Satamuli, is the medicinal plant widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical India up to an altitude of 1500 m in the Himalayas. These plants are also very common in the upper Gangetic plains and the Bihar plateau. Satamuli plant is also known as Asparagaceae. The botanical name of the Satamuli medicinal plant is Asparagus racemosus Willd. This plant has lots of common names which vary according to the regions of India. Such as in Bengali, this medicinal plant is known as Shatamuli; in Hindi it is known as Chatwal, Satawar, Satmuli and Shakakul; in Punjabi this medicinal plant is popular as Bozidan and Satawar; in Sanskrit it is famous as Satamuli, Satavari, Svadurasa, and Svetmuli; and in Urdu the Satamuli plant is known as Satavara.
Satamuli plant is a spiny and climbing shrub with a branched, woody stems of whitish- grey or brown in colour. The spines of this medicinal plant are usually of 0.5 cm to 1.3 cm long. Rootstocks are short and tuberous which bear numerous numbers of 30 cm to 100 cm long succulent tuberous roots. Flowers are long up to 5 cm to 15 cm and white in colour. These have a sweet fragrant and appear in a bunch. The fruits or berries of this medicinal plant are globose in structure. The diameter of this fruit varies from 0.4 cm to 0.6 cm in diameter. On maturing, the colour of the fruit becomes red.
The Satamuli plant is important for its medicinal uses. In India, numerous medicines are prepared from this plant parts. In Ayurveda, the plant parts play a major role for curing different diseases. In this medicinal practice, the roots are considered alterative, stomachic, tonic, aphrodisiac and astringent to the bowels. They are used to treat dysentery, tumours, inflammations, biliousness, diseases of the blood and eyes, rheumatism and diseases of the nervous system.
Satamuli plants are also important in Unani practice. In this process the roots are used in the treatment of kidney and liver disorders, gleet and gonorrhea. They are taken to relieve fever by the tribal inhabitants of southern Bihar. In different regions it has different medicinal uses. Such as, in some parts of India the dried, powdered roots of these medicinal plants are used to increase lactation in nursing mothers for the treatment of leucorrhoea, sexual weakness and rheumatism. Whereas in some other parts of India, the fresh root juice is mixed with honey for the disease of dyspepsia in human beings.
This medicinal plant is also used for the treatment of menorrhagia disease. An aqueous extract of the crushed roots along with the mixture of Smilacaceae and Amaranthaceae is used to cure leucorrhoea. In some regions, a paste prepared from the root along with the leaves of Rhamnaceae plant, which is applied to the forehead at bedtime as a treatment for mental illness. A paste prepared from the root mixed with black pepper from this Satamuli plant is applied externally to treat hydrocele disease. The leaf paste of this medicinal plant is also used in combination with warm water baths to cure scabies.
