Distribution and habitat: Found throughout the sub-Himalayan tracts from Kashmir to Khasi Hills. It is common in West Bengal, Bihar and Central and Peninsular India.

Botany: Erect subherbaceous leafy shrub, 1-2 m high; 

• Leaves: Alternate simple, petioles stout , stipules glandular, lower ones 15-30 cm long while upper ones 5.0-7.5 cm in length, biglandular at base, rigid, ribs prominent;
• Inflorescence: Racemes 0.4 cm, may contain only male flowers or a few female flowers too; florets small, subsessile;
• Fruit: Capsules trilobed, 0.8 -1.25 cm long ; seeds mottled and endosperm oily.

Chemical constituents: Roots contain diterpenes, baliospermin, montanin, phorbol-12-deoxy-13-O-palmitate, phorbol-12-deoxy-16-hydroxy-13-O-palmitate and phorbol-12-deoxy-5b-hydroxy-13 –myristate . 

Uses: Root is used in abdominal pain, constipation, calculus, general anasarca, piles, helminthic manifestations, scabies, skin disorders, suppurative ulcers and diseases caused by the morbidity of kapha and pitta. Root paste is applied to painful swellings and piles. Leaves cure asthma and seeds are used in snakebite.

Formulations: Dantyarista, Dantyadi churna, Dantiharitakileham, Kaisoraguggulu gulika etc.

Agrotechnology

Propagation: Stem cuttings. Spacing of 3 m between mounds with 2 rooted cuttings per mound

Harvesting: Roots can be collected at the end of second year. The roots are to be cut and dried in sun before marketing. The yield is about one tonne root/ha.