The New Nation - Internet Edition

Jamayet Ali

Thankuni is a very popular small herbaceous plant belonging to the family Umbelliferae, and comprising about 70 species which are found in wet places in temperate and tropical regions, more especially of the Southern hemisphere. In Bangladesh it is found in damp places, by the side of the pond, ditches, streams and also by the side of the zigzag paths in rural areas. Its botanical name is Hydrocotyle asiatica. The leaves are sometimes made into a soup, which, however, probably serves more as a medicine than as a food. It is also known as Tholkuri.

Medicinal Properties: The plant is acrid, bitter, sweetish, digestible, laxative, cooling tonic, alterative, alexiteric, antipyretic; improves appetite, voice, memory; cures leucoderma, anaemia, urinary discharges, diseases of the bold, bronchitis, inflammations, fevers, "kapha", biliousness, enlargements of the spleen, thirst, asthma, smallpox; used in insanity (Ayurveda). The plant has a bitter, bad taste; soporific, sedative to the nerves, tonic cardiotonic, bechic, stomachic, carminative, diuretic; clears the voice and the brain; cures hiccough, asthma, bronchitis, scalding of urine, headache; improves appetite (Yunani).

The plant is considered a beautiful alterative and tonic in diseases, of the skin, nerves and blood. In some areas, the people are in the habit of taking the powdered dried leaves with milk for improving their memory, and as an alterative tonic. The leaves are said to be useful in syphilitic skin diseases, both externally and internally; and on the Malabar coast, the plant is one of the remedies for leprosy. Dr. A. Hunter, after trying it in the Madras Leper Hospital, come to the conclusion that it had no claim to consideration as a specific in leprosy, but found it most useful in ameliorating the symptoms and improving the general health.

In Bombay, it is popular remedy for the slight dysenteric derangements of the bowels to which children are subject three or four leaves are give with cumin or sugar, and the pounded leaves are applied to the navel. In the Konkan, one or two leaves are given every morning to cure sluttering; and the juice is applied (generally as a lep with Cadamba bark, ghi, and black cumin) to skin cruptions supposed to arise from heat of blood. In Java, according to Horsfield, the leaves are considered diuretic. In Ceylon, the leaves are taken as a tonic and blood purifier; also for indigestion, nervousness and dysentery. In Indo China, the plant is considered diuretic. It is used internally as an alterative tonic, and externally as a stimulant. The entire plant is used by vaidyans in derangement of the three humours. The leaves are used as diuretic and are said to be beneficial in skin diseases, especially in leprosy. For leprosy it is given in the form of powder, decoction, or syrup. A syrup of the leaves was administered in two cases of chronic psoriasis. There was some improvement noticed in the patches after its administration for a few days. The plant in combination with other drugs, is recommended snake-bite (Rasaratnakra); but, no part of it is an antidote to snake-venom (Indian Medicinal Plant, Kirt. & B.D. Basu, II, 1194, 1195).

Medicine: The part of the plant generally employed are the leaves, deprived of their petioles, dried by exposure to the air in the shade, and ground to a powder. It appears that if dried in the sun, or by any method of artificial heat, the leaves loss a great part of their medicinal properties, owing to the volatalisation of the oil which is their active principle.

The powder thus carefully prepared ought to be kept in well stoppered bottles to prevent the access of moisture. When fresh, the leaves have scarcely any smell, but emit a peculiar faint, aromatic odour when crushed between the fingers. They have a harsh, bitter and disagreeable taste, which however, becomes scarcely perceptible after the leaves have been well dried.

Applications in medicine: The principal value of the drug appears from its physiological action to be as a stimulant to the cutaneous circulation in skin diseases, and for this purpose it will be found to have been chiefly employed. Though it appears to have no specific effect in leprosy, nor in syphilis, this can be little doubt by its action in stimulating circulation it is of value in this affections. Dr. Shortt speaks of the drug in high terms, and considers it to have a powerful action in all leprous affections. But letter writers agree that its effects are most marked in the preliminary anaesthetic stages of the disease. Drs. Lolliot, Cazenove, and Bertin find it of little value in advanced cases of tubercular leprosy, but extol its virtues in the treatment of chronic and obstinate eczema, the letter remarking: "The eczemas treated by me with the preparations of Hydrocotyle were of the most rebellious type, viz., localized eczemas; nevertheless cures were effected in every case and that within a very brief space of time."

It has also been prescribed with excellent result in cases of secondary and tertiary syphilis accompanied gummatous infiltration and ulceration; in chronic callous ulcers; as a stimulant to healthy mucous secration; in fantile diarroea and azoena; in case of scrofulous ulceration, enlargement of glands and abscess; and in chronic rheumatism. It has also been employed with success as a diuretic in several diseases, and as an emenagogue in cases of amenorrhoea. In all cases in which a constitutional or general diseases is accompanied by a local lesion, the drug ought to be not only administered internally, but also applied locally as a power, poultice or ointment. Numerous descriptions of cases so treated by practitioners in many parts of the world have appeared of late years, with the result that the use of the plant is becoming daily more wide spread and the belief in its therapeutic value more universal. Under these circumstances it would certainly seem advisable to give the whole plant a careful trial, as recommended by Boileau, and more recently again strongly advised by Daruty, as it is quite possible that much of the disrepute into which it has fallen in India may be the result of the Pharmacopoeia recognizing only the least active part, viz. the leaves.

Special opinions: "Is largely used in brain affections and insanity. A decoction of the leaves is evaporated with butter and the resulting preparation is then given internally" (Surgeon-Major Robb, Civil Surgeon, Ahmedabad). "This drug deserves attention. Its efficacy in these cases is well marked" (U.C. Dutt, Civil Medical Officer, Serampore).

"A very useful alterative in constitutional syphilitic ulcers and skin disease. Dose, 5 to 10 grains of powdered leaves. Externally stimulant" (Thomas Ward, Apothecary, Madanapalle, Madras). (Much used in the hospital, similar to Calotropis; and always combined with it. A valuable alterative tonic used in all cases of leprosy and obstinate forms of skin diseases. The following formula is employed here. Pulvis Calotropis, grains iii, Puvis Hydrocotyle grains x., twice a day. At times combined with iron preparations" (J.G. Ashwarth, Apothecary, Kumbakonom, Madras) (Dictionary of the Economic Products Of India, Hydrocotyle, 312,313).

An infusion of the plant is used in and Madagascar in the treatment of leprosy and is known to ameliorate the symptoms of the disease and to improve the general health of the patient. The leaves are commonly employed, but the use of the whole plant is recommended. The usual dose for oral administration is 5-10 grains of the plant powder thrice daily (Wealth of India, Raw materials, Hydrocotyle, 117)