Thottea

Scientific name of Thottea: Thottea siliquosa

Synonyms:  Apama siliquosa, A. dubia

Family:  Aristolochiaceae

Name of Thottea in different languages:-

Sanskrit: Kodassari.

Hindi: Chakrani

Malayalam: Alpam-അൽപ്പം, Kodasary-കൊടസ്സാരി, Thapasa muringa-താപസിമുരിങ്ങ, Karalvegam-കരൾവേഗം

Tamil: Kuttivayana

Plant description of Thottea:

It is a small shrub,  found in evergreen forests of Western Ghats areas of Kerala, erect or rarely scandent slender shrub or under shrub, 0.5-1.5 m high; branchlets swollen at nodes, finely pubescent; bark smooth, yellowish. Leaves simple, distichous, 10-18 x 3.5-6 cm, oblong-lanceolate, entire, glabrous above, stellately pubescent and paler beneath, strongly 3- nerved from the base with reticulate veins between the nerves, subacute at the base, acutely acuminate at the apex. Petioles 0.2-0.5cm long, stout. Flowers dark purple in axillary, irregular, few-flowered cymes. Bracts small, linear, acute, pubescent. Pedicels 1-2.5 cm long, densely pubescent. Perianth 3 – partite with each segment 0.2-0.3 cm long, broadly ovate or sub orbicular, pubescent, concave, fleshy. Stamens 5 in three groups, adnate to the style with hairy anthers; pistil with elongate, 4-loculed ovary, thick style column, and 3 or more linear stigmas. Capsules 6-9.5 cm long, straight, obtuse, 4-gonous. Seeds 3-gonous, up to 0.2 cm long, acute at both ends, deeply pitted.

Leaf Arrangement

Shape-Cuneate	Margin-Entire	Venation-parallel

Useful plant parts:

Whole plant, seed

Medicinal uses:

it is used as an antivenom, other uses are to treat diarrhea, dysentery, often administered with lemon juice. Plant paste in oil used in chronic sores and ulcers.

Chemical content:

Alkaloid (Chakranin)

Medicinal Properties:

Stomachic

Propagation:  By seeds

How to prepare medicines:

Toxic when direct mix in the  blood. Young seed can chew to reduce stomach pain