Botanical name: Abrus precatorius L. (Family
Fabaceae)
Local names: Cam thao day, day chi chi, cuom thao,
tuong tu dang.
English names: Jequirity, Indian liquorice, wild
liquorice, crab-eye vine, coral pea, prayer beads, rosary pea.
Description:
Abrus precatorius L. is a
deciduous dextrose climber with slender flexible branches. Leaves peripinnate,
5-10 cm long; leaflets 20-40, ligulate-oblong 1-1.6 cm long. Racemes
many-flowered, crowded, usually shorter than the leaves. Corolla white, 3-4
times the calyx c. 2 mm. Pods oblong, turgid, 2.5-3.7 cm long. Seeds small,
ovoid, bright scarlet with a black spot at the hilum.
Flowering period:
June - August.
Distribution: Grows wild in mountainous regions;
also cultivated.
Parts used:
The roots, leaves and
stem are collected in autumn during the flowering period. They are used fresh
or dried. The seeds are toxic and only used externally.
Chemical composition:
Seeds contain two
lectins, abrin-a and abrin-b, indole alkaloids and anthocyanins. Three toxins,
abrin I, II, and III, and agglutinins have been isolated from seeds. Seeds also
contain the alkaloids abrine, hypaphorine, trigonelline and choline; flavons,
abrectorin and aknone; gallic acid, keto steroid P-sterone, other steroids,
abricin, abridin and cholesterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, terpenoids,
squalene and urease enzyme.
It also contains
amino acids - alanine, serine & valine. Leaves contain glycyrrhizin and
abrins. Roots also contain glycyrrhizin, an acid resin, precol, abrol;
alkaloids, abrasine and precasine, and isoflavaquinones, abrusquinone A, B and
C and also polysaccharides. A saturated alcohol and pinitol have been isolated
from waxy material of leaves (Ghani, 2003; Rastogi & Mehrotra, 1990 &
93).
Therapeutic uses:
The roots, the stem
and the leaves are effective in the treatment of coryza, cough, fever, jaundice
resulting from viral hepatitis, and intoxications. They are used as an
edulcorating agent in composite recipes. The daily dose is 8 to 16g in the form
of a decoction. The seeds, very toxic, are applied externally in an antiseptic
and anti-inflammatory poultice to accelerate the bursting of boils and to cure
mastitis and galactophoritis.
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