Common Name: Talmakhana, Kokilaksha
English Name: Hygrophila
Botanical Name: Astercantha longipholia Nees, Hygrophila spinosa T.And
Family: Acanthaceae
Description: The plant is widely distributed throughout India, Srilanka, Burma, Malaysia and Nepal. It is a spiny, stout, annual herb, common in water logged places. Leaves subsessile, oblong-lanceloate or linear lanceolate, spines yellowish brown, 2-3 cm long, Flower yellowish brown, fruit two celled, linear oblong, compressed about 8 cm long, pointed, 4-8 seeded. Seed ovate, flat or compressed, 0.2-0.25 cm long and 0.1-0.15 cm wide, hairy but appearing smooth; when soaked in water immediately get coated with mucilage, light brown: taste slightly bitter and odour not.
Chemical Constituents: The compounds identified in H. spinosa are mainly phytosterols, fatty acids, minerals, polyphenols, proanthocyanins, mucilage, alkaloids, enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates, hydrocarbons, flavonoids, terpenoids, vitamins and glycosides. Some of the reported phytoconstituents are lupeol, lupenone, 25-oxo-hentriacontanyl acetate, stigmasterol, betulin, β- carotene, hentriacontane, apigenin-7-O-glucuronide, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, 3-methylnonacosane, 23-ethylcholesta-11, 23-dien-3β-ol, luteolin, asteracanthine, asteracanthicine, luteolin-7-rutinoside, methyl-8-n-hexyltetracosanoate, β-sitosterol, histidine, phenylalanine, lysine, ascorbic acid, nicotinic acid, n-triacontane.
Properties: It possesses various medicinal uses as aphrodisiac, tonic, sedative and blood diseases etc. Roots are sweet, sour, bitter, refrigerant, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, haemopoictic, hepato protective and tonic. Leaves are haemopoictic, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and analgesic, anti diabetic, stomachic, ophthalmic, and diuretic in action. Roots are useful in inflammations, hyperdipsia, jaundice and vesical calculi. It is also used in flatulence and dysentery. Leaves are used in hepatic obstruction, jaundice, arthritis, rheumatism and diseases of urinogenital tract.This plant is effective in the management of iron deficiency anemia due to the presence of iron and other constituents as flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, lupeol and betulin. It is used to lower the blood sugar level. Seeds are used in burning sensation, fever and headaches. It is also used in diarrhea and dysentery. In breaking and expulsion of kidney stones,
Nourish genital system so as to enable even an old person to enjoy his sexual life like a young person. To enhance the strength of body. It can nourish each and every cell of the body and it is due to this property that it is useful in emaciation and malnutrition conditions.
Used in the following MATXIN product: