Root - Specimen details
| 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. | ||||