Botanical Name : Sarcostemma brevistigma wight & Arn
Family : Asclepiadaceae
Names in different Indian languages :
English : Moon plant
Hindi : Somlatha
Kannada : Somalata
Tamil : Soma
Malayalam : Somalata
Sanskrit : Soma
Synonyms : Sarcostemma acidum
Morphology :
The plant is a perennial leafless, twining trailing shrub, with green cylindrical, fleshy, glabrous, green pendulous stems exuding milky white latex, exhibiting longitudinal ridges and nodes. Stem is succulent grows up to 25 in. in diam. Leaves reduced to minute scales. Flowers small, in sessile terminal or lateral umbels, calyx small, 5-partite, glandular or not within. Corolla rotate, deeply lobed; lobes 5, overlapping to the right in bud. Corona double, the outer cupular, membranous, 5-10 lobed or crenate, attached to the base of the stamina column. Stamens adnate to the base of the corolla- tube; filaments forming a column; anthers with membranous inflexed appendages;
Distribution & Habitat :
Bihar, Bengal, and south india
Properties :
Rasa: Katu, madhura,
Veerya : sita
Karma – Tridosha hara
Indication :
Rasayana, daha hara , trsna nigraha, visosha hari
