उपचित्रा – Baliospermum montanum

 

Name – लघुदन्ती

Botanical name – Baliospermum montanum

Description – Erect sub-herbaceous leafy shrub, 1-2 m high; leaves alternate, simple, petiole stout, stipules glandular, lower ones 15-30 cm long while upper ones 5.0-7.5 cm in length, oiglandular at base, rigid, ribs prominent; racemes 0.4 cm, may contain only male flowers or a few female flowers too; florets small, subsessile; capsules trilobed, 0.8-1.25 cm long; seeds mottled and endosperm oily.

Chemical Constituents- Root: montanin, baliospermin, 12-deoxyphorbol and 12-deoxy-16-OH phorbol, 5 new phorbol esters and tigliane.

Use – Seeds are a drastic purgative. Seed oil used as a powerful hydrogogue, cathartic; also used externally in rheumatism. Root purgative.