Name - पॊतकी

Botanical name - Basella rubra

Description - Phytography: Perennial, much-branched, twining herb, 2-10 m long; stem fleshy but hard, contains mucilage; leaves alternate, petiolate, simple, fleshy, 7.5-12.5 cm, glabrous; spikes axillary, peduncled, simple or branched; flowers white or red or violet, bracteate. bracteolate; fruits pea-sized, red or white or black; seed subglobose, erect.

Chemical Constituents- Chemical contents : Plant: proteins, calcium, iron, vitamins A, Bi and B2, fats and sterols; Leaf: polysaccharides, glycoprotein.

Use - Traditional use : CHARAKA SAUHITA : Leaf: ingredient of medicines for diarrhoea and piles; SHUSHRUTASAUHITA : Leaf-juice: in filaria, should be eaten and applied externally; CHAKRADATTA : (LI Leaf-juice: should be applied on pimples and tumours; (ii) Leaf: should be tied over them; BANGASEN : Leaf-juice : beneficial to cold of children and in constipation of pregnant women; AYURVEDA : (i) Plant: sweet, provokes cold, reduces the ailments caused by wind (vata) and bite {pitta), sedative and spermatopoietic, increases appetite, nutritive and useful in haemorrhagic troubles; (ii) Leaf-jute : beneficial for whooping cough, urticaria, gangrene; (iii) Ash of leaf and stem : useful for pyorrhea; (iv) Seed-extract (oi red variety): good in anaemia.