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Medicinal Plants
Koelpinia linearis Pallas
Fam.: Asteraceae (Compositae)Tibetan: sngo chu srin sder ma ? sngo lcags skyu (blue water worm hand)
- Description:
- claw shaped fruits ("animal hands"), upto 30 cm high
- Altitude:
- 3460 m (11,352 foot)
- Location:
- Khadtse (khad tse), sunny south slope between barley fields, loamy soil
- Medical usage:
- lymphatic diseases (chu gser), gastrointestinal disorders, gas in stomach, bone fracture & inflamation
- Used part:
- whole plant
We include this plant here to point out the problem of
substitution.
The texts in the traditional Tibetan Materia Medicas are often
not as precise as we are used to from modern botanical texts.
Lots of similarities, e.g. "animal hands" or
"animal claws" are given.
Now, if these texts are being interpreted in geographical regions
different from where they were originally written, local doctors
tend to use those plants which are similar to the description and
grow in their area. Whether this is justifiable, whether
medicines prepared from substitutes work at all, is a very much
disputed issue among Tibetan and Ladakhi physicians.
