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Andara |
| Synonyms: Calliea cinerea Macb. | |
| Vernacular Name: Sinhala: Andara; Hin: Vurttuli, Kheri, Tam: Vitattalai, Vetattala, | |
| Description:
A profusely branched thorny shrub or small tree upto 2 m in
heighbranches and branchiets armed with spiny tips; bark grey or light brown coloured, furrowed; leaves bipinnate, alternate, the main rachis often downy or softly pubescent with a small stipitate erect gland between each pair of pinnae, leaflets numerous, 10-20 pairs, sessile andclose- set, linear or strap-shaped, oblique at base, subacute or acute; flowers numerous, minute, pink, yellow or red, sessile, polygamous, dimorphous in dense axillary or extra-axillary spikes, stamens of the perfect flower in the upper half of the spike yellow, the stamiñoides in the lower half red and much longer than the perfect stamens; fruits glabrous, dark brown,subauriculated coriaceous pods, twisted when mature; seeds ovoid to obovoid. compressed. |
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| Propagation: By seeds and vegetative method. | |
| Parts Used: Roots, tender shoots. | |
| Chemical Constituents: Tannin. | |
| Uses: The roots are bitter, astringent, acrid, thermogenic, anti-inflammatory, anodyne, digestive, constipating, lithontriptic and diuretic, and are useful in vitiated conditions of kapha and vata, inflammation, arthralgia. elephantiasis, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, vesical calculi, strangury, nephropathy, vaginopathy and metropathy. The tender shoots are useful in opthalmia. | |
