diarrhoea and colic . Useful in dysentry, diarrhoea, intestinal worms and intermittent fevers.The preparations employing the drug are Laghugangadhar churna, Amritarishta, Punarnavaa mandur and Yograaja guggulu. Kutajaristam, Kutajatvagadi leham, Ayaskrti are some of the preparations using the drug. Kutaja and indrayava are made from this. Bark in dysentery, dried and ground rubbed over the body in dropsy.
Similar crude drugs Seeds of Wrightia tomentosa Roem&Schult. and W. tinctoria R.Br. of the same family constitue Meetha indrajau of commerce.
Pharmacological Effect Clinical and laboratory trials have shown that conessine and related alkaloids possess amoebicidal properties comparable to emetine. Entamoeba histolytica in mucus flakes is killed by emetine in a dilution of 1 in 200,000 and by conessine, in a dilution of 1 in 280,000. Conessine hydrobromide (C24 H40 N2 .2 HBr) is official in International Pharmacopoeia ; it contains not less than 67.5 and not greater than 69.0% conessine. It is prescribed in amoebic dysentery and is considered to be less toxic than the base.
Others Conessine possesses antitubercular activity in situ. It increases coronary outflow in the isolated rabbit heart, induces narcosis in frog, and produces local anaesthesia in guinea pigs, being twice as active as cocaine, but causes necrosis on subcutaneous injection
