Indian Medicinal Plants An Illustrated Dictionary

180 Crotalaria verrucosa Linn.
C
Seeds—hepatotoxic. Seed oil gave
fatty acids—linoleic, linolenic and
oleic.
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids—junceine,
tricodesmine, riddelline, seneciphylline
and senecionine were also obtained.
Dosage ◮ Seed—1–3 g powder. (API
Vol. III.)
Crotalaria verrucosa Linn.
Family ◮ Papilionaceae; Fabaceae.
Habitat ◮ Tropical regions of India
from Himalayas to Sri Lanka.
Ayurvedic ◮ Shanapushpi. Shana
(var.).
Siddha/Tamil ◮ Sanal, Sannappu.
Folk ◮ Sanai, Jhanjhaniaa.
Action ◮ Juice of leaves—used
for biliousness, dyspepsia, blood
impurities, scabies and impetigo,
both internally and externally.
Taraxerol, beta-sitosterol and linoleic,
palmitic, stearic, lauric, oleic, linolenic,
arachidic, myristic and ricinoleic
acids have been isolated from fixed oil
of the stem.
Dosage ◮ Seed—1–3 g powder.
(CCRAS.)
Croton oblongifolius Roxb.
Family ◮ Euphorbiaceae.
Habitat ◮ Central, Western and
Southern India, also eastwards to
Bengal.
Ayurvedic ◮ Naagadanti. (Danti
is equated with Baliospermum
montanum Muell., Dravanti with
Jatropha curcas Linn. and Croton
tiglium Linn.)
Action ◮ Same as that of C. tiglium.
Croton tiglium Linn.
Family ◮ Euphorbiaceae.
Habitat ◮ Native to South-East Asia.
Now cultivated in Assam, Bengal
and South India.
English ◮ Purging Croton.
Ayurvedic ◮ Jayapaala, Dravanti,
Dantibija, Tintidiphala.
Unani ◮ Habb-us-Salaateen, Jamaalgotaa,
Hubb-ul-Malook.
Siddha/Tamil ◮ Nervaalam.
Action ◮ Cathartic, rubefacient,
irritant. Used in ascites, anasarca,
dropsy and enlargement of
abdominal viscera.
The seed oil is purgative. It produces
severe symptoms of toxicity when taken
internally or applied externally to
the skin.
Croton oil showed tumour-promoting
activity on mouse skin. The
skin irritant and tumour promoting
diterpene esters of the tigliane type
(phorbol esters) and toxins have been
isolated from the seeds. (In China,
where the herb is employed for the
treatment of gastro-intestinal disturbances,
the highest incidence of nasopharyngeal
cancer has been reported.)
1 ml oil is usually fatal. Phorbols
(terpenoids) from nonvolatile oil are