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  • COMMON NAME: Ashwagandha, Indian ginseng, Poisonous gooseberry, Winter cherry
  • ARABIC: سم الفار، عبب
  • BOTANICAL NAME: Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal
  • SYNONYMS: Alicabon somniferum (L.) Raf., Physalis somnifera L., Physaloides somnifera (L.) Moench.
  • FAMILY: SOLANACEAE
  • KIND: Native
  • EMIRATE: Abu-Dhabi
  • GROWTH FORMS: Shrubs
  • HABITATS: Sandy
  • TYPES: Perennial
  • REMARKS: Toxicity: poisonous. The main phytochemical constituents are withanolides – which are triterpene lactones – withanolides, withaferin A, alkaloids, steroidal lactones, tropine, and cuscohygrine. Some 40 withanolides, 12 alkaloids, and numerous sitoindosides have been isolated. Withanolides are structurally similar to the ginsenosides of Panax ginseng, leading to a common name for W. somnifera, "Indian ginseng".
Flora of the United Arab Emirates V1 & 2, Fawzi M.Karim, Nael M.Fawzi; reviewed by Fatima Al-Ansary. Al-Ain: United Arab Emirates University, 2007. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:821709-1#synonyms https://www.floraofqatar.com/withania_somnifera.htm V.V. Byalt, V.M. Korshunov, M.V. Korshunov. Cadaster of the Flora of Fujairah Emirate (United Arab Emirates). Al Fujairah 2021.
Erect shrub, up to 1.5 meter, densely tomentose, with stellate hairs, sometimes glabrescent. Much branched, branches terete. Leaves petiolate, ovate, acute, entire, cuneate at base, 3-8 cm long, 2-5 cm wide. Flowers in axillary, 4-6 flowered clusters, greenish-yellow. Calyx 5 mm long in flower, much enlarged in fruit, stellate, tomentose; teeth triangular, acute. Corolla about 5-7 mm long, lobes oblong, obtuse, ciliate and pubescent outside. Stamens attached near the base of corolla-tube, anthers about 1 mm long, ovate. Berry 5-8 mm in diameter, shining, red, drying yellow-brown. Flowering mainly in summer.
Sandy soil, waste places and roadsides.
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