Yes, correct species is *Mucuna pruriens*. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/mucuna.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&pwst=1&q=+site:www.botanical.com+mucuna+oudhia http://ecoport.org/ep?Plant=7832&entityType=PL****&entityDisplayCategory=eArticles Pankaj Oudhia On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 1:07 AM, Barry Stock <[email protected]> wrote: > I think the correct species ID is Mucuna *pruriens.** > * > Thanks, > * > * Barry Stock > Hollywood, Florida, USA > > On Jan 1, 2009, at 2:34 PM, Pankaj Oudhia wrote: > > Nice information Bhattji. Some suggestions, > > "In Cowage (Mucuna pruritum) contact with pods and flowers causes > irritation and blindness if it is in the eyes. *All parts of the plant > are poisonous if eaten, and can be fatal.* > > Any reference? As pods as well as seeds and roots are used as medicine and > also cooked as vegetable. > > "Physic nut (Jatropha curcas) has yellow apple-sized seeds which are > violently purgative. All parts of the plant are poisonous. This is found > throughout the tropics and south USA.This Jatropha is looks like the same > species that is being developed as a bio-fuel." > > Please correct last line as > > This Jatropha is the same species that is being developed as a bio-fuel. > > > http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=217291&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22 > > Lantana fruits are considered toxic but it is popularly consumed by village > children. All parts of Lantana are used as medicine by Traditional Healers > nowadays. > > > I will go through the article thoroughly and send the suggestions, if you > wish. > > regards > > Pankaj Oudhia > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 12:08 PM, Anand Kumar Bhatt > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> I have writtten a short article on Poisonous Plants Of India. Hope you >> like it. I am attaching some photographs as well, in this and next mail. >> akbhatt >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> >> *Some Poisonous Plants of India* >> >> >> During childhood days, one heard stories about sadhus who were in the >> habit of taking dhatura seeds which were considered poisonous. One also read >> about vishkanyas in ficion and about poison arrows in fact and fiction. The >> story about vishkanyas is fascinating, and so is that of poisons in which >> arrow darts were slaked, both in the tribal societies and among more >> civilized people. But let us first take something more in our vicinity: >> poisonous plants. There are several species which are poisonous or injurious >> to human body in some way or the other. And you can find them in your garden >> or planted by the Forest department as a roadside tree with or without the >> knowledge about their effects on human body system. >> >> >> Poisoning can be by contact (causing skin irritation), ingestion (causing >> internal poisoning), absorption (by the skin) and inhalation (in the >> respiratory system). >> Some surfing on the net told me startling facts. Some plants which we >> consider harmless are actually not so. And many which are used in some >> way or the other in medicines (especially in homeopathic pharmacology), in >> raw from are certainly not so benign. >> >> >> >> >> Let us start with Bakain, which is a sister to our famous neem tree, known >> in English as chinaberry or scientifically as Melia azedarach. (Neem is >> Azadirachta indica). All pats of Bakain tree are dangerous if eaten. Leaves >> are used as insect repellents in stored grains and we arre suitably >> warned that when those cereals are eaten, care should be taken to remove all >> Bakain leaves from it. This tree can be often found in our country >> either on the roadside, or in large gardens, and one should be aware of its >> deathly qualities. Although its fruit is poison to humans, birds gorge on >> it, and reach a level of 'intoxication'. >> >> >> Oleander (Nerium oleander) Is another garden plant and all parts of the >> plant are poisonous. Its wood if used to cook food can poison it by the >> fumes. This bush has attractive flowers: pink, yellow or white (tubular) or >> double pink flowers. One can find it all over the country. My first posting >> was as Sub-divisional Officer in Jashpur, a large subdivision of Raigarh >> district and connected by rail to the district headquarters 213 kms. away. >> It was a small erstwhile state, with majority of tribals in the area, and >> therefore not having richness which could give it the opulence of Jaipur, >> Indore or Gwalior. Well, duiring the state time there was an English Diwan >> who had planted double pink oleander all through the road from Jashpur to >> Raigarh in his area. It was the border of Kasabel development block. There >> is another plant called Pangi (pangium edule) found in South East Asia where >> all parts of the plant are poisonous especially the fruit. >> >> >> In Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis), all parts of the plant are >> poisonous to eat. >> The next is Lantana (Lantana camara) where all parts are poisonous if >> eaten and can be fatal.It can also create dermatitis in some. >> >> >> Renghis or rengas tree or marking nut (Gluta) causes dermatitis similar to >> poison ivy and poison oak (discussed later). >> >> >> Lantana, castor oil plant, oleander and marking nut tree are endemic to >> India. >> The other plant worth mentioning in this regard is Rosary pea (Abrus >> precatorious) which is a vine, and has beautiful black and red seeds. It >> is most dangerous and one seed is enough to kill an adult. This is found >> in India sporadically. It is known as ghumchi or ratti. Its seeds are >> surprisingly unvarying in weight and were used by goldsmiths in our country >> to weigh gold. One seed was equal to one ratti. One tola is 11.66 gm. 1 Tola >> is 12 Masha, and 1 Masha is 8 ratti. So one ratti is about 120mg. Whereas >> one carat is 200 mg.In Hindu gemology, especially related to astrology, >> ratti and carat are considered and treated almost synonymously. I vaguely >> remember that in my nana's village, he had planted a lot of henna tres along >> the boundary of his homestead, and one of them had this creeper whose seed >> pods dried and opened showing the red and black gems inside. I also remember >> that as a child of 3-4 years I climbed the bush (not much of mountaineering >> I assure!) and plucked those seeds. But nobody told me then or later about >> its toxic properties, for obvious reasons if anybody knew. >> >> >> Another plant I could mention is Strychnine tree (Nux Vomica). Berries >> contain the seed which yield strychnine. Al parts of the plant are >> poisonous, This is a native of tropics and non-tropics of South East >> Asia and Australia. >> >> >> Poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) and poison oak (Toxicodendron >> diversibba) cause serious contact dermatitis. Poison sumac (Toxicodendron >> vemix) has similar effect. All parts of the plant can cause serious >> dermatitis at all times of the year. This plant is native to wet, acid >> swamps of North America. >> >> >> Renglas tree or the marking nut (which was used by our washermen to mark >> the clothes wih distinctive mark of the owner so that their clothes are not >> mixed up. lt has flowers similar to poison oak and poison ivy and causes >> dermatitis. This plant is native to India, and East and South-east Asia. >> >> >> Trumpet vine (campsis radicans) causes dermatitis. It is found >> throughout eastern and central North America in wet woods and thickets. >> >> >> Once I went on short course to Nainital, a nice and cosy hill station in >> Uttarakhand. The blanket in the guest house there gave a strong dermatitis, >> with itching sensation and urge to scratch for 30-40 seconds, in the calf >> region. Any kind of dermatitis is not something to be talked about, and so I >> kept mum thinking that in a few days when I went back to Delhi, I would >> consult a physician. At the end of the course, when we were going by bus to >> Delhi, one fellow participant very coolly announced that now he was going to >> scratch, and he did. Later I came to know that about half a dozen trainees >> were thus afflicted which resulted from the room boys sunning the blankets >> on the lawn. Why I mention this is that only those who have had this can >> appreciate how violent the itching sensation can become in some kinds of >> dermatitis. I don't remember now, but I think the Nainital itching subsided >> after a few days on its own. Or may be I used calamine on the advice of the >> physician. Althoough I haven't done it ever (I was considered a studious >> type) but in stories one heard of leaves which was put on teacher's >> chair folloed by the violent reaction. >> >> >> I cannot resist the temptation of mentioning a few of more deadly plants. >> Death camas or death lily (Zigedenus species )has onion-like plant, but it >> does not have onion smell. All parts of the plant are very pisonous. It is a >> native of US (North and East), and American Western subarctic. >> >> >> Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is native to Eurasia and is extrememly >> poisonous. Easy to confuse with carrot or Queen's lace. At another >> place the writer has said that that it can be mistaken for fennel, wild >> carrot or parsley, The habitat is swamp, streambank and wet meadow. >> >> >> Water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) is also a deadly poison. Small amount may >> cause death. This is again a native of US and Canada and grows in swamps,wet >> meadows,stream banks and ditches. >> >> >> In Cowage (Mucuna pruritum) contact with pods and flowers causes >> irritation and blindness if it is in the eyes. All parts of the plant >> are poisonous if eaten, and can be fatal. >> >> >> The Manchineel (Hippomane mancinella) is extremely toxic. It can cause >> serious dermatitis even after ½ hour. It is a native of Florida and >> Caribbean. >> >> >> Physic nut (Jatropha curcas) has yellow apple-sized seeds which are >> violently purgative. All parts of the plant are poisonous. This is found >> throughout the tropics and south USA.This Jatropha is looks like the same >> species that is being developed as a bio-fuel. >> >> >> Among some other popular Indian plants, the famous Raat ki Rani(cestrum >> nocturnum) is poisonous, ncluding its white berry. Dhatura (Dhatura >> metel)contains highly toxic alkaloids, the main being scopolamine. This >> hallucinogen is present in highest concentration in leaves and seeds. Often >> it is mixed with food articles for robbing innocent passengers. This plant >> and its intoxicant properties have been known in India since prehistoric >> times. Shiva is associated with its flower and seeds. Madar or kanak >> (calotropis gigantean and C. procera) is considered by many to be poisonous, >> however its milky juice, flowers, rootbark and leaves are used in medicine. >> It also attracts butterflies, and I don't think that it has poisonous >> qualities. The flowers are of two colours: purple and white. White is rarer, >> and its roots are used to carve icons of Ganesh. >> >> >> You saw above how some poisonous plants resemble plants that are used by >> men for eating and otherwise, and so one has to be very particular in >> choosing what to eat if the plant is not known to him. Good old days >> when I had some land in a village and my father used to stay there, I >> remember that with a minor millet there used to be some poisonous grass >> which was impossible to separate from the grain plant whether in the >> beginning or at the time of harvesting. So sometimes when the person ate >> that poison grain along with that the cooked real grain, he used to >> sleep and sleep. He could get up only in the late afternoon. This was a >> known phenomenon and nobody bothered if somebody was thus affected. There is >> another pulse closely resembling tuar which is known as Khesari, and if it >> is eaten in the form of a loaf made out of its flour, it brings an >> affliction known as lathyrism with twisted swollen knees. This low grade >> pulse is used, hopefully not extensively, to adulterate tuar. Argemone >> seeed has been used to adulterate mustard oil because of its close >> resemblance to the mustard seed. There was a havoc in Delhi a few years >> ago because of such adulteration. The use of such adulterated oil in >> cooking brings lethal dropsy. >> . >> >> >> We live in dangerous times and dangerous world. Dangerous times as the >> world has become smaller and any plant seed can land up anywhere. See the >> nuisance parthenium (gajar ghas which some people jokingly called >> congress grass!) has created when it came with Mexican wheat seeds (its >> flower causes skin irritation). Moreover, it has become a weed. >> >> >> I think I have revealed enough to make you worried at least for the night >> for you and your family. Next time we shall deal with something more >> fictional and less nearer to you (vishkanyas and arrow poisons!). Good >> night. >> >> -- >> Anand Kumar Bhatt >> A-59, B.S.F.Colony, Airport Road >> Gwalior. 474 005. >> Tele: 0751-247 2233. Mobile 0 94253 09780. >> >> >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
