Kateri Seeds - Kantakari Beej - Katehri Beej

Kateri Seeds is a very useful Ayurveda herb, used widely in the treatment of cough, cold, asthma and such other respiratory tract conditions. It is one among Dashamoola – group of ten roots. Kantakari in Sanskrit means, the one which is good for throat. Kateri seed is used in laryngitis, hoarseness of voice etc.

Extremely useful in all types of coughs and problems related to respiratory system. This herb is useful in curing allergies leading to cough. It is helpful in painful chest and sore throat.

Kateri Seeds (Solanum Xantho-carpum) is one of the members of the dasamula (ten root) of the Ayurveda. It is a very spiny diffuse herb up to 1.2 m tall, commonly found throughout India. The juice of berries is used in sore throat. Roots and seeds are administered as an expectorant in asthma and cough and pain in chest. Stem flowers and fruits are bitter and carminative and are prescribed for relief in burning sensation in the feet. Leaves are applied locally to relieve pain.

The drug is collected mainly from the wild plants, as there is no systematic cultivation of the herb. They are 3-5cm long and 1.6-6 mm thick, dull grayish in color with a soft fibrous structure. Pharmacological studies on this Kateri Seeds herb have shown that aqueous and alcoholic extracts of the plant possess hypotensive effect, which is partly inhibited by atropine (The Wealth of India).

Kateri Seeds Benefits:

Kantakari Beej is used for treatment of cough, asthma, dyspnoea, pain, inflammation, fever, anorexia, dysuria and urinary calculi, skin diseases, improve digestion strength, loss of appetite, cardiac disorders, semen ejaculation problems, amenorrhea and female infertility.

The medicinal Kateri Seeds are widely used by the traditional medical practitioners for curing various diseases. Kantakari Beej (Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. & Wendl.) of the family Solanaceae is one of the dasamoola and commonly used drug in Ayurveda. In traditional systems of medicine, different parts like leaves, stem, flower, root, seeds of Solanum xanthocarpum and the plant as a whole are used. The drug is used as anti-asthmatic, hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, anti-tussive, antipyretic, antispasmodic, anti-histaminic, hypotensive and cytotoxic activity. Focus on plant research has increased all over the world and a large body of evidence has been collected to show immense potential of the drug kantakari used for various respiratory disorders in the Ayurvedic systems of medicine.

Different concentrations of Kateri Seeds extracts of Solanum xanthocarpum exhibit good activity against both the micro-organisms tested. The activity was concentration dependent. The encouraging results indicate that the seed extract of Solanum xanthocarpum can be useful as a natural antibacterial agent for the various infections.