- Botanical Name : Solanum Xanthocarpum
- Family Name : Solanaceae
- Common Name : Yellow-berried Nightshade(english), Nidigadhika/Kantakari(Sanskrit), Kanteli(Hindi), Pinnamulaka/Nelamulaka/Vakudu(Telugu), Kantakari(Bengali), Bhuiringani( Marwai), Bhoyaringani( Gujarati), Kandankattiri(Tamil and Malayalam), Bhejibegun and Ankranti(Oriya), Kandyali, Mahori and Warumba(Punjabi), Rengnie, Bhat-khataya and Rangaini Janum(Bihar).
- Part Used : Fruits, Whole Plant
- Habitat : Through out india,
- Product offered : Fruits, Wholeplant
Uses : Fruits eaten as an anthelmintic and for indigestion. Root is an expectorant, used in Ayurvedic medicine for cough, asthma and chest pain. Also used for flatulence, sore throat, and toothache. Has high concentration of solasodine, a starting material for the manufacture of cortisone and sex hormones. It cures asthma, cough, bronchspasm, sore throat, constipation, an effective expectorant and diuretic.
Uses & Benefits of Kantakari (or) Yellow-berried Nightshade
- Kantakari is useful in treating worms, cold, hoarseness of voice, fever, dysuria, enlargement of the liver, muscular pain, spleen and stone in the urinary bladder.
- Nasal administration of kantkari is beneficial in migraine, asthma and headache.
- Its dried fruit is used in making cigarettes. The smoke from these cigarettes is held in the mouth cavity, to treat dental infections.
- The juice of the berries is used in curing sore throat.
- The fumigation of kantakari is helpful in piles.
- The herb is made to a paste and applied on swollen and painful joints to reduce the pain and swelling in arthritis.
- Roots and seeds are used as an expectorant in asthma, cough and pain in chest.
- The decoction of the root is given with honey, to treat cough.
- The root is ground to a paste and mixed with lemon to cure snake and scorpion bites.
- Its stem, flowers and fruits, being bitter and carminative, are used for relieving burning sensation in the feet.
- Kantakari fruits also facilitate seminal ejaculation, alleviate worms, itching, and fever and reduce fats.
- The fruit works as an aphrodisiac in males.
- Its seeds are helpful for treating irregular menstruation and dysmenorrheal in females.
- The herb is beneficial in the treatment of cardiac diseases associated with edema, since it is a stimulant to the heart and a blood purifier.
Caution
- Kantkari should not be taken during pregnancy.