Botanical Name

Cassytha filiformis L.

Family

Lauraceae.

Synonyms

Calodium cochinchinense Lour., Calodium cochinchinensis Lour., Cassytha americana Nees, Cassytha aphylla Raeusch., Cassytha archboldiana C.K.Allen, Cassytha brasiliensis Mart. ex Nees, Cassytha corniculata Burm.f., Cassytha cuscutiformis F. Muell., Cassytha dissitiflora Meisn., Cassytha lifuensis Guillaumin, Cassytha zeylanica Gaertn., Cassytha zeylanica Gaertn.

Regional Name

English : Love Vine, air creeper, devil's gut, dodder-laurel, green thread creeper, moss creeper, princess hair, Sita's yarn. Hindi : Akas bel, Akashbel, Amal bel, Kasus, Agas Bel,  Sanskrit : Akasavalli. Urdu: Akas bel, Marathi: Amarvel, Ambarvel, Assamese : Honborialoti, Akashilata, Tamil : Erumai-k-korran, turrumai-k-korran, pacu-n-korran. Telugu : Akasa-valli. Kannada : Aakaasha balli, Amara balli, bilu balli, daarada balli, janivaara balli, mamgana udidaara.  Oriya: Akashavuli, Bengali : Akasbel, Swarnalatha.

Part Used

Whole Plant.

Description

Akash bel is a twining vine with an orange to pale green stem. Akash bel is found throughout the tropical world. It is commonly found plant in India which is spread across the varied landscapes of the Indian soil from semi -arid plains to the hill tops up to a height of 3000 m. Love Vine is a very distinctive vine which can sometimes be confused with Amar Bel (Cuscuta reflexa Roxb.). Like Amar Bel, Love Vine is also parasitic on plants. The most readily visible features that distinguish these two genera (Cassytha vs. Cuscuta) appear in the inflorescence and the fruits. The flowers of cuscuta are small, about 2 mm in diameter, and are borne singly along the stem. The fruit is a dry, spherical, thin-shelled structure containing several small black seeds. The flowers of C. filiformis are borne in small panicles. The fruit is small, fleshy, and berry-like, bearing a single, spherical seed. Stems of Cassytha filiformis are twining, pale green to orange, thread-like, smooth or velvety. Leaves are reduced to scales about 1 mm long, easiest seen near tips of stems. Flowers are borne in spikes or rarely singly, very tiny, and look like small white balloons sometimes solitary less than 2 mm. There are six tepals, each 0.1-2.0 mm long. Fruit is ovoid a drupe about 7 mm in diameter spherical, size of a large pea, smooth, green or orange-red on maturing, rarely white, commonly drying black.

Phytoconstituents

It contains group of aporphine alkaloids and was found to be cathafiline, cathaformine, cassythidine, cassythine, nantenine, actinodaphnine, neolitsine, dicentrine, N-methyl actinodaphnine, predicentrine and ocoteine. It is also contains quercetin 3-O-robinobioside, quercetin 3-O-rutinoside, quercetin 3-O-galactoside, kaempferol 3- O-robinobioside, isorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside and isorhamnetin 3-O-robinobioside.

Ayurvedic Properties

Guna : Pichhil), Rasa : Kashaya , Tikta, Vipaka : Katu (pungent), Virya : Sheet.

Ayurvedic Applications

Anaha, Arsa, Grdhrasi, Gandamala, Gulma, Jvara, Kandu, Kaphavataja roga , Krmi, Kustha, Sotha, Prameha, Raktavikara, Tvak roga, Udara , Udavarta,Vrana.

Medicinal Uses

Cassytha filiformis is a traditional remedy for cancer, which is a major threat in the present world. The plant is also used to treat various human birthing issues, gonorrhoea, kidney ailments, African trypanosomiasis, acts as a diuretic and against many other diseases .They possess the pharmacological activities such as anti-oxidant, anti-trypanosomal, anti-platelet, vasorelaxant activities.