Capparis decidua (karira)

Carak mentioned Karira under phala varga (C.S.S.27/14). He also described it in Yoni vyapat cikitsa. Sushruta and Vagbhata have quoted it several times. It is used in Rasa Sastra for preparing Navasara.

Note– The word Karira is reported to be used in many places for young shoots or tops as in case of Vamsa Karira and Vetra Karira etc. Therefore one should be careful while interpreting it.

Botanical Description – Capparis decidua is a bushy shrub in dense tufts, 4-5 m high, or occasionally a small tree with many green vine-like apparently leafless branches, hanging in bundles. Bark turns whitish-grey colour with age, but most branches and twigs are a glossy dark green. Small, light brown spines occur in pairs on the twigs at each node. Leaves very minute (2 mm long), with a very short life span on young shoots, so that the plant looks leafless most of the time. Flowers pink, red-veined, in small groups along the leafless shoots, in the axils of the spines. Fruit a small many-seeded ovoid or sub-globulous, slightly mucronate pink berry of the size and shape of a cherry, becoming blackish when dry. The generic name is derived from the Arabic ‘kapar’, the name for Capparis spinosa. It is found in Thar desert and in other arid regions in southern Asia. The new flush of leaves appears in November-January. Red conspicuous flowers appear in March to April and August-September and ripe by May and October. The pink fleshy berries are readily eaten by birds. It coppices well and produces root suckers freely.

Major Chemical Constituents–

Root & Stem– Capparine, Capparilline, Capparinine, Cappari-disine, isocondonocarpine (alkaloids).

Leves– Glucocapparin (glucoside)

Dosage– Powder 1-3g; decoction 50-100 ml.

Research–

(1) Fruits, leaves, bark and roots claimed to relieve of ailments such as toothache, cough, asthma, intermittent fever and rheumatism; also useful in cardiac troubles and biliousness (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. India 1972, 42A, 24).

(2) Capparidisine showed dose-dependent effect on the heart rate and coronary flow in isolated rabbit heart. Maximum fall in coronary flow observed at 1.0mg/ml. Contraction of heart rate increased at 2.0ng dose and then upto 32.0 ng a dose-dependent fall was observed in force of contraction and heart rate repectively (Pakistan J. Pharmacol. 1989,6,61).