sthulgokshura :

Pedalium murex (P. murex) is a member of the sesame family, Pedaliaceae. It is found in different parts of the world such as tropical Africa, Srilanka, India, Mexico and Pakistan. In India, it occurs mainly in the Western and Corommandal coasts as a weed of waste places and is generally called under the Hindi name “Gokhru or gokhar” and in Sanskrit as “gaja-daunstraka, gokshura or tittagokshura”[1, 2]. Its names vary from one region to another ranging from North to South and from East to West part of the country. It is also called in Kannada (doddaneggilu), Malayalam (motha-malvi-gokharu), Tamil (Ananerinnil), Marathi (Gokhara), Gujarati (Gokhura), Oriya (Yanai nerunjil), Arabic (Khasake kabir), Burmese (Sulegi), Singapore (Ati neranchi), Persian (Khasake Kalan).

Taxonomical Classification

Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Family: Pedaliaceae
Genus: Pedalium
Species: Pedalium murex

VERNACULAR NAMES

Sanskrit: Tiktagokshura, Stoolagokshura
English: Large caltrops
Hindi: Bada gokhru
Malayalam: Kattunjerinjil

Synonyms

Synonyms in Ayurveda: sthulagokshura, tiktagokshura

Rasa: Madhura Tikta
Guna: Guru
Veerya: Sheetha

Traditionally, P. murex was utilized in various ways, either as a whole plant or individual plant parts or sometimes in different special preparations. The leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Leaves and branches, when briskly stirred in cold water yield thick mucilage similar to the white of a raw egg are reported to possess significant medicinal properties[11]. According to Ayurveda, P. murex is mainly used as tonic, aphrodisiac, improves appetite and useful in strangury, urinary discharges, vesicular calculi, cough, asthma, pain, cures skin diseases and heart troubles, piles and leprosy. It purifies blood, removes stone in the bladder. According to Unani system of medicine, it is used as diuretic, cures strangury, gleet, lumbago, tonic, enriches blood, increases mensural flow, good gargles for mouth troubles and painful gums, stomachic, appetizer, emmenagogue etc[12-14]. An infusion prepared from the plant is a highly prized remedy amongst the people of Southern India in the treatment of gonorrhaea and dysuria. It is also given as a remedy for spermatorrhoea, incontinence of urine and impotency

Parts used for medicinal purpose

Whole plant, ,

Morphology:

P. murex is a shrubby herb having a stiff-stemmed[5]. It is a diffuse annual, much branched, spreading, succulent, glandular plant up to 50 cm tall. Leaves alternate, repandangulate, flower axillary, pedicel with a pair of yellow glands[30]. The plant is classified and placed taxonomically under the Kingdom- plantea, division- magnoliophyta, class- magnoliopsida, order- lamiales, familypedaliaceae, genus- Pedalium L. Microscopic studies of the leaf of P. murex showed prominent midrib, slightly thicker lateral veins, uniformely thick lamina with smooth surface, spindle shaped thin walled epidermal cell, flat petiole with slight concavity on the adaxial, glandular type of trichomes on both abaxial and adaxial sides, reticulate venation with thick and straight veins and anisocytic type stomata was found to present in the abaxial surface[40]. Generally there are more than hundred species present and they differ taxonomically from each other in various ways. Among the subtypes of longitudinal dehiscence, latrorse type is most common found in 114 species, followed by extrorse and introrse types in 49 and 28 taxa respectively. The poricidal anther types were specific for only few genera such as Pedalium[

Geographical distribution:

Pedalium murex. It is distributed in India, Sri Lanka and Tropical Africa.

Africa

NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Djibouti, Somalia
EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya, Tanzania
WEST TROPICAL AFRICA: Ghana, Nigeria, Togo
SOUTH TROPICAL AFRICA: Mozambique
WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN: Comoros, Madagascar

Asia-Temperate

ARABIAN PENINSULA: Yemen

Asia-Tropical

INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India, Sri Lanka

General Use:

Traditionally, P. murex was utilized in various ways, either as a whole plant or individual plant parts or sometimes in different special preparations. The leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Leaves and branches, when briskly stirred in cold water yield thick mucilage similar to the white of a raw egg are reported to possess significant medicinal properties[11]. According to Ayurveda, P. murex is mainly used as tonic, aphrodisiac, improves appetite and useful in strangury, urinary discharges, vesicular calculi, cough, asthma, pain, cures skin diseases and heart troubles, piles and leprosy. It purifies blood, removes stone in the bladder. According to Unani system of medicine, it is used as diuretic, cures strangury, gleet, lumbago, tonic, enriches blood, increases mensural flow, good gargles for mouth troubles and painful gums, stomachic, appetizer, emmenagogue etc[12-14]. An infusion prepared from the plant is a highly prized remedy amongst the people of Southern India in the treatment of gonorrhaea and dysuria. It is also given as a remedy for spermatorrhoea, incontinence of urine and impotency

Therapeutic Uses:

Plant pacifies vitiated vata, pitta, urinary retention, kidney stone, seminal weakness, amenorrhea, inflammation, flatulence and fever.

Toxicity studies:

The acute toxicity studies of the P. murex plant were reported to be safe up to the dose level of 2 260 mg/kg, p.o. in mice. The study were performed on the male Swiss albino mice (20-25 g) which was orally administered with ethanolic extract of P. murex and observed for any symptoms of toxicity for 48 h as per CPCSEA guidelines. LD50 were estimated by Karber’s method and were reported to be 2 260 mg/kg, p.o. Based on these results, the dosages for further pharmacological study were fixed at 250 mg/kg, p.o.[54]. Administration of alcoholic extracts of P. murex orally to male Swiss albino mice produced no observable side effects up to 2 260 mg/kg, p.o. body weight even after 48 h of observation[9]. An acute toxicity study of P. murex mucilage showed no manifestations of toxic syndromes and has been found to be safe. (LD50 > 2 000 mg /kg)[