Strychnos Nux-Vomica
Family : Loganiaceae
Common Name : Nux-vomica tree
English Name : Poison Nut
Hindi Name : Musti
Telugu Name : Musti
Tree Characteristics :
Nux Vomica is a medium-sized tree with a short, crooked, thick trunk. The wood is white hard, close grained, durable. Branches are irregular, covered with a smooth ash-coloured bark. Young shoots are deep green, shiny. Oppostely arranged short stalked leaves are elliptic, shiny, smooth on both sides, about 4 inches long and 3 broad. Flowers are small, greenish-white, funnel shaped, borne in small clusters at the end of branches. They have a disagreeable smell. Fruit is about the size of a large apple with a smooth hard shell which when ripe is orange colored, filled with a soft white jelly-like pulp containing five seeds. The seeds are like flattened disks densely covered with closely appressed satiny hairs, radiating from the centre of the flattened sides and giving to the seeds a characteristic sheen.
Nursery Practice :
The seeds are collected from about middle of December to end of April. The pulp of the fruit is washed or rotted off and the seeds are sun - dried on mats. The seeds are then sorted; the floaters rejected. Seeds can be stored for one year in gunny bags. No. of seeds per Kg is 635 to 650; Germination percentage is 25 and the Germination period is 60 to 70 days. Mild boiled water treatment and soaking in water for 48 hours or keeping the seeds in cowdung slurry for 24 hours.
Seed put in the polybags in March and hay is spread over the bags in order to maintain the heat. Growth of the seedlings is very slow and the growth of the root is very fast.
Economic Uses :
The wood is not attacked by termites and is used in ploughs, axe handles etc. Seeds are the Nux vomica of commerce and yields the alkaliods strychnine and brucine. The wood is used locally for axe and hammer handles, agricultural implements and for ornamental panels. The seeds yield alkaloids, which are used in medicine
Nux Vomica is recommended for upset stomach, vomiting, abdominal pain, constipation, intestinal irritation, hangovers, heartburn, insomnia, certain heart diseases, circulatory problems, eye diseases, depression, migraine headaches, nervous conditions, problems related to menopause, and respiratory diseases in the elderly.
In folk medicine, it is used as a healing tonic and appetite stimulant.
Nux vomica is a common homeopathic medicine prescribed for digestive problems, sensitivity to cold, and irritability.
