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  Plumbago zeylanica

Plumbago zeylanica L., 

Plumbaginaceae, is found throughout India and is cultivated in gardens for its profuse white flowers. 

The genus is easily identified from the stalked glands on the calyx. Freshly opened flowers (Plumbago zeylanica1), young fruits (Plumbago zeylanica2), mature fruits (Plumbago zeylanica3) and seeds 

(Plumbago zeylanica4) 

are illustrated.

Going by the samskrit names chitraka or chitramoola, this is  an important species in Ayurveda. The root is used as an abortifacient,vesicant, 

appetiser, used in skin diseases, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, piles and anasarca. A paste of the root made in vinegar, milk or salt and water is an external application in leprosy and other skin ailments. It is also 

used in influenza and 

black-water fever. The root bark used as a tincture is a sudorific and antiperiodic.

The milky juice of the plant is used in scabies and ulcers.

The plant contains about 1.25 per cent of an orange-yellow compound plumbagin 

(plumbagol), a 2-methyl-5-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquionone, which is an irritant and a powerful germicide. Plumbagin stimulates muscular tissue in smaller doses and paralyses in larger doses. It induces a contraction of the muscles of heart and the intestines. It stimulates the secretion of sweat, urine and bile. Plumbagin is also a nervine stimulant and an anthelminthic.

Plumbagin has vitamin K action and antimicrobial properties against staphylococci, certain pathogenic fungi and parasitic protozoa. Antispasmodic action of plumbagin is well recorded. Plumbagin is insecticidal, particularly against the army worms (Spondoptaera exempta and Spondoptera littoralis).

Plumbagin is also present in the species of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) and Drosera (carnivorous species of the Droseraceae).

In Nigeria, the leaves are used in soup as a remedy against intestinal worms and fever. In Ghana the root is administered as an enema to treat piles. In the Ivory coast and Upper Volta, the root is used to treat leprosy.

Another species, Plumbago indica, has much the same uses as Plumbago zeylanica (see Plumbago indica).