Euryale ferox Salisb.

Euryale ferox Salisb.

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Latin Name: Euryale ferox Salisb.

Family: Nymphaeaceae; Genus: Euryale

Synonym Name: Anneslea spinosa Andrews; Euryale indica Planch.

English Name: Gordon Euryale, Stachelige Euryale, Prickly waterlily, Fox nut, Foxnut, Gorgon nut or makhana.

Chinese name: 芡实 qian shi

Vietnamese name: Khiếm thực

Description: Submerged leaves not prickly; leaf blade sagittate or elliptic, 4--10 cm, base deeply cordate. Floating leaves prickly on petioles and along veins; leaf blade abaxially dark purple and adaxially green, to 1.3(--2.7) m in diam., subleathery, abaxially sparsely pubescent, adaxially glabrous, base emarginate or sinuate; veins abaxially strongly ribbed; primary veins prickly on both surfaces. Flower to 5 cm in diam. Peduncle stout, densely prickly. Sepals triangular-ovate, 1--1.5(--3) cm, abaxially dense-ly prickly; prickles retrorse. Petals outer purple-violet fading to inner white, oblong-lanceolate, 1(--2.5) cm. Ovary 7--16-loculed, each locule with 6--8 or more ovules. Fruit dark purple, globose, 5--10 cm in diam., spongy, densely prickly. Seeds black, 8 to many, globose, 6--10 mm in diam.; testa thick, rigid. Flowering in July to August, fruiting in August to September.

Distribution: Growing in paddy fields or ponds. Distributed in provinces in central and southern parts of China. The medicinal materials are mainly produced in Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei.

Cultivation Details: A plant of the subtropics and tropics. This species is not very cold hardy.

A water plant, it requires a rich soil, preferably growing in still water. It can be grown in still or slowly flowing water up to 5 metres deep. Individual plants require about 0.75 cubic metres of root run

Part Used: Medical part: roots, leaves, anthocaulus and kernel. Chinese name: roots: Qianshigen. Leaves: Qianshiye. Anthocaulus: Qianshijing. Kernel: Qianshi.

Harvest & Processing: Roots: harvested from Sept-Oct, and sun-dried. Leaves: harvested in June-August, and sun-dried. Anthocaulus: harvested from July to September, and sun-dried. Kernel: harvested when fruits mature from Sept-Oct and dried in the shade.

Chemistry: Roots: contain sterols, such as 24-methylcholest-5-enyl-3β-O-pyranoglucoside and daucoste-rol. Kernel contains starch, protein, and fat.

Seed: protocatechuic acid, gallic acid, gallic acid ethyl ester, 5 ,7-dihydroxychromone, β-sitosterol, daucosterol, and 5,7-dihydroxy-6,4'-dimethoxyflavone.

Pharmacology: Antioxidant activity, antidepressant effects.

Properties & Actions: Root: salt, sweet, neutral. Leaves: bitter, sweet, neutral. Flower stem: salt, sweet, neutral. Seed nut: sweet, harsh, neutral. Roots: dissipating binds for suppressing pains and stopping leukorrhagia. Leaves: promoting qi-flowing and harmonizing the blood, dispelling stasis and relieving hemorrhage. Anthocaulus: clearing deficient-heat, engendering liquid. Kernel: securing the kidney and astringing essence and nourishing spleen for stopping diarrhea.

Indications & Usage: Root: hernia pain, unknown pyogenic infections, leucorrhea, Leaves: hematemesis, hemafecia. Scape: thirst due to asthenic fever, dry mouth and throat. Kernel: emissions, stranguria with turbid urine, whitish and turbid urine, dripping urine, leukorrhea, loose stools. Roots: oral administration: decocting, 30-60g; or cooked. External application: smashed for applying. Leaves: oral administration: decocting, 9-15g; or burnt preserving nature, powdered, administered after dissolved. Anthocaulus: oral administration: decocting, 15-30g. Kernel: oral administration: decocting, 15-30g; or made as pills or powders. Use with caution in cases of food detention; not use in those with adverse urine.

Examples      

1. Leucorrhea, splenic and renal deficiency, whitish and turbid urine: gordon euryale fruit 250g, stew with chicken and eat.

2. Promoting afterbirth and stopping hemorrhage: gordon euryale fruit leaf 1 piece, burn ash swallow with boiled water or mix with liquor and swallow.

Edible Uses:

Fruit. Soft and pulpy, it is about the size of a small orange. It is highly esteemed in China as a cooling tonic food.

Seed: fresh or dried. The black seed is about the size of a pea, each fruit containing from 8 to 15 seeds. The seed is usually roasted and then eaten. It is also used as a source of starch, furnishing a light food for invalids which is similar to arrowroot. A nutritional analysis is available. Very young stalks and rhizomes. Rich in starch.

References

- Chinese Medicinal Material Images Database

- efloras.org

- Theplantlist

- Sun HL, Zhang YQ, Xie XY, Che YY, Studies on chemical constituents from seeds of Euryale ferox; Zhong Yao Cai. 2014 Nov;37(11):2019-21.

- Lee SE1, Ju EM, Kim JH.; Antioxidant activity of extracts from Euryale ferox seed; Exp Mol Med. 2002 May 31;34(2):100-6.

- Zhiheng Huang  Xiaoyan Huang  Qian Wang  Ruizhi Jiang  Guangda Sun  Yiming Xu  Qinan Wu; Extract of Euryale ferox Salisb exerts antidepressant effects and regulates autophagy through the adenosine monophosphate‐activated protein kinase—UNC‐51‐like kinase 1 pathway; IUBMB journals, Volume70, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 300-309