Euphorbia royleana Boiss.

Family:

Euphorbiaceae.

Habitat:

Western Himalaya from Kumaon to Nepal.

Ayurvedic:

Snuhi, Snuk, Sehunda, Gudaa (Substitutes.) (Adhogudaa of Ayurvedic medicine and Bana-muuli of folk medicine have been equated with Euphorbia acaulis Rox.)

Unani:

Thuuhar

Folk:

Thor, Surai.

Action:

Latex—cathartic, anthelmintic.

The latex yield euphol, cycloeucalenol, an inseparable mixture of four tetra-and four tri-esters of macrocyclic diterpene ingenol, octacosanol, tetracosanol, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, alpha-amyrin and campesterol. The plant gave ingenol.

The latex is a valuable source of ingenol esters. Ingol is a macrocyclic diterpene and is of therapeutic interest due to its antileukemic properties. Fractionation of the latex gave ingol-12-acetate and 8-tigloyl-12-acetate. The acylation of ingol-12-acetate yielded derivatives which inhibit the growth of the basophilic leukaemia cells in rats.