Sarcostemma acidum Voigt

Sarcostemma acidum Voigt, Hort. Suburb. Calcutt. 542 (1845).

(Sarcostemma acidum (Roxburgh) Voigt; Photos Toan Tran)

Vietnamese name: Tiết căn, Dây không lá

Chinese name: 肉珊瑚 rou shan hu

Common Names: Kannada Hambukalli, Palmakasturi, Moon Plant, Somalatha, Soma, Somalata, Somavalli, Somamum, Kondapala, Moon Creeper, Kotikkalli, Somam

Latin Name: Sarcostemma acidum (Roxburgh) Voigt

Synonym Name: Asclepias acida Roxburgh; Sarcostemma brevistigma Wight & Arnott.

Family: Asclepiadaceae

Description: Stems to 2 m, twining, green or gray, glabrous. Cymes terminal or extra-axillary, 6-15-flowered, ca. 1 × 2 cm. Pedicel 3-5 mm, puberulent. Sepals ovate, ca. 1 mm, puberulent, margin translucent. Corolla white or yellowish; lobes ovate- oblong or oblong-lanceolate, ca. 3 × 1 mm, glabrous. Outer corona shallowly cupular, inner lobes obtuse, slightly shorter than or as long as anthers. Pollinia caudicles ± horizontal, retinaculum subelliptic. Stigma head shorter than anther appendages. Follicles lanceolate in outline, terete, ca. 15 × 1 cm. Seeds broadly ovate, ca. 3 × 2 mm; coma ca. 2 cm. Flowering. Mar-Nov. 2n = 22..

Distribution: It is found in China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam. 

Ecological: Grows in open sun light on rocky sandy soil in arid and semi-arid areas with low rainfall.  The conditions of shade and high moisture is preferable.

Chemistry: Malic acid, Succinic acid, Reducing sugar-sucrose, Traces of tannin, Alkaloids, Phytosterols, Alpha & beta amyrins, Lupeol & lupeol acetate, Beta sitosterol. Chemical constituents of Sarcostimma acidum growing in China – Lignans- Sacidumlignan-A, Sacidumlignan-B, Sacidumlignan-C, Sacidumlignan-D, Degraded lignans derivative- Sacidumol-A, Sacidumol-B, (+)- Pinoresinol, 9 alpha hydroxyl pinoresinol, Perforatic acid, Peucenin -7 O methyl ether. Sarcidumitol (2,6 dideoxy- disacchariditol)

Pharmacology: Antifertility, anti-microbial and in vitro anti- inflammatory

Uses: Root acts as antidote for snake-bite and rabid dog bites, mental diseases, sinusitis and rhinitis

Reference:

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org

- Agro-techniques of Selected Medicinal Plants

- Bhavesh Kumar Dave, Ronak Dhirawat, Mukesh Kumawat; Pharmacognostical Study of a Medicinal Plant of India – Sarcostemma acidum; International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemical Research 2014-15; 6(4); 690-697