KUMBHIKAH(Seed)

Kumbhikah consists of dried seed of Careya arborea Roxb. (Fam. Lecythidacem), a medium sized deciduous tree attaining a height of 9 to 18 m. occurring throughout India upto an altitude of 1,500 m.

SYNONYMS

Sanskrit : Svadupuspa, Vitapi, Sthala Kumbhi, Romasa
Assamese : —
Bengali : Kumbhi
English : Kumbi
Gujrati : —
Hindi : Sthala Kumbhi
Kannada : Daddala, Gudda, Daddippe
Kashmiri : —
Malayalam : Pezuntol
Marathi : Kumbhaa
Oriya : —
Punjabi : —
Tamil : Kumbi
Telugu : Dudippi
Urdu : —

DESCRIPTION

a) Macroscopic

Seeds, exalbuminous, dark brown, oval ellipsoid, 1.5 to 2 cm long, upto one cm or slightly above in width; indehiscent; testa hard and wrinkled; odour, pleasant; taste, astringent.

b) Microscopic

Testa sclerenchymatous followed by a zone of collapsed cells of outer integument, inner integument lined by cuticle on both sides; outer layers of both integuments filled with dark brown material; cotyledons of many layered, thin walled, polygonal parenchymatous cells, filled abundantly with starch grains and occasionally with oil.

Powder – Creamish-yellow to light-brown, shows fragments of cotyledon cells; scattered stone cells of testa, abundant starch grains, simple and round, about 5 n.

IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH

Foreign matter Not more than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 4 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 7 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 15 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.

T.L.C.

T.L.C. of the hexane extract on precoated silica gel ‘G’ plate (0.2 mm thick) using petroleum ether : diethyl ether : acetic acid (9:1:0.1) shows spots at Rf. 0.14 (purple), 0.26 (brown), 0.32 (light pink), 0.44 (pink) and 0.77 (purple) on spraying with vanillinsulphuric acid reagent and heating the plate at 105oC for about ten minutes.

CONSTITUENTS – Saponins (five sapogenols- careyagenol A, B, C, D & E); sterols, α- spinosterol and α-spinosterone.

PROPERTIES AND ACTION

Rasa : Katu, Kasaya
Guna : Ruksa
Virya : Usna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Grahi, Kaphahara, Vatahara, Vrana Ropana

IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Marma Gutika

THERAPEUTIC USES – Krmi, Kustha, Nadivrana, Prameha, Visaroga, Vrana, Vatika Kasa, Pakvatisara

DOSE – 2-6 g powder.

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