Title: Pharmacognostical Study of Kapikacchu (Mucuna Pruriens)
Authors: Dr Santosh Kr Vishwakarma, Dr Raman Ranjan, Dr (Prof).Vijay Shanker Dubey, Dr (Prof.) Uma Shanker Chaturvedi, Dr (Prof.) Ajay Kumar Singh
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i10.07
Abstract
Pharmacognosy is “the study of natural product or their molecules that are useful for their medicinal, ecological, gustatory, or other functional properties.” In other words, pharmacognosy encompasses the knowledge of the history, distribution, cultivation, collection, selection, preparation, commerce, identification, evaluation, preservation, and use of drugs affecting the health of man and other animals.
The name of the genus, Mucuna, is that of a Brazilian species, and pruriens refers to the itching caused on the skin by the hairs. The popular name, variously spelt round the world is mostly of Indian origin. The mature seeds are considered aphrodisiac, believed to be good luck charms in Mexico and Central America, made into buttons, and ground into flour; the roots are used to treat cholera; the hairs covering the pods are used to kill intestinal worms
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