Abstract
A perennial plant growing in the deserts of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and India, but found from the Mediterranean to Russia. Camel thorn is a favorite food of camels. It is regarded emollient, bile purgative, expectorant, aphrodisiac and fattening by Unani physicians; it also improves memory. Whole plant is laxative, diuretic, and expectorant; the leaf oil is used for rheumatism, and the flowers are used for piles. A poultice or fumigation is recommended to cure piles; the expressed juice is applied to corneal opacities and is directed to be snuffed up the nose as a remedy for migraine. In Ayurveda, dried plant is used in trsnā, chardi, kāsa, jvara, vātarakta, raktapitta, and visarpa. In the Concan region of India, the plant is smoked along with black datura , tobacco and ajwan seeds as a remedy for asthma. In the Arabian and Persian traditional medicines, it is used for the prevention and treatment of liver ailments, such as jaundice, lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal disorders, Aqueous root extract is used to dilate ureter to pass kidney stones, and the methanol extract is used as an antidiarrheal, and as herbal cough syrup. Major phytoconstituents reported are β-sitosterol, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, and hydroxybenzoic acid. Ethanol extract produced significant antioxidant and gastric antiulcer activities. Aqueous and ethanol extracts exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity, and the ethanol extract produced centrally-mediated analgesic activity. Aqueous and ethanol extracts of aerial parts also significantly lowered FBG, TGs, TC, LDL-C, and VLDL-C, and increased HDL-C concentration in diabetic rats. It is also reported to protect rats from cisplatin-nephrotoxicity.
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Akbar, S. (2020). Alhagi maurorum Medik. (Fabaceae/Leguminosae). In: Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_14
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