Kingdom Plantae Family Asclepiadaceae Genus Caralluma Higher classification Caralluma | Order Gentianales Subfamily Asclepiadoideae Scientific name Caralluma adscendens Rank Species | |
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Similar Caralluma, Kalahari cactus, Asclepiadoideae, Irvingia gabonensis, Hoodia | ||
Tertiary ingredients of caralluma adscendens formulations pankaj oudhia s medicinal plant database
Caralluma adscendens is a succulent plant in the family Apocynaceae. Its distribution ranges from India and Sri Lanka through the Arabian peninsula to North Africa and the Sahel.
Contents
- Tertiary ingredients of caralluma adscendens formulations pankaj oudhia s medicinal plant database
- Use
- Consumer issues
- Chemistry
- References
Use
C. adscendens has been eaten in rural India for centuries, raw, as a vegetable with spices, or preserved in chutneys and pickles, and is often found as a roadside shrub or boundary marker.
It has been used as a portable food and thirst quencher for hunting. Tribesmen on a day's hunt will often only pack some Caralluma fimbriata to sustain themselves and it is commonly known as "famine food" in India.
Consumer issues
Various diet pills claiming to contain Caralluma fimbriata extracts are marketed for weight loss. The FTC cautions against the use of "miracle diet" products.
Chemistry
The key phytochemical constituents of the herb are pregnane glycosides, flavone glycosides, megastigmane glycosides, and saponins. active constituents- caratuberoside I-X,tomentogenin, silolsterol, luteolin-4-neohesperidoside and kaemferol-7-0- neohesperidoside.