CORAKAH (Root Sock)
Corakah consists of dried mature root and root stock of Angelica glauca Edgw. (Fam. Apiacem), a glabrous herb, upto 1.5 m tall, stem erect, grooved and fistular with pinnately divided leaves having compound umbels of white or purple flowers, found in temperate north-west Himalayas.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Taskarah, Ksemakah
Assamese : —
Bengali : Chorak
English : —
Gujrati : Chorak
Hindi : Choraa, Gandrayan, Rikha Choraa
Kannada : Choraka
Kashmiri : —
Malayalam : Choraka Pullu
Marathi : Corak
Oriya : —
Punjabi : Choraa, Churaa
Tamil : —
Telugu : Gaddi Davanamu
Urdu : —
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Root stock : Small, thick pieces, 5 to 15 cm long and 1 to 3 cm in thickness; yellowish to grey in colour, rough due to the presence of deep furrows and longitudinal wrinkles; frequently crowned with leaf or stem base; fracture, hard and fibrous; odour characteristically aromatic; taste, sweet with a bitter after effect and pungent aromatic flavour.
Root : Small pieces of 5 to 20 mm in thickness, externally grayish-brown and spongy; surface rough due to longitudinal wrinkles, furrows and transverse cracks; internally it shows a yellow porous radiating wood surrounded by dark brown cork; fracture short, smooth and the fractured surface shows bark with numerous radially arranged schizogenous oleo-resin cavities with brown or yellow content. 24
b) Microscopic
Root stock : T.S. shows 6 to 10 layered cork of tangentially elongated cells, followed by 3 or 4 layers of phellogen and a wide zone of phelloderm consisting of thin walled parenchyma in which schizogenous cavities present; phloem, cone shaped, traversed by parenchymatous medullary rays filled with circular starch grains measuring between 3 and 23 n in diameter; numerous schizogenous oleo-resin cells present; cambium present; xylem arranged in concentric layers and consists of vessels, tracheids, fibres and xylem parenchyma and traversed by medullary rays; pith consists of thin walled parenchymatous tissue in which schizogenous oleo-resin cavities, filled with yellowish contents of resin are present.
Root : T.S. shows periderm consisting of 5 to 8 layers of thin walled yellowish – brown cork, a layer of phellogen and phelloderm, composed of thin-walled parenchyma cells, irregular in shape with intercellular space and containing abundant starch grains measuring upto 20 n in diameter; some of these cells disintegrate in the mature roots and give rise to some irregular cavities; schizogenous type of oleo-resin cavities in this region contain oil globules and resin; phloem a wide zone and traversed by medullary rays, consisting of phloem parenchyma, sieve tubes and companion cells; numerous radially arranged schizogenous oleo-resin cavities present in phloem parenchyma, containing yellowish or yellowish-brown contents; cambium present; xylem diarch and radiating wood traversed by parenchymatous, multiseriate medullary rays filled with starch grains measuring upto 20 n in diameter; wood consists of vessels, tracheids, wood parenchyma and wood fibres; vessels large, drum – shaped or elongated, reticulately thickened having oblique or transverse perforation.
Powder – Yellowish – brown, shows under microscope, parenchymatous cells filled with yellow or reddish-brown colouring matter and oil globules; schizogenous cavities and vessels with reticulate thickenings present; starch grains simple, oval to circular, upto 25n approximately.
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 1 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 6.5 per cent, Appendix 2.2.3.
Acid-insoluble ash Not more than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.4.
Alcohol-soluble extractive Not less than 14 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 30 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.
Volatile oil Not less than 0.4 per cent, Appendix 2.2.10
T.L.C.
T.L.C. of essential oil of the drug on precoated silica gel G plate using ethyl acetate : hexane (3:97) shows under UV light (365 nm) four spots at Rf. 0.48, 0.40 & 0.29 (yellowish blue fluoresence) and 0.25 (blue fluoresence). On spraying with dragendroff’s reagent two spots at Rf. 0.48 and 0.40 appeared as orange coloured. On spraying with 2% vanillin-sulphuric acid appears four spots at Rf 0.48 & 0.40 (greyishpurple), 0.29 (cremish) and 0.25 (pinkish-purple). The methanol extract of the drug on precoated silica gel G plate, using methanolchloroform (2: 98) shows one spot at Rf. 0.71, and ethyl acetate : hexane (5:95) appear single spot at Rf. 0.21 (yellowish-blue colour) under UV light (365 nm) and was comparable to the spot of oxypeucedanin.
CONSTITUENTS – Oxypeucedanin, 3-butylidene phthalide, 3-butylidene dihydrophthalide [(E-and (Z)-ligustilide] and dimers of butyl phthalides [angiolide, angelicolide].
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Madhura, Katu, Tikta
Guna : Laghu, Ruksa, Tiksna
Virya : Usna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Kaphahara, Medohara, Vamaka, Vatahara, Svedahara, Hrdya, Sajnasthapana, Dipana, Pacana, Vranaprasadana
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Guducyadi Modaka, Balasvagandhalaksadi Taila, Mahanarayana Taila.
THERAPEUTIC USES – Apasmara, Svasa, Hikka, Jvara, Kandu, Kotha, Kustha, Unmada, Vrana, Pitika, Visaroga, Raktadosa, Agnimandya, Sirah Sula, Pratisyaya, Sitajvara, Balaroga
DOSE – 3-6 g.
Latest Govt Job & Exam Updates: