Description

Red Physic Nut also known as wild castor, wild croton and wild sultan seed, is a plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. Red Physic Nut (Baliospermum montanum) is a stout undershrub, 10 cm to 8 m in height with herbaceous branches from the roots. Leaves are simple, toothed with undulations. Upper leaves are small, lower ones large, sometimes palmately 3-5 lobed, 3-30 cm long, 1.5-15 cm broad. Male and female flowers are separated, seen in the same flowering branch, minute, about 3 mm across, greenish yellow, arranged in axillary and terminal racemes, spikes or fascicles. Capsules are distinctly 3-lobed, obovoid, stony, 8-13 mm across, minutely densely pubescent. Seeds are egg-shaped.

Characteristics:

Red Physic Nut is a stout under-shrub 0.9-1.8m in height with herbaceous branches from the roots. Leaves are simple, sinuate-toothed, upper ones small, lower ones large and sometimes palmately 3-5 lobed. Flowers are numerous, arranged in axillary racemes with male flowers above and a few females below. Fruits are capsules, 8- 13mm long and obovoid. Seeds are ellipsoid smooth and mottled.

Medicinal Uses:

Roots, seeds, leaves and seed oil are used to treat jaundice, constipation, piles, anemia, conjuctivitis. The roots are purgative, anthelmintic, carminative, rubefacient and anodyne. Used in abdominal pain, constipation, calculus, general anasarca, piles, helminthic infestation, scabies and skin disorders. Root paste is applied to painful swellings and piles. The leaves relieve asthma and seeds are used to cure snakebites.