Root - Specimen details

Root - Specimen details

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Catalogue Number: 51899

No Image
Plant Name 88.00 COMPOSITAE Centaurea behen Entry Book Number
Artefact Name Root Vernacular Name
Iso Country India TDWG Region India
Parts Held Root Geography Description India
Uses RootUse: MEDICINES - Genitourinary System Disorders User: Not defined TDWG use MEDICINES - Genitourinary System Disorders
Storage Bottles, boxes etc Related Items
Donor Pharm Soc GB Donor No 25 E 5
Donor Date Donor Notes
Collector Collector No
Collection Notes Collection Date
Exhibition Expedition
Number Components Publication
Notes: Label source: The dry root is of a whitish brown colour, much shrivelled and twisted; near the crown it is marked by numerous circular lines. It may be either a simple tapering root or more or less branched; sometimes a portion of purplish stem remains a, ttached; the average length is about 2 1/2 inches, diameter 3/4 of an inch ; the interior is white and spongy; when soaked in water it swells and becomes mucilaginous. The taste is mucilaginous and slightly bitter. Microscopic examination shows that behen, contains no starch. The parenchyma appears to consist almost entirely of muscilage cells. There are numerous large bundles of spiral vessels. This drug has been confounded with Ashva-gandha the root of Physalis somnifera, by Ainslie. It is imported into, Bombay from the Persian Gulf in considerable quantities, and is always to be found in the shops. The Hakeems prescribe it largely; they consider it purifies the blood, fattens the body, and generally increases virile power.

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