SAHACARA (Whole Plant)
Sahacara consists of dried whole plant of Barleria prionitis Linn.(Fam. Acanthacem); a bushy, prickly undershrub, 0.6-1.5 m high, found throughout hotter parts of the country and also cultivated as a hedge plant.
SYNONYMS
Sansk. : Kurantaka, Koranda, Kerandaka
Assam. : Shinti
Beng. : —
Eng. : —
Guj. : Kanta-Smrio, Kantasalio
Hindi. : Sahacara
Kan. : Sahacara
Kash. : —
Mal. : Kirimkurunji, Karim Kurunni
Mar. : Koranta, Koranti
Ori. : Dasakeranda
Punj. : Sahacar
Tam. : Sammulli
Tel. : Mulu Gorinta Chettu
Urdu. : Pila Bansa, Piya Bansa
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Root – Well developed, upto 1 cm thick at the top, cylindrical and tapering, bearing lateral branches and numerous rootlets; surface rough due to numerous dot-like lenticels and root scars of fallen roots; external surface greyish-brown, bark thin with smooth internal surface; wood cream coloured; fracture, hard and laminated; odour and taste not characteristic.
Stem – Erect, 1-8 mm thick, terete, hard, glabrous, nodes swollen, branching at nodes, young stem grey, slightly four angled, usually with 3-4 divaricate spines at axil of leaf; mature stem cylindrical with longitudinally arranged or scattered dot-like lenticels; externally greyish to light brown; a few mature stem slightly hollow.
Leaf – Dorsiventral, variable in size,6-9.5 cm long, 2.5 – 3.5 cm wide, simple, elliptic, acuminate, entire, acute, reticulate, unicostate, glabrous above, glabrous or pubescent beneath; petiole short.
Flower – Sessile, often solitary in the lower axils.. becoming spicate above; bracts foliaceous, 16 by 4.5 mm, oblong or lanceolate, acute, bristle-tipped, nearly glabrous; bracteoles 1.3 cm long, narrowly linear, subulate (almost spinous), bristle-tipped; calyx, divided almost to the base, one of the outer sepals rather more than 1.3 cm long, the opposite sepal rather less than 1.3 cm long, 3.4 mm broad, both oblong-lanceolate, mucronate; the 2 inner sepals 1.5 mm wide and as long as the shorter of the outer ones, linear lanceolate, mucronate; corona, 3.2-4.5 cm long, yellow, slightly pubescent outside, glabrous inside, somewhat 2 lipped; upper lip 2 cm long or more, deeply 4 lobed, the lobes oblong-obovate, round; lower lip oblong-obovate, round, entire; tube 1.9 – 2.2 cm long; stamens 2 fertile and 2 staminodes; filaments of the fertile stamens exserted beyond the corona tube, those of the staminode very short; ovary superior of two fused carpels; style, simple, usually long with two stigma.
Fruit – Capsules, 2-2.5 cm long, ovoid with a long tapering solid beak; 2 seeded. Seed- Compressed, 0.8 cm in diameter and clothed with silky appressed hairs.
b) Microscopic
Root – Mature root shows cork of 6-25 layers of thin-walled, tangentially elongated cells; cork cambium single layered; secondary cortex composed of large, tangentially elongated, parenchymatous cells with small intercellular spaces; secondary phloem consists of sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma, and traversed by phloem rays, phloem fibres found scattered throughout phloem region in single and groups, single fibres elongatea, thick-waned with narrow lumen; secondary xylem wide, vessels, tracheids, parenchyma, xylem fibres present; vessels, pitted, with transverse to oblique articulation; tracheids slightly broader in middle with tapering ends having pitted walls; xylem fibres thick-waned, lignified and pitted; xylem parenchyma rectangular with lignified walls; xylem rays uni to biseriate, uniseriate rays more common.
Stem – Cork 6-24 or more layers of rectangular and radially arranged cells; secondary cortex composed of thin-waned, tangentially elongated, 8-15 layers of parenchymatous cells, filled with brown contents; secondary phloem narrow, consisting of heterogenous type of cells; phloem fibres found scattered uniformly throughout phloem region in singles or in groups; fibres moderate in length, lignified with pointed tips; secondary xylem consists of vessels, tracheids, fibres, xylem parenchyma traversed by xylem rays; vessels numerous, vary in size, distributed throughout xylem region vessels having taillike projections at one or both ends and transverse to oblique perforations with spiral or pitted thickenings; tracheids pitted having pointed tips; xylem parenchyma mostly rectangular, thick-waned, lignified with simple pits; xylem rays usually uniseriate, occasionally biseriate; pith isodiametric of parenchymatous cells most of which contain single or group of acicular crystals of calcium oxalate, measuring 19-28 n in length and 3 n in width.
Leaf –
Petiole – A single layered upper and lower epidermis covered externally with a thick cuticle, a few epidermal cells elongate to form unicellular hairs,cystolith develops in some epidermal cells; 2-6 layers of collenchymatous cells present in both upper and lower epidermis; parenchyma 3-8 layered in upper surface and 7-10 layered in lower surface towards proximal end and 5-7 layered at distal end, circular to polygonal and thin-walled; some contain raphides of calcium oxalate; vascular bundle semilunar, situated centrally in parenchymatous ground tissue; xylem vessels arranged in radial rows, protoxylem towards centre; two smaller vascular bundles present on either sides of central vascular bundle.
Midrib – Single layered epidermis on both surfaces covered externally with thick cuticle; collenchyma 2-5 layered on both surfaces, followed by 3-6 layers, thin-walled, parenchymatous cells; vascular bundle single, crescent-shaped having usual elements. Lamina Single layered epidermis covered with thick cuticle on both surfaces, glandular trichomes present on both surfaces, while the non-glandular, unicellular, elongated with pointed tips, present only on lower surface; palisade single layered; spongy parenchyma thin-walled, irregular in shape; stomata diacytic and present on both surfaces but more abundant on lower surface; a few veins present in this region.
Powder – Green; shows fragments of cork, xylem vessels with spiral and pitted thickening, acicular crystals of calcium oxalate, measuring 19-28 n in length and 3 n in width, fibres, fragments of lamina of leaf with palisade and mesophyll cells; glandular and non-glandular hairs, epidermal cells with diacytic stomata.
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 2 Per cent, Appendix 2.2.2
Total ash Not more than 7 Per cent, Appendix 2.2.3
Acid-insoluble ash Not more than 1 Per cent, Appendix 2.2.4
Alcohol-soluble extractive Not less than 4 Per cent, Appendix 2.2.6
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 10 Per cent, Appendix 2.2.7
T.L.C. –
T.L.C. of the alcoholic extract on Silica gel ‘G’ plate using n-Butanol : Acetic acid’: Water (4:1:5) shows four spots at Rf. 0.57, 0.77, 0.91 and 0.94 (all light yellow) in the visible “light. Under U.V. (366 nm) four fluorescent zones are visible at Rf. 0.57, 0.77, 0.91 (all blue) and 0.94 (black). On exposure to Iodine vapour six spots appear at Rf. 0.18, 0.43, 0.57, 0.77, 0.88 and 0.94 (all yellow). On spraying with 5% Methanolic- Sulphuric acid reagent and heating the plate at 105° C for ten minutes five spots appear at Rf. 0.57 (yellow), 0.77, 0.88 (both pink), 0.84 and 0.94 (both violet).
CONSTITUENTS – Alkaloids, β-Sitosterol, Potassium.
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Madhura, Tikta
Guna : Snigdha
Virya : Usna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Kaphahara, Kesya, Kasa, Ranjana, Visahara.
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Sahacaradi Taila, Nilikadya Taila, Astavarga Kvatha Curna, Rasnarandadi Kvatha Curna.
THERAPEUTIC USES – Kustha, Kandu, Vatarakta, Palit.
DOSE – 50-100 g. of the drug for decoction.
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