 |
| Latin Name |
English Name |
Sanskrit Names |
Hindi Names |
Asparagus adscendens
Roxb. (Asparagaceae
/ Liliaceae)
|
Asparagus |
Shreta musli,
Sufed musli |
Safed musli,
Khairuva |
|
| History |
The tuberous
roots are pickled in Kumaun. The young shoots are eaten as a
vegetable.
|
|
|
| Habitat |
It
grows in the western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh, and Kumaun
up to an altitude of 1,500 meters.
|
|
|
| Morphology
Description (Habit) |
It is a sub-erect,
prickly shrub with white tuberous roots. Stem is sub-erect, terete
and smooth. Branchlets are ascending, grooved and angled. Angles are
minutely scabrid. Spines are 1.5 cm long, stout and straight. Cladodes
are dense, slender, filiform, terete, soft and sub-erect or curved.
Racemes are many flowered. Perianth segments are spreading. The berry
is one seeded.
|
|
| Principal
Constituents |
Steroidal glycosides
were identified1. Several compounds like 3-heptadecanone,
8-hexadecenoic acid, methyl pentacosanoate, palmitic acid, stearic
acid were identified2.
|
|
| Toxicology |
There is no adverse
effect reported on usage of this plant.
|
| Indications |
The tuberous roots
are used as tonic and said to be useful in general debility.
|
|
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