धान्यकम् - Coriandrum sativum
Name - धान्यकम्
Botanical name - Coriandrum sativum
Description - Glabrous, aromatic, herbaceous annual, 30-90 cm high; leaves dicompound, lower ones long-petioled and upper ones short-petioled/subsessile, imparipinnatisect; flowers small, white/pinkish/purple in compound terminal umbels; fruits yellowish brown, globular and ribbed, separating into two halves containing a seed
Chemical Constituents- Plant contains furoisocoumarins coriandrin and dihydrocoriandrin. Seeds contain essential oil, fatty oil, coriandrol. Defatted seeds contain beta-sitosterol, D-mannitol and flavonoid glycosides. Seeds after removing essential oil yielded fatty acids
Use - Seed and plant Seed is used in food preparations extensively, plant is used as food. The drug is aromatic stimulant, carminative, diuretic, tonic, stomachic, anti-bilious, refrigerant and aphrodisiac. Medicinally seed is used to treat fever, biliousness, kidney disorders, eruptive fevers, burning, and in summer drink with milk. Fruit: aromatic, sweet, acrid, bitter, astringent, emollient, anti-inflammatory, thermogenic, stomachic, carminative, appetiser, digestive, diuretic, constipating, antipyretic, stimulant and beneficial in vitiated conditions of pitta, burning sensation, cough, bronchitis, vomiting, dyspepsia, colic, diarrhoea, dysentery, anorexia, dropsy, scrofula, chronic conjunctivitis, gout, rheumatism, giddiness, intermittent fever, etc.
