jivaka :

Jivakah consists of dried and fresh pseudo-bulb of Malaxis acuminata D. Don syn. Microstylis wallichii Lindl. (Fam. Orchidaceae), a short stemmed terrestrial herb up to 25 cm in height, distributed throughout India on hills at an altitude of 2000 -3000 m. 

HISTORICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL REVIEW:

M.  acuminata  is  an  orchid  belonging  to  the  family orchidaceae.  Orchidaceae  is  the  largest  family  among monocotyledons,  containing  600-800  genera. Chinese were  the  first  who  have  described  the  orchids,  their cultivation  and  medicinal  uses.  In  mediaeval times  and even  later,  the  roots  of  the  most  orchids  were  used medicinally. Several of the orchids have bulging or thick tuberlike  roots  and  are  said  to  have  proved  nutritious emergency foods. However, to the great rarity of most of the  species,  already  fast  becoming  exterminate,  it  is hoped  that  no  one  will  experiment  with  these  plants as food. However, at the present  time in remote  districts of the  United  States  and  Canada  the  roots,  as  “Nerve-Boots”

Taxonomical Classification

Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Family: Orchidaceae

Allied species:

4 orchid species

VERNACULAR NAMES

Sanskrit: jivya,dirghayu,cirajivi
English: none (jeevak)
Hindi: jeevak
Telugu: jeevakamu
Marathi: विलायती गवत vilayati gavat , lasun-ghas, lujen
Tamil: jeevakam
Malayalam: jeevakam
Kannada: ಜೀವಕ Jivaka

Varities:

-In India, 19 species of Malaxis are distributed and six of them occur alone in Arunachal Pradesh. Some of the important Indian species are Malaxis acuminata, M. andamanica, M. cylindrostachya, M. khasiana, M. muscifera, M. rheedii and M. versicolor (Chowdhery, 1998). Only a few species of Malaxis are medicinally important

Definition

Synonyms

Synonyms in Ayurveda: jivaka

-The generic name Malaxis, established by Olof Swartz in 1788, is a Greek word meaning softening and refers to the soft texture of its leaves
Rasa: Madhura
Guna: Picchila Snigdha
Veerya: Sheetha
Vipaka: Maduram
Karma: Pittahara Vatahara

The pseudobulbs are sweet, refrigerant, aphrodisiac, febrifuge and tonic. They are useful in haematemesis, fever, seminal weakness, burning sensations, dipsia, emaciation, tuberculosis and general debility.

Cultivation:

Microstylis wallichii thrives well in moist, shady places covered with thick leaf litter deposits in dense oak–deodar forest zone. It preferably grows on the cool northern and Microstylis wallichii – flowers western hill slopes. Sometimes, this species is also found in depressions and gorges in hills such as shola forest type habitat. It grows in loose sandy loam soil, rich in humus, chiefly on upper stratum of organic layer, in the wet localities. The requirement of mean annual rainfall ranges between 1000 mm and 1500 mm, and the optimal mean annual temperature range is 10–15 °C.

Propogation:

The crop is raised by planting whole, half or segmented pseudobulbs directly in main field in the first fortnight of May. The soil is treated with fungicide or solarized to check the fungal attack

Harvesting:

Flowering: July-September

Phytochemistry:

Alcohol (ceryl alcohol), glucose, rhamnose and diterpenes

PHARMACOLOGY:

IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS

Parts used for medicinal purpose

Stem, ,

Dosage:

5-10 gm

Antidote:

-NA

Substitute:

  Jivaka is substituted with Vidari (Pueraria tuberose) , Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or Centaurea behen, Ashwagandha(Withania  somnifera),  Safed Musli(Chlorophytum  borivilianum)  andLillium wallichianum (Balkrishna et al2012)

Adultrants:

-Malaxis acuminata D Don syn Microstylis wallichii Lindl is an important ingredient of an important polyherbal Ayurvedic formulation Ashtavarga. This species is variously known as Jivakah (as per the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India), Jivya, Dirghayu, Cirajivi (in Sanskrit), Jeevak (in Hindi and English), Jeevakam (in Malayalam and Tamil), Jeevakamu (in Telugu). These different names (for the same identity) generally lead to misidentification, unintentional adulteration etc with an adverse impact on its potency.

Controversy:

-Rshabhaka(Malaxis muscifera)

Commercial value:

The species is of great medicinal significance. Its dried pseudobulbs form an ingredient of ‘Ashtavarga’ [a group of eight drugs, namely Jivak, Rishbhak, Mahameda, Meda, Kakoli, Khirkakoli, Ridhi and Bridhi (Singh, 2006)] used in the preparation of Ayurvedic tonic ‘Chyavanprash’. The tonic is energizing, cures tuberculosis, and enhances sperm formation (Chauhan, 1990; Govindarajan et al., 2007). Extensive pressure of commercial collection and habitat destruction have detrimentally affected the size and frequency of its natural populations which even otherwise stand impaired because of poor fruit set and slow vegetative propagation.

Morphology:

Fresh pseudo bulb conical in shape, fleshy, green, smooth, shining, 1 to 9 cm long and 1  to 3 cm broad, slightly mucilagenous, covered with shining, transluscent light green, membraneous, 3 or 4 sheathing leaves arranged alternately and having parallel venation; stem rudimentary; roots arising at the union of stem and bulb. 

Histology:

 T.S. of pseudo bulb oval to circular in outline; section passing through scaly leaves which exfoliate, showing a single layered, thick walled, sclerified epidermis having acicular crystals of calcium oxalate, followed by mesophyll adjacent to the upper epidermis composed of 2 to 4 layers of elongated cells with lignified reticulate thickening the lignification was confirmed with phloroglucinol and Conc. HCl, devoid of chlorolplast; vascular bundles prominent, phloem well developed with large sieve plates, surrounded by sclerenchymatous bundle sheath; section passing through bulb shows a single layer of cuticle and a layer of thick walled sclerified epidermal cells; below this lie 1 or 2 layers of large sclerified cells and these extend unevenly into ground parenchymatous tissue; ground parenchyma irregular, with large air spaces with passage cells in the form of small protuberances at some places; vascular bundles scattered throughout the ground tissue surrounded by thick walled sclerenchymatous cells, which occasionally extend into intercellular spaces. 

Geographical distribution:

Malaxis acuminata is an Asiatic species distributed widely in Thailand, China, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, and India. In India, it dwells in the Himalayan, Khasia and Jaintia, and peninsular (Western Ghats, Nilgiris) hills on the mainland and Andaman hills offshore. Along the Himalayas, it extends from Shimla eastwards to Sikkim within an altitudinal range of 1500-2300 m, and occupies humus-rich and moist substratum in shaded situations. 

ECOLOGICAL ASPECT:

-Forest, Grassland, Shrubland

Plant conservation:

-Jeevak,  the orchid  is  a  critically  endangered  species  and  collection from  the  wild  can  cause  irreparable  damage  to  the survival  of  this  species.  Collection  from  wild  has  been banned in certain states like Uttarakhand. No report on its commercial cultivation  is available  so  far.

General Use:

To treat of haematemesis and fever, seminal weakness, burning sensations, emaciation, tuberculosis and general debility.

Therapeutic Uses:

swasa

Systemic Use:

 It is used in condition of  sterility,  vitiated  condition  of  pitta  and  vata,  seminal weakness,  internal  and  external  haemorrhages, dysentery,  fever,  emaciation,  burning  sensation  and general  debility.  Paste  of  pseudo  bulb  can  be  applied externally  in  case  of  insect  bites,  and  when  mixed  with other  plants  are  used  in the  treatment  of  rheumatism. Ayurvedic Dynamics of the plants includes sweetness in taste,  cold  in  potency,  pacifies  vata  and  aggravates kapha.  It  has  also  been  used  pharmacologically  in bleeding diathesis, Burning sensation, and Phthisis (lung disease)

Administration:

Pharmacological:

Balya, 

Clinical trials:

Research:

Precautions:

-not known

Toxicity studies:

-not known

Use in other system of medicine:

-Orchids are widely used in traditional Chinese medicines.

CONCLUSION:

Malaxis  acuminata  (Jeevak)  is  of  a  renowned  status  in  the  Ayurveda. M.  acuminata  is a globally  soil loving plant that  grows in the  shady  areas  of  semi-evergreen  to  shrubby  forest.  Its  dried  pseudo-bulbs  are  important  ingredients  of  several Ayurvedic  preparations  like  Chyawanprash,  therefore  it  is  well  known  for  its  medicinal  properties.  It  belongs  to Ashtverga (combination of eight drugs) which is one of the core parts of the Ayurveda

Ayurvedic Formulations:

Common Ayurvedic Formulations of jivaka with their Indications
Brahma Rasayana

KEY WORDS: jivaka Malaxis acuminata D.Don, Microstylis wallichii Lindl.

• » Classification and names of jivaka
• » Synonyms and definitions of jivaka
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• » Parts used and Dosage of jivaka
• » Morphology and Histology of jivaka
• » Distribution and Conservation of jivaka
• » Cultivation of jivaka
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• » Medicinal Uses of jivaka
• » Researches and clinical trails of jivaka
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