Zanthoxylum rhetsa - Asvaghra

Asvaghra, Zanthoxylum rhetsa

Asvaghra is a moderate sized deciduous tree with pinnate leaves found in evergreen and moist deciduous forests. The leaves and trunk are prickly. It is a tree in the lemon family.

Uses

Asthma, bronchitis, Cardiac ailments, Hemarrhoids, Arthritis, Ulcers

Parts Used

Seeds

Common names

Language	Common name
Kannada	arempala, juminam, kadumenasu, aramadala, kavate
Hindi	pepuli, badrang, budrung, jaladhari
Malayalam	Mullilam, Mulliyllam, Karimurikku, Kattumurikku
Tamil	karuncurai, kattumurukku, mullilam, iraccai
Telugu	rhetsa-man, morapu, raccamanu, racha, rachamam, rachchamanu,
Marathi	NA
Gujarathi	NA
Punjabi	NA
Kashmiri	NA
Sanskrit	tejovati, tejasvini, ashvaghra, laghuvalkala
English	Indian prickly ash-tree

Properties

Reference: Dravya - Substance, Rasa - Taste, Guna - Qualities, Veerya - Potency, Vipaka - Post-digesion effect, Karma - Pharmacological activity, Prabhava - Therepeutics.

Rasa

Tikta (Bitter) Laghu (Light), Rooksha (Dry) Ushna (Hot)

Karma

Kapha, Vata

Habit

Tree

Identification

Leaf

Kind	Shape	Feature
Pinnate	Alternate	bark 15-20 mm thick, brown, mottled with white, armed with conical prickles; outer bark dead, corky, pale yellow, inner bark sulphur yellow; branchlets woody, terete, sparsely prickly.Leaves imparipinnate, alternate, clustered at the tips of branchlets, estipulate; leaflets 13-23, opposite or subopposite, 6-19 x 3-6.5 cm, oblong, elliptic-oblong, oblong-ovate, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate, base oblique, margin entire or crenate, glabrous, punctate, coriaceous; petiolule 1-5 mm long;rachis 30-45 cm long slightly grooved above when young, becoming cylindric on maturity, usually prickly, glabrous; lateral nerves 6-12 pairs, slender, pinnate, prominent; intercostae reticulate, faint.

Flower

Type	Size	Color and composition	Stamen	More information
Unisexual, Terminal cymose panicles	2-3mm across	greenish-yellow	4	male flowers: sepals 4, ovate-triangular, fimbriate along margin, green; petals 4, free, elliptic-oblong, white or creamy yellow, valvate; stamens 4, anthers oblong, yellow; disc lobulate; pistillodes solitary; female flowers: sepals & petals as in male flowers; staminodes absent; disc pulvinate; ovary superior, 4-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; style eccentric; stigma truncate.

Fruit

Type	Size	Mass	Appearance	Seeds	More information
Capsule			capsule, of 1-4 cocci, purplish, tubercled, aromatic	seeds globose, smooth, blue-black	Seeds used as a spice

How to plant/cultivate

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe. Stored seed may requires up to 3 months cold stratification, though scarification may also help. Germination should take place within 6 months, though it might take another 12 months. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them until large enough to plant out. Cuttings of half-ripe wood. Root cuttings, 3cm long, planted horizontally in pots. Good percentage. Suckers, removed when the plant is dormant, and planted direct into their permanent positions.

Commonly seen growing in areas

Tropical area, Evergreen forest, Moist deciduous forest.

Photo Gallery

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  Bark

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  Leaves

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  Fruits

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  Habit

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  Seeds

External Links

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