KRSNAJIRAKA
Krsnajiraka consists of dried ripe fruits of Carum carvi Linn. (Fam. Umbelliferm), a biennial herb, 30-90 cm high, cultivated as a cold season crop in plains of India and as summer crop in hilly areas of Kashmir, Kumaon, Garhwal and Chamba.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Asitajiraka
Assamese : Krisnjeera, Ka1ajira, Kaljira
Bengali : Kala jira
English : Black Caraway
Gujrati : Shahjirun
Hindi : Kalajira
Kannada : Kari jeerige, Shahajeerige
Kashmiri : Krihunzur
Malayalam : Karunjiraka, Karinjeerakam
Marathi : Shahira, Shahajira
Oriya : Kalajira
Punjabi : Zira Siyah, Kalajira
Tamil : Karamjiragam, Shimai shambu
Telugu : Nalla Jeelakarra
Urdu : Zira Siyah, Kala Zira
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Fruit, greenish-brown, slightly curved, elongated, mericarps, usually separate, free from the pedicel, carpophores, upto 7 mm long, 2 mm broad almost equally five sided, narrow, tapering to each end, arcuate, glabrous, brown with five very narrow, yellowish primary ridges’ endosperm, orthospermous, odour and taste, aromatic and characteristic.
b) Microscopic
Transverse section of fruit shows pericarp with outer epidermis of polygonal tabular cells with a thick outer wall and striated cuticle, trichomes, absent, vittm four dorsal, intercostal and two commissural extending the length of each mericarp, with an epithelium of brown cells and volatile oil in the cavity, mesocarp parenchymatous without reticulate thickening, costm five in each mericarp with vascular strand consisting of an inner group of small vessels and fibres and arched, outer group of pitted sclerenchyma with a small group of phloem on each lateral surface, on the outer margin of each vascular strand a small schizogenous canal extending into both stylopod and pedicel, inner epidermis of thin -walled, subrectangular cells, elongated tangentially each about 8-12n wide and 40-100n long, arranged parallel with one another, endosperm of thick-walled, cellulosic parenchyma, containing much fixed oil and numerous small aleurone grains upto 10 n in diameter, each containing one or sometimes two micro-rosette crystals of calcium oxalate, carpophore, when present, passing at the apex to a raphe in each mericarp, and with a small strand of sclerenchyma, the sclereids of which continue into the stylopod.
Powder-Colour fawn to brown, epidermal cells of pericarp with striated cuticle, fragments of brown endothelium of vittm, parenchymatous cells of the mesocarp without reticulate thickening, rectangular, finely pitted sclereids of mesocarp, thickwalled polygonal parenchymatous cells of endosperm containing much fixed oil, numerous small aleurone grains containing micro-rosette crystals of calcium oxalate, trichomes, starch and parquetry layer absent, it contains no less than 2.5 per cent of volatile oil.
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 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 12 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.
Volatile oil Not less than 3.5 per cent, Appendix 2.2.10
CONSTITUENTS – Essential oils (carvone and carvacrol).
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Katu
Guna : Laghu
Virya : Usna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Sothahara, Caksusya, Dipana, Jvaraghna, Pacana, Rucya, Sangrahi
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Jirakadyarista, Jirakadi Modaka
THERAPEUTIC USES – Agnimandya, Adhmana, Krmiroga, Jirnajvara, Grahaniroga
DOSE – 1-3 g of the drug in powder form.
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