Description :
Grows abundantly in India, particularly in Deccan, Malabar, and the Punjab. It is a thorny herb spreading on the ground, flowers are purple and berries turns yellow when they matured.

Parts Used : Aerial part

Taste : Bitterness

Action :
Aperient, pungent, digestive, alterative

Uses :
Roots are one of the constituents of "Dashmul Asava." The plant is useful in fever, cough, asthma, costiveness.

Dosage :
1/2 teaspoon before breakfast mixed with hot water.

How to Use :
In the Konkan, two tolas of the juice of the fresh plant with two tolas of Hemidesmus juice are given in whey as a diuretic, and the root with chiretta and ginger is given ( decoction ) as a febrifuge. The root beaten up and mixed with wine is given to check vomiting. The juice of the berries is useful in sorethroat. A decoction of the plant is used in gonorrhoea. Fine powder of this fruit with honey is given for chronic coughs in children. The decoction of the root with Tinospora cordifolia is used as a tonic in fever and cough.