Page 196 - Pharmacognosy 2 PG303

Pharmacognosy-2 (PG303) Level 2 Clinical Pharmacy-Pharm D

Constituents
An intensely bitter amorphous alkaloid and a dark brown resin, both of which
are purgative; alcohol, bryonol, and various fatty acids. The autumnal root
contains, further, large quantities of starch.

Uses
The root, when taken internally in full doses acts as a cathartic and diuretic,
applied to the skin it is irritant, and may cause vesication. It has been recommended
for pleurisy, whooping cough, and bronchitis, and has been given in cases of
dropsy.

Bryonia alba Linn. a continental species, is distinguished by its monoecious
flowers and black berries, the common bryony having dioecious flowers and scarlet
berries. It produces a similar root containing probably the same constituents.

Black Bryony is the fresh root of Tamus communis Linn., Family
Dioscoreaceae, a common climbing plant of the hedgerows and thickets of
England. The fresh root is used as an application for bruises; it is rather smaller
than bryony root and is free from bitterness.

RAUWOLFIA ROOT

Chootachand; Sarpagandha; Indian Snakeroot.

Rauwolfia consists of the dried root and rhizome of Rauwolfia serpentina
Benth., family Apocynaceae, a large shrub indigenous to India, Burma, Malaya,
Siam (Thailand) and Java. The drug has been used for many centuries in Ayuredic
medicine under the Sanskrit name of sarpagandha.

153