Drugs obtained from Fruits and Seeds

Drugs obtained from Fruits and Seeds

Nature gives us too much essential products. Now let you know about some drugs that are obtained from Fruits and Seeds of plant.

1. Chaulmoogra Oil

For centuries leprosy has been one of the most dreaded diseases of mankind and it was long thought to be incurable. It was known, however, that the natives of Burma and other parts of South- eastern Asia used the seeds and oil obtained from the chaulmoogra tree and related species in the treatment of skin diseases. These tall trees of the dense jungles have velvety fruits with several large seeds, which contain fatty oil with a characteristic odor and acrid taste. The expressed oil is a brownish – yellow liquid or soft solid. The use of certain acids present in the oil or of the ethyl esters of these acids was productive of the desired results and leprosy can now be cured.

2. Colocynth

The dried spongy pulp of the bitter apple (citrullus colocynthis) is the source of the glucosidal drug colocynth. The plant is a perennial vine native to the warmer parts of Asia and Africa. It is now widely distributed and is cultivated in the Mediterranean region. The fruits resemble oranges in appearance. The rind is removed and the white bitter pulp is dried and shipped in balls. Colocynth serves as a powerful purgative.

3. Cubebs

They are the dried unripe fruits of Piper Cubeba, a climbing vine of eastern India and Malaya. It is cultivated in Java, Thailand, Ceylon and the West Indies. The berries resemble black pepper, but are stalked. They have a warm, bitter aromatic taste and a strong odor, due to the presence of an oleoresin. Cubebs are used in the treatment of Catarrh, often in the form of Cigarettes, and as a kidney stimulant. They were formerly used as a spice or condiment.

4. Croton Oil

Croton oil is fatty oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of croton Tiglium, a shrub or small tree of South- eastern Asia. It is cultivated in India and Ceylon. Croton oil is a yellowish- brown liquid with a burning taste and nauseous odor. It is one of the most powerful purgatives known. The flowers and crushed leaves are used in India to poison fishes.

5. Nux Vomica

This valuable drug is obtained from the seeds of Strychnos Nux- vomica, a tree native to Ceylon, India, Cochin China and Australia. The large fruits contain from three to five grayish seeds which are very hard and bitter. Ripe seeds contain two important alkaloids, strychnine and bucine. Nux Vomica is used as a tonic and stimulant; strychnine is utilized in the treatment of nervous disorders and paralysis, always in small doses, for it is a virulent poison. The use of this drug dates back to the sixteenth century.

6. Wormseed

The American wormseed is a native of the West Indies and Central and South America. It is naturalized in the United States, occurring as a weed in waste places Wormseed has also been cultivated in many areas, and it is now extensively grown in Carroll County, Maryland, for its essential oil. This oil is obtained by distillation from the fruits and is used in the treatment of hookworm infections.

7. Opium

Opium, one of the most helpful, and at the sometime vicious, drugs, is the dried juice or latex obtained from the unripe capsules of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). This poppy is an annual herb with large showy white flowers. A native of Western Asia, it now occurs in most countries as a weed. It is cultivated extensively in India, China, Asia Minor, the Balkans and elsewhere. Shortly after the petals fall the Capsules are incised with a knife and the white latex exudes and soon hardens in the air. It is scrapped of and shaped into balls or cakes, which are often wrapped in the poppy petals. Crude opium is a brownish material containing as many as 25 alkaloids, the most important and most powerful of which are morphine and codeine. Because of narcotic and sedative action opium and its derivatives are used to relieve Pain, induce sleep, and relax spasms. They should never be administered except under a physician`s direction. Because of the flagrant misuse of the drug and its deleterious effects physically, mentally and morally, the opium trade is very carefully supervised and restricted.

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