It is a sub-erect, prickly shrub with white tuberous roots. Stem is sub-erect, terete and smooth. Branchlets are ascending, grooved and angled. Angles are minutely scabrid. Spines are 1.5 cm long, stout and straight. Cladodes are dense, slender, filiform, terete, soft and sub-erect or curved. Racemes are many flowered. Perianth segments are spreading. The berry is one seeded.

Demulcent, diaphoretic, galactogogue, stimulant, aphrodisiac (root bark powder); antimicrobial (root).

Herbal Monograph
Herb Information

O-[beta-D-2-tetracosylxylophyranosyl]-stigma- sterol, 3-beta-O-[beta-D-glycopyranosyl (12)-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl]-stigmasterol (dried root); asparagin (root); sarsasapogenin (plant).

In diarrhea and dysentery (root powder); as an aphrodisiac and to increase sperm count (root bark powder).

May cause congestion.

Sharma, Classical Uses of Medicinal Plants.