Botanical Name : Abrus Precatorius
Sanskrit name : Gunja                               
English Name :  Jequirity, Indian liquorice Wild Liquorice
Family: Fabaceae            

Plant part used: Seed
                            
Description of Abrus precatorius:

This plant is found throughout India. It is seen on hedges and bushes in exposed areas.
A deciduous, wiry climber with tough branches; leaves abruptly pinnate with many pairs of leaflets, the rachis ending in a spine; the leaflets oblong, rounded at both ends, thinly membranous; flowers pink, clustered on tubercles arranged along the rachis of one-sided pedunculate raceme; fruits pods, turgid with a sharp deflexed beak: seeds usually scarlet with a black spot or sometimes pure white.

It is a twining herb with delicate feathery leaves. Flowers are rose to purple growing at the end of a stalk. Fruits are short pods containing hard, shiny, scarlet and black seeds.

Chemical Constituents:
Roots and leaves contain glycyrrhizin. Precol, abrol, abrasine and precasine from roots. Gallic acid, abrine, hypaphorine, alanine, serine, valine, choline, trigonelline, precatorine, and methyl ester, 5B-cholanic acid, abrin A and abtrin B from seedy"

Pharmacology:
Seed extract showed anti-spermatogenic activity in rat. Total protein in seminal vesicle was significantly decreased indicating inhibitory effect of extract; depletion of sialic acid in epididymis, seminal vesicle and testis induced loss of viability, reproductive ability and motility of sperm significant increase in cholesterol in testis affected sperm output and fertility. Rise of alkaline and acid phosphates associated with inhibition of spermatogenesis or disintegration of germinal epithelium. Alcoholic extract of seeds showed parasympathetic effect on  smooth muscle of guinea pig and rabbit and skeletal muscle of frog Aqueous extract showed anthelmentic activity which was absent in extract prepared by boiling seeds in water. Aqueous extract (Aq.ext.) antibacterial. According to ayurveda it contains Gunna (properties) – ruksh (dry), tikshan (sharp) and laghu (light) Rasa (taste) – tickt (bitter) and kashaya (astringent) Virya (potency) – ushan (hot)

Toxicology:
It has no toxic effect on human body if taken in limited amount. If it is taken in higher doses it leads to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Higher doses of it causes poisoning so should be taken under medical supervision.

Medicinal Uses:
Seeds -Paste applied locally in sciatica, stiffness or shoulder joint and paralysis, said to be useful in dysentery, paste used against skin diseases. Half-boiled seeds are taken as tonic. It also shows anti cancerous action.
Leaves – leaves are used as a substitute for licorice (mulethi). Considered useful in biliousness and in leucoderma, itching and other skin diseases. Decoction widely used for cough, cold and colic. Juice employed as a cure for hoarseness, mixed with oil, applied to painful swellings. Dried leave’s paste as a germicide to wounds in cattle.
Roots- used as diuretics. Used in preparations prescribed for gonorrhea, jaundice and haemoglobinurec bile. Also substitute for licorice but not suitable. Various plant parts are used in night blindness, inflamed gums, muscular pain, and convulsions. It is also used for pain in groins, mucus in urine, grave land bone fracture in cattle.

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