Medicinal Plants : Achyranthes aspera

Name

Rough Chaff Tree

Biological Name

Achyranthes aspera Family: Amarantaceae

Other Names

Rough Chaff Tree, Prickly Chaff Flower, Apamarga, Apamara, Adharajhada, Aghada, Aghata, Antisha, Apamarga, Apamargamu, Apang, Atkumah, Chirchira, Duk.-Agari, Kadaladi, Katalati, Kharamanjari, Khare-vazhun, Kune-la- mon, Kutri, Latjira, Nayuruvi, Pan- dhara-aghada, Safed hedo, Shiru-kidaladi, Uttaraene, Uttaranee

Parts Used

Herb, leaves, seeds and root

Constituents

The fruit contains a large percentage of alkaline ash containing potash.

Remedies For

Astringent, alterative and antiperiodic, antibilious, diuretic, expectorant, purgative

Dosage

Infusion: Pour a cup of boiling water onto l-2 teaspoonfuls of the dried herb and leave to infuse for l0-l5 minutes. This should be drunk hot three times a day. When feverish it should be drunk hourly.

Tincture: take 2-4ml of the tincture three times a day.For Renal Dropsies

Make a decoction by adding 2 oz. of the plant to 1.5 pints of water. Boil for 20 - 30 minutes. Strain. This is a good diuretic. Useful for renal dropsies.

Dose: one to two ounces of the mixture two or three times daily.

For stomach ache and bowel complaints, piles, boils, skin eruptions etc.

Use the leaf juice.

For diarrhea and dysentery

A decoction of powdered leaves with honey or sugar candy is useful in the early stages of diarrhea and dysentery.

For Fevers

Grind fresh leaves into a paste. Mix it with jaggery or black pepper and garlic. Form it into pills. This is a good antiperiodic especially in quartan fevers.

For dropsies such as ascites, anasarca

Mix the ashes from the roots of the herb with water and jaggery. This is said to cure dropsies such as ascites, anasarca etc.

For Cough

A pinch of the root-powder with a pinch of pepper powder and honey is a remedy for cough.

For bites of poisonous insects, wasps, bees etc

Rub the leaves into a paste with water. Apply this into the affected area.

Grind the flowering spikes of the seeds into a paste with water. Apply externally to the affected region for bites of poisonous snakes and reptiles.

For syphilitic sores

Extract fresh juice from the leaves. Thicken the juice by evaporating by exposing to the sun. Mix it with a little opium. Apply to primary syphilitic sores.

Miscellaneous

Payasam or Kheer made of seeds in milk is a good remedy for brain diseases.

An Infusion of the root is a mild astringent useful in bowel complaints.

Seeds are used as an expectorant, or mixed with rice water for bleeding hemorrhoids.

Seed soaked in buttermilk during the night and ground into an emulsion the next morning is a cure for biliousness.

Apply

Leaf juice applied to skin for overexposure to the sun. Leaves or seeds are used for poisonous animal bites.

Safety

Do not use while pregnant. Taken in large doses, it (especially the leaf juice) induces abortion or labor pains.