Cynanchum acidum

Cynanchum acidum is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, typically found in the arid parts of peninsular^[1] India where it is used in religious sacrifices. The plant is religiously linked to Hinduism and is believed to be a major ingredient of the Soma in Ancient India.^[2]

Cynanchum acidum
Cynanchum acidum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Genus:	Cynanchum
Species:	C. acidum
Binomial name
Cynanchum acidum (Roxb.) Oken
Synonyms
Asclepias acida Roxb. Asclepias aphylla Roxb. ex Wight Sarcostemma acidum (Roxb.) Voigt Sarcostemma brevistigma Wight & Arn.

Description

Cynanchum acidum is a perennial leafless, jointed shrub with green, cylindrical, fleshy glabrous with twining branches having milky white latex and with its leaves reduced to scales. Its flowers are white or pale greenish white, are fragrant and grow in umbels on branch extremities. The fruits follicles taper at both ends; seeds are flat, ovate, comose. This leafless plant grows in rocky, sterile places all over India.

Uses

As a beverage

Main articles: Soma (drink) and Botanical identity of soma–haoma

The plant yields an abundance of a mildly acidulous milky juice, and travellers like nomadic cowherds suck its tender shoots to allay thirst. Traditional accounts hold that Cynanchum acidum is the Soma plant of the Vedas. The Rigveda, ix. says the purifying Soma, like the sea rolling its waves, has poured forth songs, hymns, and thoughts.^[3]

Medicinal

India

In classical Indian medicine it is considered useful in vitiated conditions of pitta, dipsia, viral infection, hydrophobia, psychopathy and general debility.^[4]