Andrographis paniculata and Swertia chirata

Both in Ayurveda and Unani, Andrographis paniculata is confused with 'Chitetta' (Swertia chirata), but both are different plants.



Swertia Chirata

Botanical Name : SWERTIA CHIRATA



Family Name : GENTIANACEAE



Common Name : CLEARING NUT TREE, BITTER STICK, CHIRETTE INDIEN, DOWA I PECHISH,INDIAN GENTIAN,



Part Used : Seeds



Habitat : Found in the temperate Himalayas at altitudes of 1,200-3,000 m. from Kashmir to Bhutan and in the Khasi hills in Meghalaya at 1,200-1,500 m.



Uses : According to Ayurveda, this herb is a bitter tonic, stomachic. It is useful in liver disorders, eyes, heart. A strongly bitter tonic it is an excellent remedy for a weak stomach, especially when this gives rise to nausea, indigestion and bloating and it has also been shown to protect the liver.



It is best known as the main ingredient in Mahasudarshana churna, a remedy containing more than 50 herbs. It also contains xanthones which are reputedly effective against malaria and tuberculosis, and also amarogentin, a glycoside that may protect the liver against carbon tetrachloride poisoning.



The whole plant is an exthis herb is an excellent drug for intermittent fevers, skin diseases intestinal worms, bronchial asthma, burning of the body, regulating the bowels.



Chiretta, or chirayta, consists of the dried plant, Swertia Chirata, Buch.-Ham. (N.O. Gentianeae), an erect annual herb, indigenous to the mountainous districts of Northern India. The drug is also official in the U.S.P. When the flowering is well advanced the entire plant is collected, dried, and packed into bundles, which are sometimes compressed before exportation. The drug consists chiefly of the stem, which is of a dark purplish-brown colour, quite glabrous, and contains a large continuous pith. In the upper part it branches freely, bearing numerous fruits and flowers, together with a few opposite leaves with prominent curving lateral veins. The fruits are bicarpellary but unilocular, and contain numerous minute brownish seeds. The root is short, stout, and oblique. All parts of the drug have an intensely bitter taste. Various other species of Swertia (e.g., S. angustifolia, Buch.-Ham. (more); S. alata, Royle (more); S. trichotoma, Wall. (more)) have been found mixed with or substituted for chiretta. From these the genuine drug may be distinguished by its dark colour, intensely bitter taste, and continuous pith. Andrographis Paniculata, Nees (more), which has been offered as chiretta, has dark green stems with numerous slender erect opposite branches, few lanceolate green leaves, and a fibrous root. The roots of Rubia cordifolia, Linn. (more), are also occasionally mixed with chiretta; they are readily distinguished by their purple colour.



Constituents.—The plant contains the two bitter principles, ophelic acid and chiratin. The latter occurs in the larger proportion, and yields, by boiling with hydrochloric acid, chiratogenin and ophelic acid, but no sugar. Neither ophelic acid nor chiratin has been obtained in crystals.



Action and Uses.—Chiretta owes its action to its bitterness; it is used in dyspepsia to improve the appetite. At one time it was believed to exert a specific action upon the liver, but there is no evidence to confirm this. It is usually administered in the form of infusion. The preparations of chiretta are without tannin, and may, therefore, be prescribed with iron. Chiretta and kreat (Andrographis) are active ingredients of many advertised bitters. Chiratin has been used in powder form, diluted with milk sugar, but the liquid preparations of chiretta are usually preferred.