GANDIRA (Root)
Gandira consists of dried mature root of Coleus forskohlii Briq. syn. C. barbatus Benth. (Fam. Lamiacem), a perennial branched aromatic herb; found in subtropical western Himalayas, Nilgiri hills, Gujarat and Bihar, and also cultivated in Maharashtra.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Gandira (Sthalaja)
Assamese : —
Bengali : —
English : —
Gujrati : Garmar, Garmal
Hindi : Garmar
Kannada : —
Kashmiri : —
Malayalam : —
Marathi : —
Oriya : —
Punjabi : —
Tamil : —
Telugu : Jeevakamu
Urdu : —
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Roots light in weight, light brown, longitudinally wrinkled, tapering, with a few rootlets, cut surface yellowish-white; fracture, short, characteristic pleasing odour; taste, slightly bitter and pungent.
b) Microscopic
T.S. of root is irregular in outline, epidermal cells not discernible due to secondary growth; outermost multilayered storied cork of rectangular cork cells, below which is 1 or 2 layered cork cambium, followed by rectangular parenchymatous secondary cortical region in which oval stone cells with narrow lumen and walls with radiating canals and containing rhomboidal calcium-oxalate crystals present; vascular cambium in the form of continuous ring; phloem consists of sieve tubes, companion cells and phloem parenchyma; medullary rays well developed, radiating, varying in size, heterogenous as seen in tangential section; thin walled; in young root these are very broad as compared to the older ones; xylem represented by diffuse porous vessels, mostly solitary; xylem parenchyma surrounding the tracheids and vessels, filled with starch grains of 20 to 60 n m in diameter, hilum distinct, star-shaped central cleft, lamellm occasionally observed; xylem parenchyma well developed in the young root, however in the older one fibres abundant; central zone comprises of compactly arranged vessels, fibres and fibre tracheids, oil cells with oil globules present in cortical phloem and xylem regions.
Powder – Powder yellowish-brown with pleasant aromatic smell, bitter in taste; powder shows numerous simple circular, ovoid, elliptical simple starch grains, 20 to 60 n m in diameter, hilum distinct, star-shaped central cleft, occasionally lamellm observed; oil cells with oil globules, tracheids and vessels, parenchymatous cells filled with starch, tailed vessels, fibre tracheids, prismatic calcium oxalate crystals; powder becomes greenish-brown under UV 254 nm with nitrocellulose in amylacetate and also with 50% KOH.
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 9 per cent, Appendix 2.2.3.
Acid-insoluble ash Not more than 1.5 per cent, Appendix 2.2.4.
Alcohol-soluble extractive Not less than 16 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 23 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.
Essential oil Not less than 0.1 per cent, Appendix 2.2.10
Coleonol Not less than 0.15 per cent, Appendix 2.2.17A
T.L.C.
T.L.C. of the methanolic extract on precoated silica gel ‘G’ plates (0.2 mm thick) using toluene : ethyl acetate : methanol (80 : 20 : 0.5) shows under UV (366 nm) fluorescent spots at Rf. 0.14 (brick red), 0.20 (red), 0.25 (pink), 0.32 (brick pink), 0.46 (blue), 0.55 (brick red), 0.59 (brick red), 0.67 (blue), 0.87 (green) and 0.95 (blue). On spraying with anisaldehyde-sulphuric acid reagent and on heating the plate for ten minutes at 120oC, spots appear at Rf. 0.14 (brown), 0.2 (brown), 0.25 (light brown), 0.46 (grey), 0.55 (orangish brown), 0.59 (brown) and 0.87 (yellow).
CONSTITUENTS – Diterpene, coleonol, coleosol, deoxy-coleonol, forskohlin, naphthopyrone, coleoforsine.
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Katu, Tikta, Kasaya
Guna : Ruksa, Sara, Tiksna
Virya : Usna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Kaphahara, Vatahara, Tridosahara, Vranasodhana, Vidahi
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Krmighna Kasaya Curna
THERAPEUTIC USES – Sula, Sotha, Arsa, Gulma, Kasa, Krmi, Kustha, Udara, Dusta Vrana, Hutavisa, Pliiharoga, Mandagni, Mutrabandha, Malabandha
DOSE – 3-5 g.
Remarks: Being a controversial drug, at present, the above species may be accepted as Sthalaja Gandira. Others are Jalaja and a tree (Sara-taru) species.
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