Pankaj Oudhia
Society for Parthenium Management (SOPAM)
28-A, Geeta Nagar, Raipur - 492001 India
pankaj.oudhia@usa.net
www.pankajoudhia.com
Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved. Quotation from this document should cite and acknowledge the contributor.
Scientific Name: Saccharum spontaneum L.
Family: Poaceae
Hindi Name: Kans, Kansi, Kas.
General Description: It grows as wasteland weed. It is considered as valuable medicinal herb in traditional systems of medicine in India. It is popular folk medicine.
Botanical differences between major Saccharum species.
| Characters | S. spontaneum | S. benghalense |
| Plant | A stout, erect perennial, up to 6 m. high | A robust, perennial grass |
| Stem | Solid above, fistular below, polished, silky below panicles and minutely silky below upper leaf-insertions | Pale, solid, pithy, smooth, with an inconspicuous growth-ring and root-zone. |
| Leaves | Erect, glaucous, midrib white, margins scabrid, often villous above base, sheath longer than internode | Linear, usually more than one meter long, margins scabrid, sheaths tight, silky at base, hairy on margins above |
| Panicles | Conical-oblong, branches ascending, usually reddish or purplish, primary rachis silky with long, white hairs | White villous |
| Spikelets | In pairs, awnless, laceolate, sessile, pedicelled similar lower involucral glume of sessile spikelets glabrous | In pairs, one sessile and the other pedicelled. Lower involucral glume of sessile spikelets villous |
| Flowering and Fruiting | Oct.-Feb. | Throughout the year |
Useful Parts: Whole herb, Roots.
Medicinal Uses: According to Ayurveda, roots are sweet, astringent, emollient, refrigerant, diuretic, lithotriptic, purgative, tonic, aphrodisiac and useful in treatment of dyspepsia, burning sensation, piles, sexual weakness, gynecological troubles, respiratory troubles etc.
Other Uses
Planted to check soil-erosion.
Culm suitable for pulp to prepare different grades of papers.
Leaves are used for thatching.
Leaves are employed for cordage and broom.
Possess strong Allelochemicals and Allelopathic properties.
Used as material for sugarcane breeding.
Having religious importance.
Internet Resources
Interactions with the traditional healers and natives of Janjgir region, Chhattisgarh,
India having rich traditional medicinal knowledge about common herbs http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/116_janjgir.html
Traditional medicinal knowledge about common herbs and insects : Interactions
with the natives of village Khudmudi, Chhattisgarh, India
http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/24_interactions_natives.html
Interactions with the traditional healers of Chhattisgarh, India specialised
in treatment of Joint Pains http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/126_jointpain.html
References
Bhandari, M.M. (1990). Flora of the Indian desert. Pbl. MPS Repros, Jodhpur,
India : 390-391.
Sastri, CST and Kavathekar, K.Y. (1990). Plants for reclamation of wastelands.
Pbl. CSIR, New Delhi, India. : 360-362.