Moon Seed

BOTANICAL NAME:

• Tinospora cordifolia

FAMILY:

• Menispermaceae

SYNONYM(S):

• Menispermum cordifolium

URDU NAME:

• Gilo
• Gurach

REGIONAL NAME:

• Bengali: Gurach, Gibe, Gulancha
• Persian: Gulbel
• Pashto: Gilo
• Sanskrit: Guduchi
• Sindhi: Sutgilo
• Arabic: Gilo
• Punjabi: Gilo
• Hindi: Gibe ,Amanita

UNANI/TIBBI NAME:

• Gilo

ENGLISH NAME:

• Heart Leaved Moon Seed, Gulancha Tinospora

HABITAT:

• Cultivated throughout N.W.F.P and Punjab and Sindh

DESCRIPTION:

• It is a glabrous climbing shrub having succulent corky stems.
• The gray or creamy white bark has spiral longitudinal clefts.
• Leaves roundish, cordate, acuminate and petiolate.
• Flowers greenish yellow, male clustered, female usually solitary.
• Fruit is in the form of red berries, the stone is broadly ellipsoid

PART USED:

• Whole Plant, Stem

TASTE:

• Bitter

TEMPERAMENT:

• Hot 1°, dry 1°

PERIOD OF OCCURRENCE:

• Flowers in summer and rainy season

PROCEDURE & TIME OF COLLECTION:

• The stem should be collected in the summer season when the bitter principle is present in the plant in a great concentration

CONSTITUENTS:

• Berbenine
• Cibumbin
• Chasman thin
• Pabmanin
• Tinosponic acid
• Tinosporon
• Tinospotol
• Giboin
• Giboinin.
• Protein
• Calcium
• Phosphorus

SUBSTITUTES:

• Satgi /starch of Tinospora

ACTIONS AND USES IN UNANI SYSTEM OF MEDICINE:

Pharmacological action:

• Bitter
• Alterative
• Appetizer
• Stomachic
• Tonic
• Antipyretic
• Expectorant
• Astringent
• Diuretic
• Resolvent
• Anti-inflammatory

Therapeutic uses:

• In chronic diarrhea
• Dysentery
• Gonorrhea
• Tuberculosis
• Intermittent fever
• Resolves the inflammation of stomach
• Blood purifier
• In anemia
• Jaundice
• An expectorant use in coughs

DOSES:

• 12-25 g

CORRECTIVES:

• Tabasheer/ bamboo manna (bambusa arundinaceae)

IMPORTANT UNANI FORMULATIONS:

• Hab-e-masihee
• Laooq masihee
• Qurs humma jaded
• Arq hara bhara
• Arq gibo
• Sufuf Mussafi Khas
• Dawa-i- sandal
• Hab diq-ul-atfal
• Hab tap balghanii

ASTROLOGY:

• Saturn