Tanduliyak ( Amaranthus spinosus)
This plant is commonly known as chaulai in Hindi and thorny amaranth in English. It belongs to family Amaranthaceae.
It is a plant native to the tropical Americas, but is present on most continents as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed. It can be a serious weed of rice cultivation in Asia.
Plant description: It is an annual herb with sometimes red tinged erect stems, ascending, 30-150 cm long, usually branched. Leaves ovate to rhombic-ovate, elliptic, lanceolate-oblong, or lanceolate, blades 1-12 cm long, 0.89-6 cm wide, smooth, leaf stalk 1-9 cm long. Flowers green, in axillary clusters in the lower part of the plant and in unbranched or branched spikes in the upper part, the lower clusters entirely without stamens as are the lower flowers of the spikes, the upper flowers in the spikes staminate. Plant is usually densely flowered. Flowers approximately 0.1 cm long, short, bracteate, seeds very small, black, shining. Seeds mature about one month after flowering. They are scattered around the mother plants or distributed by animals feeding on the plants.
Ayurvedic pharmacology: Rasa- Tikta, Kashaya Guna- Laghu, Ruksha Veerya- Sheeta Dosha Karma- Pittakapha Shaamak
Chemical composition: Roots contain alpha-spinasterol, a-spinasterol octanosanoate, saponin of oleanolic acid and saponins of a-spinasterol. Petroleum ether extract of whole plant contains n-alkanes, free alcohols, sterols, and fatty acids. Leaves and stems contain hentriacontane and alpha-spinastesrol.
Therapeutically useful parts: Whole plant, roots and leaf
Therapeutic uses: Whole plant poultice applied to swollen inflamed lymph nodes, on abscesses to hasten suppuration and to treat whitlow. Decoction of leaves is used for mouth-wash for mouth ulcers and toothache. Root decoction is used in gonorrhoea and colics. Leaf decoction is used as enema, in stomach troubles and piles. Leaf-infusion is diuretic. Pollen-extract is used in allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis. It is a very potent drug for the treatment of leucorrhoea and menorrhagia. Decoction of leaves and roots is given to the children as laxative.
Dr. Pratibha Mamgain,
Department of Ayurvedic Medicine
