Withania somnifera
Withania somnifera
Author : (L.) Dunal
Family : Solanaceae

Habit:Undershrub
Sanskrit: Asvagandha, Varahakarni
English: Winter cherry
 
Description
A subshrub, 0.5-1.5 m high, with stout, fleshy, whitish-brown roots, hoary-tomentose branchlets, elliptic-ovate leaves, greenish-yellow flowers, in axillary fascicles and small, globose, orange-red berries, enclosed in persistent calyx containing numerous small, yellow, reniform seeds.
Useful part

Root, leaves, seeds
Medicinal Uses

leucoderma, constipation, insomnia, cough, scabies, female disorders, asthma, cardiac disorders, psoriasis, consumption, ulcers, scabies, marasmus of children, senile debility, nervous breakdown, fever, painful swellings, syphilitic sores, bleedings, tumours, tuberculous glands, epilepsy, gastritis, hyper- & hypoacidity
Major chemical constituents

withanine, withananine, pseudowithanine, somniferine, somniferinine, withanolide, withasomnine, sominine, tropine, hygrine, anaferin, isopelletierine HCl, pseudotropine, anahygrine, β-sitosterol, choline, sucrose, withaniol, nicotine, withaferin A, withanolide, withanone, proline, valine, tyrosine, alanine, glycine, aspartic acid, cystine, dihydrowithaferin A2, fatty acids