Badishop, Saunf, Mishreya

Biological Source

Mishreya consists of dried ripe fruits of Foeniculum vulgare Mill (Family - Umbelliferae) , an erect, glabrous, aromatic herb, 1-2 m high, cultivated extensively throughout India upto 1830 m and also sometimes found wild, fruits ripen in September, stems cut with sickles and put up in loose sheaves to dry in sun, when dry, fruits are beaten out in a cloth in sun, cleaned by winnowing and collected.

Synonyms

Sanskrit :- Misi, Misi, Madhurika

Assam :- Guvamuri

Bengali :- Marui, Panmauri

English :- Fannel Fruit

Gujrati :- Variyali

Hindi :- Saunf

Kannada :- Badisompu, Doddasompu

Kashmiri :- Sanuf, Badnai

Malayalam :- Kattusatakuppa, Parinjaeragum

Marathi :- Badishop

Oriya :- Panamadhuri

Punjabi :- Saunf

Tamil :- Shombu

Telugu :- Sopu

Urdu :- Saunf

Description

A) Macroscopic

Fruits, usually entire with pedicel attached, mericarps, upto about 10 mm long and 4 mm broad, five sided with a wider commissural surface, tapering lightly towards base and apex, crowned with a conical stylopod, glabrous, greenish or yellowish-brown with five paler prominent primary ridges , endosperm, orthospermous.

B) Microscopic

Transverse section of fruit shows pericarp with outer epidermis of quadrangular to polygonal cells with smooth cuticle and a few stomata, trichomes, absent vittae, 4 dorsal and 2 commissural extending with length of each mericarp, intercostal with an epithelium of brown cells and volatile oil in cavity, mesocarp, with much reticulate lignified parenchyma, costae, 5 in each mericarp, each with 1vascular strand having inner xylem strand and 2 lateral phloem strands separated by a bundle of fibres inner epidermis of very narrow, thin-walled cells arranged parallel to one another in groups of 5-7, many of these groups with longer axis of their cells at angle with those of adjacent groups (Parquetry arrangement), endosperm consists of thick-walled, cellulosic parenchyma containing much fixed oil, micro-rosette crystals of calcium oxalate, and numerous aleurone grains upto 5 μ in diameter, carpophore with very thick-walled sclerenchyma in two strands, often unsplit with two strands very close to each Other.

Identity, Purity and Strength

Foreign matter :- Not more than 2 per cent,

Total Ash :- Not more than 12 per cent,

Acid-insoluble ash :- Not more than 15 per cent,

Alcohol-soluble extractive :- Not less than 4 per cent,

Water-soluble extractive :- Not less than 1 per cent,

Volatile oil :- Not less than 1.4 %. v/w,

Active Constituents

Essential oil and fixed oil

Properties and Action

Rasa :- Madhura, Katu, Tikta

Guna :- Laghu, Ruksa

Virya :- Sita

Vipaka :- Madhura

Karma :- Anulomana, Balya, Dipana, Vatapittahara, Amadosahara

Important Formulations

Misreyarka, Panchasakara Churna

Therapeutic Uses

Sula, Agnimandya, Kasa, Pravahika, Raktadosa, Arsas

Dose

3-6 g. of the drug in powder form