PDR for Herbal Medicines

HERBAL MONOGRAPHS ACACIA/3

Abelmoschus moschatus

See Muskmallow

Abies alba

See White Fir

Abrus precatorius

See Jequirity

Abscess Root

Polemonium rep tans

DESCRIPTION

Medicinal Parts: The medicinal part is the dried root.

Flower and Fruit: The hanging blue flowers are in loose

^^ terminal, glandular-haired panicles.

Leaves, Stem and Root: The plant grows to about 25 cm. It

has creeping roots and a thin rhizome, which produces

numerous stems and numerous pale, thin, glabrous and

brittle roots. The glabrous stems are heavily branched and

bear alternate or opposite, pinnatifid leaves with 6 or 7 pairs

of leaflets.

Habitat: The plant is found in the U.S.

Production: Abscess Root is the rhizome of Polemonium

reptans.

Not to be Confused With: The plant is known as False

Jacob's Ladder because it has an astringent action similar to

true Jacob's Ladder.

Other Names: American Greek Valerian, Blue Bells, False

Jacob's Ladder, Sweatroot

ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY
gL COMPOUNDS
Triterpene saponins

EFFECTS

Abscess root has astringent, diaphoretic and expectorant

effects.

INDICATIONS AND USAGE

Unproven Uses: The drug is used for febrile and inflammato-

ry disorders.

PRECAUTIONS AND ADVERSE REACTIONS

No health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction

with the proper administration of designated therapeutic

dosages.

DOSAGE

Mode of Administration: It is ground as a drug for infusion.

LITERATURE

Hegnauer R, Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen, Bde 1-11,

Birkhauser Verlag Basel, Boston, Berlin 1962-1997.

Acacia

Acacia arabica

DESCRIPTION

Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the bark, the gum

and the fruit of the plant.

Flower and Fruit: The flowers are yellow and sweetly

scented. Two to 6 inflorescence peduncles with capitula-like

inflorescences grow from the axils of the upper leaflets. The

flowers have short calyces with numerous overlapping

sepals. The completely fused petals are almost twice as large

as the sepals. The fruit is a 12 to 16 cm long and 1.5 cm wide

pod. The pod is straight or lightly curved, flat to convex, and

pinched in to create segments. It is matte-black to dark-red.

The seeds are 7 x 6 mm and the same color as the pod.

Leaves, Stem and Root: Acacia arabica is a 6 m high tree

with a compact, round to flat crown. Older branches are bare,

younger ones measuring 15 to 20 mm in diameter are

covered in hairy down. The bark is black and fissured; the

coloring in the fissure changes to red-brown. There are

stipule thorns at the nodes. The leaflets of the double-pinnate

leaves are in 3 to 12 pairs on the bare to downy petiole,

which is covered with glands The leaflets are oblong, blunt,

and bare or thinly ciliate.

Habitat: The plant is indigenous to the Nile area, Ethiopia,

East Africa, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Arabia,

Iran, Afghanistan and India.

Production: The bark is collected from plants that are at least

7 years old and then left to mature for a year.

Not to be Confused With: The bark of the Australian species

Acacia decurrens, which is commercially available under the

same name.

Other Names: Acacia Bark, Babul Bark, Wattle Bark, Indian

Gum, Black Wattle

ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY

COMPOUNDS

Tannins