Caralluma adscendens

Caralluma adscendens
1832 botanical illustration of C. fimbriata, a synonym of Caralluma adscendens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Asclepiadaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Genus: Caralluma
Species: C. adscendens
Binomial name
Caralluma adscendens
(Roxb.) R.Br.
Synonyms[1]
  • Boucerosia adscendens (Roxb.) Wall.
  • Caralluma attenuata Wight
  • Caralluma fimbriata Wall.

Caralluma adscendens is a succulent plant in the family Apocynaceae. Its distribution ranges from India and Sri Lanka through the Arabian peninsula to North Africa and the Sahel.

Use

C. adscendens has been eaten in rural India for centuries, raw, as a vegetable with spices, or preserved in chutneys and pickles, and is often found as a roadside shrub or boundary marker.

It has been used as a portable food and thirst quencher for hunting. Tribesmen on a day's hunt will often only pack some Caralluma fimbriata to sustain themselves and it is commonly known as "famine food" in India.

Consumer issues

Various diet pills claiming to contain Caralluma fimbriata extracts are marketed for weight loss. The FTC cautions against the use of "miracle diet" products.[2]

Chemistry

The key phytochemical constituents of the herb are pregnane glycosides, flavone glycosides, megastigmane glycosides, and saponins. active constituents- caratuberoside I-X,tomentogenin, silolsterol, luteolin-4-neohesperidoside and kaemferol-7-0- neohesperidoside.

References

  1. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. Weighing the Evidence in Diet Ads, US Federal Trade Commission
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