GOKSURA (Fruit)
Goksura consists of dried, ripe, entire fruit of Tribulus terrestris Linn. (Fam Zygopyllaceae), an annual, rarely pernnial common weed of the pasture lands, road sides and other waste places, chiefly in hot, dry and sandy regions, grows throughout India as prostrate herb and upto 3,000 m in Kashmir.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Svadamstra, Goksuraka, Traikantaka, Trikatna
Assamese : Gokhurkata, Gokshura
Bengali : Gokhri, Gokshura
English : Caltrops fruit
Gujrati : Bethagokharu, Mithagokhru, Nanagokharu
Hindi : Gokhru
Kannada : Neggilamullu, Neggilu, Sannaneggilu
Kashmiri : Pakhda, Michikand
Malayalam : Nerinjil
Marathi : Gokharu, Sarate
Oriya : Gokhyura, Gukhura
Punjabi : Bhakhra, Gokhru
Tamil : Nerinjil, Nerunjil
Telugu : Palleru Kaya
Urdu : Khar-e-Khasak Khurd
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Fruit stalked, light or greenish yellow, five ribbed or angled, more or less spherical in structure and covered with short stiff or pubescent hairs, 1 cm in diameter with five pairs, of prominent short stiff spines, pointed downwards, about 0.5 cm in length, tips of spines almost meet in pairs whole together forming pentagonal framework around fruit, ripe fruit separates into five segment, of each cocci and each appears as single-fruit, each coccus semi-lunar or plano-convex in structure one chambered, armed with a pair of spines, starting from its middle, containing four or more seeds, taste, slightly astringent.
b) Microscopic
Transverse section of fruit shows small epidermal cells of each coccus rectangular, unicellular trichomes in abundance, mesocarp 6-10 layers of large parenchymatous cells, rosette of calcium oxalate crystals abundantly present, mesocarp followed by 3-4 compact layers of small cells containing prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate.
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 1 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 15 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 6 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 10 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.
CONSTITUENTS – Potassium nitrate, sterols, sapogenin with pyroketone ring (diosgenin), gitogenin and hecogenins.
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Madhura
Guna : Guru, Snigdha
Virya : Sita
Vipaka : Madhura
Karma : Brmhana, Vatanut, Vrsya, Asmarihara, Vastisodhana
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Goksuradi Guggulu, Traikanaka Ghrta, Draksadi Cruna
THERAPEUTIC USES – Sularoga, Arsa, Svasa, Daurbalya, Hrdroga, Kasa, Mutrakrcchra, Asmari, Prameha
DOSE – 3-6 g of the drug in powder form.
20-30 g of the drug for decoction.
Latest Govt Job & Exam Updates: