SAPTALA (Whole Plant)
Saptala consists of dried whole plant of Euphorbia dracunculoides Lam. (Fam. Euphorbiacem); a much branched, 20-40 cm high, annual herb, found throughout India in the plains and low hills.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Satala, Carmasahva, Caramakasa
Assamese : —
Bengali : Chagalpupti
English : —
Gujrati : Satale
Hindi : Titali, Joyachi, Chagulputputi
Kannada : Satala, Bilikalli, Kalli
Kashmiri : —
Malayalam : Chasma Lantha, Pathiri
Marathi : Nivadung
Oriya : Naagapheni, Siju, Saptala
Punjabi : Kangi
Tamil : Tillakada, Thusimullai
Telugu : Tillakada
Urdu : Thuhar
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Root – Small, 4-5 cm long, 0.5-2 mm thick, cylindrical, ribbed, gradually tapering, having a few secondary roots, pale brown, fracture, short, odour and taste indistinct.
Leaf – 1.7-7 cm long, 0.2-0.8 cm wide, sessile, linear, lanceolate or linear oblong, subacute, base rarely rounded or sub-cordate; greenish-yellow; odour and taste not distinct.
Flower – Involucre broadly campanulate, sub-sessile, solitary, 2.5 mm across at the mouth, glabrous outside and pubescent inside, lobes short, ovate, ciliolate; gland semilunate, horned; filament pubescent; style, 1 mm long, free to the base, shortly 2-fid at the apex.
Fruit – Capsule, smooth; 3-4 mm in dia; trilocular, 3- celled with or without attached pedicel.
Seed – 3 mm long, ellipsoidal to oblong with a white, leprous tuberculate testa, rounded at the base, grooved at one side, with an arillode at the oblique depressed apex.
b) Microscopic
Root – Young root shows exfoliated, single layered epidermis; mature root shows thin walled cork, composed of 10-12 layers of rectangular cells; secondary cortex consists of 4- 6 layers of oval, elliptical, parenchymatous cells; oval to elongated elliptical thick walled, lignified cells with wide lumen; groups of stone cells and a few fibres present in this region; endoderm is and pericycle not distinct; secondary phloem composed of sieve elements and parenchyma; secondary xylem consists of vessels, fibres, tracheids and medullary rays; all elements thick-walled and lignified; fibres and vessels having simple pits; starch grains simple, rounded to oval, 2.75 n in dia; found scattered in phloem region; rarely a few oil globules also present.
Stem – Shows a single layered epidermis composed of thick-walled, flattended, tangentially elongated cells; older stem shows 4-5 layers of cork composed of thinwalled, rectangular, tangentially elongated and radially arranged cells; cortex composed of 4-5 layers of oval to rectangular, tangentially elongated elliptical, thin-walled parenchymatous cells; stone cells oval to elongated, elliptical, thick-walled lignified, with wide lumen present in this region; endodermis not distinct; pericycle represented by groups of lignified fibres; secondary phloem narrow, composed of sieve elements, phloem parenchyma and a few elongated laticiferous sacs; secondary xylem composed of vessels, fibres and tracheids, traversed by numerous xylem rays; all elements, thickwalled and lignified, vessels having simple pits; fibres elongated and aseptate; centre occupied by a pith, consisting of thick-walled, circular to oval, parenchymatous cells; some rounded, small laticiferous sacs present in peripheral pith cells, filled with yellowish-brown content; starch grains more abundant in phloem and pith region, simple, solitary or in groups, rounded to oval, measuring 5.5-19.25 n in diameter.
Leaf–
Midrib – shows slightly convex outline; epidermis single layered, covered externally with thick, striated cuticle; hypodermis consists of single layered collenchymatous cells towards lower side; vascular bundle collateral and surrounded by 4-6 layers of thinwalled, parenchymatous cells.
Lamina -shows slightly wavy outline; epidermis on either covered with thick cuticle; paracytic stomata present on both surfaces; mesophyll differentiated into palisade and spongy parenchyma; palisade single layered present on both sides; spongy parenchyma 4-5 layered consisting of irregularly arranged cells present between upper and lower palisade; a few small collateral vascular bundles embedded in spongy parenchyma.
Powder – Light yellow; shows vessels with simple pits, aseptate fibres; oval to elongated, elliptical, stone cells thick-walled, lignified with wide lumen; simple, rounded to oval starch grains, measuring 3-19 n in diameter.
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 11 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 5 per cent, Appendix 2.2.6.
Water-soluble extractive Not less than 10 per cent, Appendix 2.2.7.
T.L.C.
T.L.C. of alcoholic extract of the drug on Silica gel ‘G’ plate using Chloroform :
Methanol (95:5) shows under U.V. (366 nm) two blue fluorescent zones at Rf. 0.04 and 0.67. On exposure to Iodine vapour three spots appear at Rf.0.04, 0.46, and 0.57 (all yellow). On spraying with 5% Methanolic-Sulphuric acid reagent and heating the plate for ten minutes at 105°C two spots appear at Rf. 0.46 (brown) and 0.87 (violet).
CONSTITUENTS – Glyco-alkaloid (Euphorbine).
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Tikta, Kasaya
Guna : Laghu, Ruksa, Tiksna
Virya : Sita
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Kaphahara, Pittahara, Raktadosahara, Vatala, Vidbhedini
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Brahmi Ghrta, Misraka Sneha, Narayana Curna.
THERAPEUTIC USES – Anaha, Gulma, Udararoga, Vibandha, Udavartta, Visarpa.
DOSE – 50 g. of the drug for decoction.
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