Leipungkhangga

• Botanical Name : Solanum Indicum
• Family Name : Solanaceae
• Common Name : Poison Berry, Indian Nightshade, African Eggplant, Bush Tomato, Ntunfulu
• Part Used : Roots, Berries
• Habitat : Throughout india in the plains and at low elevations.
• Product offered : Seeds, Wholeplant, Fruits

Barhanta is a small herb of multiple branches which is 1.8 meters tall. The leaves are 5 to 15 centimeters long and 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters wide, ovate in outline, subentire or with a few large triangular-ovate lobes, sparsely prickly and hairy on both sides, base cordate, cuneate or truncate, often unequal-sided and the petioles are 1.3 to 2.5 centimeters long and are prickly. The flowers of this herb are borne in racemose extra-axillary cymes, peduncles are short, and the pedicels are 6 to 13 millimeters long, stellate-hairy and prickly. The calyx is 3 millimeters long, stellately hairy, teeth triangular and 1.5 millimeters long. Corolla is pale purple and is 0.8 centimeters long, outside covered with darker purple stellate hairs. The lobes are 5 millimeters long, deltoid-ovate and acute. The fruits (berries) of Barhanta are globose, about 0.8 centimeters in diameter, dark yellow in colour when ripe and are glabrous. The seeds are 0.4 centimeters in diameter and are minutely pitted. Flowering in this herb takes place mainly between the months of August and October and fruiting in November and December.

Uses :

Roots are diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, stimulant. The root is used against bronchitis, itch and for body aches, for asthma and to cure wounds while the seeds are used to treat toothache. The berries are injurious to children but are often eaten by adults with impunity, especially when quite ripe as the poisonous principle is chiefly associated with all green parts. It is applied in medicine similarly to bittersweet but is more powerful and possesses greater narcotic properties. The leaves are placed in the cradles of infants to promote sleep. It is useful in cutaneous disorders. Their juice has been used for ringworm, gout and earache and when mixed with vinegar, is considered to be good for gargle and mouthwash. Half-ripe fruits are employed in the preparation of curries, chutneys and preserves. A decoction of root is prescribed as a tonic and also used in difficult parturition.