PURGING CROTON Croton tiglium
Euphorbiaceae
San: Jepalah, Dantibijah Hin: Jamalgota Ben: Jaypal Mal: Nirvalam
Tam: Nervalam, Sevalamkottai Tel: Nepala
Importance
Purging croton or croton oil plant, a small evergreen tree with separate male and female
flowers, is one among the seven poisons described in Ayurveda. The drug is well known for its drastic
purgative property. The drug is found to be useful in ascites, anasarca, cold, cough, asthma,
constipation, calculus, dropsy, fever and enlargement of the abdominal viscera. The seed paste is a
good application for skin diseases, painful swellings and alopacia. The seed-oil is useful in chronic
bronchitis, laryngeal affections, arthritis and lock jaw. Misraka-sneham is an important preparation
using the drug (Nadkarni, 1954; Dey, 1980; Sharma, 1983).
Distribution
It is distributed throughout North India. It is cultivated in Assam, West Bengal and South
India.
Botany
Croton tiglium Linn. belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. It is a small evergreen tree, 4.5-
6.0m in height with ash coloured smooth bark and young shoots sprinkled with stellate hairs. Leaves
are oblong to ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or rounded at the 2-glanded box, acuminate, membraneous,
yellowish green and minutely toothed. Flowers are small, unisexual, males on slender pedicels,
females larger and on short thick pedicels. Fruits are ovoid or oblong trigonous capsules. Seeds are
smooth, testa black and enclosing reddish brown oily endosperm (Warrier et al,1994). Other species
belonging to the genus Croton are as follows:
C. aromaticus Linn.
C. caudatus Geisel
C. jouera Roxb.
C. malabaricus Bedd.
C. oblongifolius Roxb.
C. polyandrus Roxb. syn. Baliospermum montanum Muell-Arg.
C. reticulatus(Chopra et al, 1980)
Agrotechnology
The plant is propagated by seeds. Seeds are to be sown on seedbeds and about 2 months old
seedlings are used for transplanting. Pits of size 50cm cube are to be taken at 3m spacing and filled
with dried cowdung, sand and topsoil and formed into a mound. The seedlings are to be planted on
these mounds. Irrigation during summer months is beneficial. Application of organic manure after
every 6 months is desirable. Weeding is to be carried out one month after transplanting. The plant is
not attacked by any serious pests or diseases. Fruits are formed at the end of first year. Fruits when
ripen and start to crack are to be collected, dried in sun, then the outer shell is removed and again
dried for one day before marketing (Prasad et al,1997).
Properties and activity
Oil contains phorbol myristate acetate ( Husain et al, 1992). Seeds contain upto 20% protein
and 30-50% lipids. Iso-guanine-D-ribose (crotoniside) and saccharose were isolated from the seeds. In
fractionation of croton oil, liquid-liquid distribution procedures proved to be the separation tools of
choice. The per hydrogenated parent hydrocarbon of phorbol is a perhydrocyclopropabenzulene
called tigliane and phorbol is 1, 1aα, 1bβ, 4, 4a, 7aα, 7b, 8, 9, 9a-decahydro-4aβ, 7α, 9β, 9aα-
tetrahydroxy- 3 - (hydroxymethyl)-1, 1, 6, 8α tetramethyl- 5 - H-cyclopropa[3,4] benz [1.2-e]azulen- 5 -
one. Phorbol, a tetracylic diterpene with a 5, 7, 6 and 3- membered ring has 6 oxygen functions.
Phorbol accounts for 3.4% and 4- deoxy- 4 α- phorbol for 0.29% of the weight of croton oil. Twenty-
five phorbol-12, 13-diesters have been detected (Hecker et al, 1974). A toxin croton 1, mol. wt
72,000 has been isolated from the seeds (Lin et al, 1978).
Phorbol myristate acetate activates nitroblue tetrazolium reduction in human polymorphs.
Seed and oil is purgative, rubefacient and anti-dote for snakebite. The seeds and oil are acrid, bitter,
thermogenic, emollient, drastic purgative, digestive, carminative, anthelmintic, antiinflammatory,
vermifuge, deterent, diaphoretic, expectorant, vesicant, irritant and rubefacient.