Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family   

   MH454 : Argemone ochroleuca Sweet

Plant Category : Herbs

Melghat's Flora's Serial No. :

Synonym : Argemone mexicana var. ochroleuca (Sweet) Lindl.;

Plant Common Name : White thistle, Biniguy thistle, Pale Mexican pricklypoppy, Bharbhar, Satyanashi

Plant Family : Papaveraceae

Description : An erect annual or shortlived perennial herb, thistle-like about 15-75 cm tall, with yellow lactiferous fluid. Stem short, whitish purple or violaceous, glabrous, armed with 1-10 slightly reflexed, fulvous prickles. Leaves bluish green, divaricately branched and spinescent, pinnatifid, semi-amplexicual, oblanceolate, sinuate-lobulate, about 5-20 x 2.5-8 cm across, middle and upper leaves oblong elliptic, sinuate-pinnatifid, lower leaves in rosette, cauline leaves alternate, margins inciso-dentate with spiny prickles, each tooth ending in a sharp prickle, glabrous, prominent light coloured midrib and lateral veins above, lateral veins prominent on the midrib, glaucous with prickly spines beneath, petiole sessile. Flowers bisexual, solitary, axillary or terminal, white, cream or pale greenish yellow, about 2.5-3.5 cm across, pedicel very short, with 2-3 leaflike bracts, buds spherical, erect sparingly spiny, sepals 3, caducous, elliptic, about 8-12 x 5-17 mm across, horned about 6-9 mm across below apex, petals 6, deciduous, imbricate, obovate-oblong, cuneiform, crumpled, white, cream or pale greenish yellow, about 2-3 x 1.5-1.8 cm across. Stamens many, free, about 8-10 mm long, filaments filiform, light greenish yellow, anthers oblong, bright yellow, about 1.5-2 mm long. Ovary obovoid or ellipsoid, with soft young spines, about 8-16 x 3-6 mm across, stigmatic distintly spreading, divergent and not appressed. Fruits are capsules, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous with about 12-26 spines about 5-10 mm long, about 1-4 x 0.5-1.6 cm across, seeds numerous, spherical, black, glossy, suborbiculate, about 1.5-2 mm across.

Plant Location in Melghat :

Medicinal Use / Activity : The whole plant is analgesic, antispasmodic, depurative, emetic, emmenagogue, possibly hallucinogenic, sedative and vulnerary. It has been used in the treatment of cancer and epilepsy. A decoction of the leaves is drunk as a treatment for ailments of the spleen and liver, and for jaundice or whooping cough. An infusion of the young leaves or flowers is taken to relieve fever, cough and asthma. The latex is slighly corrosive, diuretc. It has been taken internally in the treatment of dropsy and jaundice. The fresh yellow, milky, acrid sap contains protein-dissolving substances and has been used topically in the treatment of warts, cold sores, cutaneous affections, skin diseases, itches etc, and has been rubbed onto the body for the relief of rheumatic pain. The root is alterative and has been used in the treatment of chronic skin diseases. The flowers are expectorant and narcotic. The seed is antidote, cathartic, demulcent, emetic, expectorant and laxative. An infusion, in small quantities, is used as a sedative for children, but caution is advised since the oil in the seed is strongly purgative. They are useful in the treatment of coughs and catarrhal affections of the throat and pulmonary mucous membrane, and in pertussis and asthma. Though they do not appear to possess any antispasmodic property, they have a distinct effect on asthma, apparently from their combined actions as nauseant, emetic, expectorant and demulcent. As their use is often accompanied by some degree of vomiting and nausea, as a laxative medicine they are more suited to some pulmonary affections than to other diseases. The seed has also been used as an antidote to snake poisoning.

Plant's Phytochemicals : COMPOUNDS: Reticuline; Reticuline; Alocriptopine; Sanguinarine; Queleritrine; Protopine; Alocryptopine; (-)- Canadine; (+)-Tetrahidropalmatine; Queilantifoline; Stylopine; Berberine; Coptisine;

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (0):

Plant's Current Status :

Plant's Cross Database Reference : 259142

Reference : Prabha Y. Bhogaonkar and Pankaj A. Dhole; "Checklist of Flora of Melghat"; Chief Conservator of Forest & Field Director, Melghat Tiger Project, Camp, Amravati (2018 - 2019); Book

Reference : ~ Prabha Y. Bhogaonkar and Pankaj A. Dhole; "Checklist of Flora of Melghat"; Chief Conservator of Forest & Field Director, Melghat Tiger Project, Camp, Amravati (2018 - 2019); Book PMID :

Kingdom : Plantae - Plants
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Order : Papaverales
Family : Papaveraceae - Poppy family
Genus : Argemone L. - pricklypopp
Species : Argemone ochroleuca Sweet - pale Mexican pricklypoppy

Argemone ochroleuca Sweet - pale Mexican pricklypoppy
Argemone ochroleuca Sweet - pale Mexican pricklypoppy
Argemone ochroleuca Sweet - pale Mexican pricklypoppy