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

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

References

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External Links

• [1]
• [2]

"Vernacular names"