संस्कृत नाम- श्वॆत सारिवा
Botanical name - Hemidesmus indicus
Description - Hemidesmus indicus is a perennial twining shrub with woody root stock, thickened at the nodes. Leaves simple, opposite and variable from elliptic-oblong to linear lanceolate, dark green, variegated with white above. Flowers crowded in subsessile cymes in the opposite axils. Fruits are follicles, 10 - 15 cm long, green, slender, cylindrical, tapering to a point at the apex. Seeds ovate-oblong, flattened black and coma silvery white. all parts of the plant have white milky juice.
Chemical_Constituents- Plant contains coumarino-lignoid hemidesminine,,hemidesine, eolidine. Roots contain hexatriacontanes, lupeol, alpha-amyrin, beta-amyrin, sitosterol, coumarino-lignoids hemidesmin-I and hemidesmin-2. Stems contain pregnane glycosides indicine and hemidine. Twigs contain diglycoside Desnine. Leaves contain rutin. Air dried root yields essential oil containing p-methoxy salicylic aldehyde as the major constituent; also contain beta- sitosterol, alpha- and Beta-amyrins, lupeol, tetracyclic triterpene alcohols, resin acids, fatty acids, tannins, saponins, a glucoside and a ketone
Uses - The roots are used as pickles, decoction as summer drink with milk, also as a nutriment, blood purifier. In diseases like head ache, eye strain, nasal bleeding, mouth ulcer, (stomatitis), gingivitis, sore throat, gastritis, duodinitis, dysuria, piles, osteo- arthritis, disease due excessive intake of medicine, body pain. -- The drug is useful in fever, skin diseases, loss of appetite, syphilis, leucorrhoea and other urinary complaints. The diuretic action of the drug has been shown experimentally. The drug is largely used as a blood purifier and in rheumatism -- Dried roots demulcent, diaphoretic, diuretic and alterative, used in rheumatism, gravel and other urinary diseases and in skin troubles