tangan tangan (castor oil plant) interestingness

Folkloric

· Entire fresh leaves are used externally for headache.

· Cooked with milk, leaves are used as poultices for certain kinds of ulcers.

· Seeds are purgative; also used as antirheumatic.

· Root-bark is purgative; also used for skin diseases and burns.

· Rheumatic arthritis, paralysis; epilepsy; distention of the uterus, prolapsus ani: drink dried root decoction or poultice Bai-hui pt (GV-20) with pounded seed or leaf material.

· Difficult partus, non-lowering of the fetus (during delivery): poultice Yungchuan Pt (K-1 pt) with pounded fresh leaves.

· Lymph node TB; facial paralysis: poultice with pounded seeds (seed coat removed). If the paralytic side is on the left side of the face, apply poultice on the left.

· Wound caused by piercing with pointed objects (nails, bamboo slats, bullet wound): use pounded fresh seed and apply as poultice.

· To increase the woman's secretion of milk, leaves are pounded and applied over the breast as poultice.

· Decoction of leaves reported to act as lactagogue and emmenagogue when administered internally.

· Skin ulcers: Boil pounded leaves and use as wash.

· Bark of castor plant also sued as dressing for ulcers and sores.

· Seed oil is laxative and vermicide; also used as ear drops to hardened cerumen. Also used for warts.

· For hemorrhoids, seeds are roasted, pounded, and applied to affected area. The oil is suitable for piles and anal fissures.

· Dosage: dried roots 15 to 30 gms in decoction.

· Seed paste applied to wounds and itch for 4-5 days.

· In Rhodesia, natives use the bark for dressing wounds and sores.

· Zulus use a paste of the root for toothaches; also, an infusion of leaves, applied orally or as an enema, for stomachaches.

· Leaf poultice used for boils.

· In French Guinea leaves are boiled and used as febrifuge.

· In Ayurveda, the leaf, root and seed oil used for inflammation and liver disorders.

· In China, crushed seeds used more frequently than the oil; a paste is applied to relieve scrofulous sores.

· Transvaal Sutos known to apply the powdered, roasted seeds to sores and boils in children.

· In Makran, oil used as ointment for sores.

· In Central Nigeria, seed variety is a popular contraceptive agent among the Rukaba women.

· Pulp is rubbed into the temples in headaches, into the palms of hands in palsy, into the urethra in stricture, and rubbed to the soles of feet of parturient women to hasten the birth of the child or to facilitate the expulsion of the placenta.

· Seeds are chewed in scrofula.

· Pulp is used for a variety of skin affections, dog bites, or whenever a lubricant is needed.

· Castor oil used as a mild purgative, adaptable to infants and young children. It is considered one of the most reliable cathartic for relief of obstinate constipation.

- Used as emmenagogue and galatagogue. Castor oil massaged over the breast after childbirth increases the flow of milk. (30)

- Warmed leaves coated with oil applied over the abdomen to relieve flatulence in children. Infusion of leaves used for stomachache. Fresh leaf juice used as emetic in narcotic poisoning; also considered useful in jaundice. Pounded leaves used for caries; also, applied over guinea-worm sores to extract the worm. Root decoction used for lumbago; paste used for toothache. (26)

- In Sindh ethnobotany: (1) given in hot milk to induce labor pains (2) applied intravaginally for opening the uterus mouth at the time of delivery (3) used for expulsion of plasma membrane after delivery, and (4) castor beans are used to decrease the postpartum size of the abdomen. (29)

Others

• As far back as 4000 BC, its slow burning seed oil was used to fuel lamps.

• Tañgan-tañgan is the source of the castor oil of commerce.

• Although best known for its medicinal properties for its use as a purgative, only a comparatively small amount of used for medicinal purposes. Its chief use is as lubricant for internal combustion engines, particularly aero-engines, for which it is suitable because of its high viscosity, retained at high temperatures, while non-solidifying at low temperatures.

• Castor oil is insoluble in light petroleum and other mineral oils. It can be used for making compound lubricating oil.

• Cosmetics: The seed oil of RC and its primary constituent, ricinoleic acid are used in the manufacture of skin-conditioning agents, as emulsion stabilizers and surfactants in cosmetics. In lipstick, castor oil is used at 81% concentration.

• Castor oil is also used in making "cognac oil," in a dressing for leather, in "fat-liqouring" in the leather industry, in the manufacture of artificial leather, cutting oils, linoleum, and as wool oil.

• Also used in retouching-varnishes and in the negative varnishes of photography.

• Castor oil is classified by the FDA as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) and effective as a stimulant laxative.

• Contraceptive: Used in making contraceptive jellies and creams. Also, used with a pinch of alum for contraception. In women, one castor seed a month after the menstrual cycle reported to prevent conception for that month. (30)

• Cake left after the castor oil is extracted from the kernels of castor seeds is used as fertilizer. In addition to its use as manure, it is also employed as fuel, for caulking timber, destroying white ants (termites) and other pests.

 

source: stuart xchange

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