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Helicteres, Avartani

East Indian Screw Tree
Avartani (Ayurveda)
Marorphali (Unani)
Valamburi (Siddha)
Huo Suo Ma (root, TCM)
Helicteres isora
C.J. Trew, G.D. Ehret, Plantae selectae, vol. 10 (1773)

Helicteres isora flower
(Photo by J.M.Garg) (Wikimedia)

Botanical name:
Helicteres isora

Parts used:
Bark, fruit

Temperature & Taste:
Warm, dry (Avicenna said hot and dry in the 3rd degree)

Uses:
1. Clears Heat and Damp: (Ayurveda, TCM, Unani)
-Diarrhea, Dysentery
-Biliousness
-Seed, bark, root can be used for this purpose; leaf is also used in TCM

2. Moves Qi, Eases Pain: (TCM, Unani)
-Indigestion, stomachache, colic, flatulence
-Gastritis, Gastric Ulcer, Enteritis
-Seed, bark or root can be used for this purpose

3. Kills Worms: (Ayurveda, Unani)
-Seed powder is especially used for Children

4. Used for Diabetes:
-root bark lowers sugar in the Urine

5. Externally:
-3 seeds are soaked in 100ml coconut oil and applied to stop falling hair
-Rickets, boil seeds in mustard oil and massage on the legs
-seeds boiled in mustard oil is applied to stomachache.
-seed powdered and mixed with Castor oil for sores, ulcers and ear infections
-applied topically with vinegar to Ringworm
-applied to cold inflammations and swellings


DOSE:
Powder of the Seeds: 3–6 grams
10 grams of the fruit powder has been given twice daily in Dysentery

Main Combinations:
1. Dysentery:
i. Helicteres with Holarrhena
ii. Helicteres with Barberry, Chebula
2. Amoebiasis, Calotropis root bark (125mg), Helicteres (1000mg). This was taken three times daily for 26 days. It was clinically comparable to Metronidazole.

Major Formulas:

Cautions:
None noted

Main Preparations used:

Research:
The Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine (May, 2014) had a good review of the pharmacological effects of the plant which can be viewed here. It contains research that shows the following effects:
1. Antioxidant
2. Hypolipidaemic
3. Antibacterial
4. Antiplasmid
5. Cardiac antioxidant and antiperoxidative
6. Brain-antioxidation potency,
7. Anticancer activity
8. Antinociceptive activity
9. Hepatoprotective activity
10. Anti-diarrheal activity
11. Vermicidal