Ayurvedic herbs and medicine -Part 2

Hundreds of Ayurvedic Herbs and their names in many languages, medical usage with way of usage and for what cause….please read and use them in your daily life time they never harm you only give you profit in health……

Sea Mango

Common name: Sea Mango, Madagascar ordeal bean,Odollam tree, pink-eyed cerbera, dog-bane •Marathi: Sukanu • Tamil: kodalma, kattarali, kottuma, caat aralie • Malayalam: utalam, chattankaya •Kannada: Chande, monde

Botanical name: Cerbera manghas    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Synonyms: Cerbera venenifera, Tanghinia venenifera

Sea Mango is a small evergreen coastal tree growing up 12 m tall. The shiny dark-green leaves are alternate, ovoid in shape. The flowers are fragrant, possessing a white tubular 5 lobed corolla about 3 to 5 cm in diameter, with a pink to red throat. They have 5 stamens and the ovary is positioned above the other flower parts. The fruits are egg-shaped, 5-10 cm long, and turn bright red at maturity. Sea Mango is native to Madagascar, South-East Asia, and many Pacific islands. Flowering: April-August.

Medicinal uses: The seed oil in plasters applied to the skin is effective for scabies and prurigo, and applied to the hair kills head-lice. The glycosides extracted from the seeds are active on heart failure. The trunk bark or the leaves are occasionally used as a purgative, but strict precautions must be taken because of their high toxicity.

Indrajao

Common name: Indrajao • Assamese: dhulkari, dudkhuri • Bengali: kurchi, কুটজ kutaja • Gujarati: કડવો ઇન્દ્રજવ kadavo indrajav • Hindi: कडवा इंद्रजव karva indrajau, कुटज kutaja • Kannada: koodsaloo, korchie • Kashmiri: अन्दुसुरुन् andusurun • Konkani: कुडॉ kudo • Malayalam: കുടകപ്പാല kutakappaala • Marathi: इंद्रजव indrajav, कुटज kutaja, पांढरा कुडा pandhra kuda • Punjabi: keor, kewar • Oriya: kherwa, korwa, kurwa, pitakorwa • Sanskrit: इंद्रयव indrayava, कुटज kutaja, sakraparyaaya, sakraasana, वत्सक vatsaka • Tamil: கிரிமல்லிகை kirimllikai, குடசப்பாலை kutaca-p-palai, மலைமல்லிகை mlaimllikai • Telugu: గిరిమల్లిక girimallika, కొడిసెపాల kodisepala, కోలముక్కు kolamukku, కొండమల్లె kondamalle, కుటజము kutajamu

Botanical name: Holarrhena pubescens    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Synonyms: Holarrhena antidysenterica

Indrajao is a deciduous shrub or a small tree, growing up to 3 ms high. Short stem has pale bark and several branches. Oppositely arranges, ovate, obtusely acuminate leaves are 10-20 cm long. Leaf stalks are very short. White flowers appear in corymb-like cymes, 5-15 cm across, at the end of branches. Flowers have five white petals 2-3 cm long which turn creamish yellow as they age. The flowers are beautiful with oblong petals which are rounded at the tip, and remind one of frangipani.

Medicinal uses: It is a medicinal plant in Ayurveda. One of its botanical synonyms Holarrhena antidysenterica says it all. It is one of the best drug for Diarrhoea. In chronic diarrhoea & to check blood coming from stool,it should be given with Isobgol, caster oil or Indrayav. According to Ayurveda, the bark is useful in treatment of piles, skin diseases and biliousness. The bark is used externally in case of skin troubles. The bark is mostly mixed with cow urine and apply it in affected parts. In treatment of urinary troubles, the bark is given with cow milk. The fresh juice of bark is considered good to check the diarrhoea. In Bleeding piles Decoction of Kutaj bark with sunthi checks mucus & blood. Application of this herb is useful in Rh. Arthritis & Oestioarthritis.

Shrub Vinca

Shrub Vinca is a tall bush with simple leaves. It has an interesting resemblance to Frangipani. It is an evergreen shrub growing up to 4 m tall. The plant is hairless except for inflorescences. Leaf stalk is 1 cm. Leaf blade narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong, 10-23 X 2.5-9 cm, tip sharp or blunt. Flowers occur in bunches of a few. Beautiful light pink flowers, which may also be almost white, have 5 petals that are oblong, 1.5-2.5 cm. The plant is distributed in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand. It is cultivated as an ornamental as well as for its medicinal properties.

Sarpagandha

Common name: Indian Snakeroot, Insanity herb • Hindi: Sarpagandha सर्पगंधा

Botanical name: Rauvolfia serpentina      Family: Apocynaceae (oleander family)

Synonyms: Rauwolfia serpentina

Sarpagandha is a famous tranquilizer and antipsychotic herb of India for the treatment of paranoia and schizophrenia, as well as a substance that controls hypertension. Sarpagandha is an erect, evergreen shrub, merely 15 to 45 cm high. Its leaves are large, in whorls of three – dark green above and pale green below. The flowers are white, pinkish or red, occurring in whorls. Its fruit are tiny, oval, fleshy which turn a shiny purple-black when ripe. It is the roots of the plant that are mainly used for medicinal purposes.

Medicinal uses: Although this plant was well known in India, westerners paid no attention to it until an Indian physician wrote an article on rauvolfia in 1943. Because of the drug’s noted sedative effects, it was used to treat over a million Indians in the 1940s for high blood pressure. After a U.S. physician named Wilkins demonstrated the positive effects of reserpine (1952), the plant made front page news. This drug rapidly replaced electric shock and lobotomy as treatments for certain types of mental illness. Moreover, knowledge about the chemistry of this natural plant stimulated the synthesis of other similar alkaloids that are now used as major tranquilizers.

Wild Snake Root

Common name: Wild Snake Root, Devil Pepper, Be Still Tree, American serpentwood, be still tree, devil root, milkbush • Hindi: बडा चन्द्रिका barachandrika, Chandrabhaga • Tamil: Pampukaalaachchedi •Malayalam: Pampumkolli, Kattamalpori • Telugu: papataku • Kannada: ದೊಡ್ಡ ಚಮ್ದ್ರಿಕೆ dodda chandrike •Bengali: বড চন্দ্রিকা bar chandrika, গন্ধনকুলী gandhanakuli • Oriya: patalagarudi • Sanskrit: वनसर्पगंधा Vanasarpagandha, सर्पनसिनी Sarpanasini

Botanical name: Rauvolfia tetraphylla    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Synonyms: Rauvolfia canescens, Rauvolfia heterophylla, Rauvolfia hirsuta

Native to tropical America, Wild Snake Root is a small tree or shrub that will reach 6 ft in height. Leaves are whorled, medium to dark green in color, and occur in groups of 4 unequally-sized leaves at each node. In late summer to early fall the very small, white flowers appear. Flowers to 5 mm long, tube 3.7 mm long. Bright red berries form that turn black as they ripen, and look like large pepper corns.

Medicinal uses: The roots yield the drug deserpidine, which is an antihypertensive and tranquilizer.

Nag Kuda

Common name: Nag Kuda • Marathi: नाग कुडा Nag-kuda • Malayalam: Churutu-pala, Kampippala •Sanskrit: Kampillakah

Botanical name: Tabernaemontana alternifolia    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Synonyms: Ervatamia heyneana, Tabernaemontana heyneana

Nag Kuda is small tree native to Western Ghats, growing up to 2-5 m tall. Oppositely arranged leaves are elliptic-oblong, 23 cm long, 6.5 cm wide, prominently nerved. White flowers are borne in corymb-like cymes. Sepals are 5, thick, fused at the base. Flowers have a narrow tube which flares into a flat flower. Five stamens do not protrude out. Fruit is quite interesting – itconsists of two boat-shaped orange pods, up to 4 cm long, with recurved beaks.

Medicinal uses: This plant is used in Ayurveda.

Arctic Snow

Common name: Arctic Snow, Winter Cherry Tree, Milky way, Snowflake, Pudpitchaya, Sweet Indrajao, Hyamaraca • Sanskrit: Kutajah

Botanical name: Wrightia antidysenterica    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Synonyms: Nerium antidysentericum, Nerium zeylanicum, Wrightia zeylanica

Arctic Snow is a small compact and bushy shrub growing up to 1.5 m tall. It blooms non stop all year-round. At full bloom, plant is covered with 1 inch white flowers that look like little stars, or with some imagination, snowflakes from a distance. Leaves are elliptic, glossy, evergreen. Native to Sri Lanka, it has become a sought after garden plant.

Medicinal uses: The bark possesses anti-microbial and anti-infammatory properties and therefore the juice extracted from it is administered for mouth sores. The leaves are used in treating several skin disorders, psoriasis, nonspecific dermatitis etc. The bark is used as an adulterant for the well known drug, Holarrhena antidysenterica.

Water Jasmine

Common name: Water Jasmine, lady’s earrings, sacred buddhist, wild water plum, wondrous wrightia

Botanical name: Wrightia religiosa    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Synonyms: Echites religiosus

Water Jasmine is a shrubs up to 3 m tall. Branchlets are thin, cylindric, often with many lateral short branchlets. Leaf stalks are 2-4 mm long. Leaves are elliptic, ovate, or narrowly oblong, 2.5-7.5 X 1.5-3 cm, lateral veins 5-7 pairs. Flowers are borne in 1-13-flowered cymes often on short few-leaved branches, carried on short stalks. Flower stalks are 1.5-2 cm long, thin, finely hairy. Sepals are ovate, about 1.5 mm. Flowers are white, nearly flat. Flower tube is 3-4 mm, hairless. Petals are ovate, about 7 mm, densely velvety on both surfaces. Stamens remain inside the mouth of the flower tube. Follicles are linear, free, 12-17 cm. Seeds are narrowly spindle-shaped, about 8 mm. Water Jasmine is native to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Cultivated in many parts of the world for medicine. Flowering: all year.

Medicinal uses: Water Jasmine has been traditionally used as a medicinal herb and roots are used to cure skin diseases.

Sweet Indrajao

Common name: Sweet Indrajao, Pala indigo plant, Dyers’s oleander • Hindi: कपार Kapar, Dudhi दुधी • Tamil: Paalai பாலை • Marathi: Kala kuda काळा कुडा

Botanical name: Wrightia tinctoria    Family: Apocynaceae (oleander family)

Sweet Indrajao is a small, deciduous tree with a light gray, scaly smooth bark. Native to India and Burma, Wrightia is named after a Scottish physician and botanist William Wright (1740 – 1827). From a distance, the white flowers may appear like snow flakes on a tree. The fruits pendulous, long paired follicles joined at their tips. The hairy seeds are released as the fruit dehisces. The leaves of this tree yield a blue dye called Pala Indigo. Sweet Indrajao is called dhudi (Hindi) because of its preservative nature. Supposedly a few drops of its sap in milk prevent curdling and enhance its shelf life, without the need to refrigerate. The wood of Sweet Indrajao is extensively used for all classes of turnery. It is made into cups, plates, combs, pen holders, pencils and bed stead legs. It is commonly used for making Chennapatna toys.

Medicinal uses: The leaves are applied as a poultice for mumps and herpes and sometimes, they are also munched to relieve toothache. In folk medicine, the dried and powdered roots of Wrightia along with Phyllanthus amarus (keezhanelli) and Vitex negundo (nochi) is mixed with milk and orally administered to women for improving fertility. The bark and seeds are effective against psoriasis and non-specific dermatitis. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-dandruff properties and hence is used in hair oil preparations.

Cabbage Palm

Common name: Sabal palm, palmetto palm, cabbage palm • Manipuri: কোনা Kona

Botanical name: Sabal palmetto      Family: Arecaceae (Palm family)

Cabbage palm is a beautiful and versatile palm, is hence quite popular. It is recognized by its tan-gray, unbranched trunk, and large crown with fanlike leaves. The large leaves have a dull finish and are a medium green, sometimes yellow-green, in color depending on the individual and situation. Each leaf is up to 12 ft long overall including the spineless petioles (leaf stems) which measure about 5-6 ft in length. Leaves emerge directly from the trunk which is often covered with old leaf stem bases that are arranged in an interesting criss-cross pattern. Depending on the individual these may persist to the ground even in very old palms. Cabbage palm grows to a height of 10 – 25 m (32-82 feet), with a stem diameter of approximately 30 – 60 cm. In mid-summer the cabbage palm bears creamy white flowers on a long branched inflorescence that is held completely within the crown. Flowers are followed in late fall or early winter by black and fleshy spherical fruit that is about one third of an inch in diameter.

Medicinal uses: Roots are cooling, restorative. Juice of plant is diuretic, stimulant, antiphlegmatic, useful in dropsy. Cabbage palm is native to the Americas.

Bird’s Head Birthwort

Common name: Bird’s Head Birthwort

Botanical name: Aristolochia ornithocephala    Family: Aristolochiaceae (Birthwort family)

Bird’s Head Birthwort is an climbing shrub with large alternate, long stalked leaves which are heart-shaped to kidney-shaped. Stipules are prominently leaf-like. The flowers are singly borne on stalks 8-10 inches long. The flower tube is divided into three parts. The lower pouch-like part contains the style and stamens. The tube is suddenly inflated in the upper quarter into the so-called bird’s head. Two expansions are attached to the head which may be termed the beak and the lip. The lip is 6 x 4 inches. Bird’s Head Birthwort is native to Brazil, but now cultivated widely. It flowers in the rainy season.

Green Milkweed Creeper

Common name: Green Milkweed Creeper • Marathi: शॆंडवेल Shendvel, जाती Jati, मारवेल Marvel •Tamil: Perum kahamugan kodi • Malayalam: വട്ടു വല്ലീ Vattu valli • Kannada: Ghara hoovu gida

Botanical name: Cosmostigma racemosum    Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Synonyms: Asclepias racemosa

Green Milkweed Creeper is a twining shrub with watery sap. Stem are hollow within, sparsely hairy when young. Oppositely arranged leaves 7.5-11 x 3.5-5 cm, are broadly ovate, sharp tipped, with a rounded or heart-shaped base. Leaf stalks are 1.5-3 cm long. Small greenish flowers occur incorymb-like or raceme-like; peduncle 1.5-2.5 cm long. Sepals are 1.5 mm long, 5 in number. Flowers flat, wheel-like, 8-10 mm across, with 5 petals and very short tube. Petals are 4 mm long, ovate, yellowish-green with reddish-brown speckles. Stamens 5; filaments united; anthers 2-celled; Carpels 2, free ; style short, apex 5-angled. Flowering: July.

Medicinal uses: The leaves of this woody climber are used in Indian traditional medicine to cure ulcerous sores.

Gurmar

Common name: Gurmar • Hindi: छॊटा दूधीलता chhota-dudhilata, गुढ़मार gudmar, गुरमार gurmar, मॆढ़शिंगी medhashingi, • Marathi: kavali, bedaki, bedakuli, kalikardori, kaoli • Tamil: adigam, amudupushpam, ayagam, kogilam • Malayalam: chakkarakkolli, madhunasini • Telugu: bodaparta, podapatra • Kannada: kadhasige, sannagera, sannagerasehambu • Oriya: meshasringi • Urdu: gurmarگرمار, gurmar booti, gurmar patta • Sanskrit: ajaballi, अजगंधिनी ajaghandini, कर्णिका karnika, kshinavartta, मधुनसिनी madhunasini

Botanical name: Gymnema sylvestre    Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Gurmar is a famed plant, revered for its use in treatment of diabetes for nearly two millennia. The Hindi name Gurmar actually means diabetes killer. It is a large climber, rooting at nodes. Leaves are elliptic, narrow tipped, base narrow. Leaves are smooth above, and sparsely or densely velvety beneath. Pale yellow flowers are small, in axillary and lateral umbel like cymes. Stalk of the umbel is long. Sepals are long, ovate, obtuse, velvety. Flowers are pale yellow, bell-shaped. Corona is single, with 5 fleshy scales.

Medicinal uses: One of the alternative medicines to both diabetes and obesity could be Gurmar plant preparation, as it known to have a good effect for curbing of diabetes by blocking sugar binding sites and hence not allowing the sugar molecules to accumulate in the body.

Indian Sarsaparilla

Common name: Indian Sarsaparilla • Hindi: अनंतमूल Anantamul, दूधली Dudhli • Manipuri: অনংতমূল Anantamul • Marathi: अनंतवेल Anant vel • Tamil: Nannari, Sugandipala • Malayalam: Narunenti •Telugu: Suganda pala • Kannada: Sugankha-palada-gidda, Sogade • Oriya: onotomulo • Gujarati: Sariva, Upalasari • Sanskrit: अनंतमूल Anantamul, Sariva

Botanical name: Hemidesmus indicus    Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Indian Sarsaparilla is a vine, which trails on the ground and climbs by means of tendrils growing in pairs from the petioles of the alternate, orbicular to ovate, evergreen leaves. The vine emerges from a long, tuberous rootstock, and can reach up to 1-3 m. The hindi name Anantamool literally means, endless root. The small, greenish flowers grow in auxiliary umbels. The flower cymes are stalkless. Flowers have 5 petals, greenish on the outside and purple to yellowish orange on the inside. The flower petals are fleshy, typical of the Milkweed family to which it belongs. Now the Milkweed family has been incorporated in the Oleander family. Flowering: October-January.

Medicinal uses: It is one of the Rasayana plants of Ayurveda, as it is anabolic in its effect. It is used for venereal diseases, herpes, skin diseases, arthritis, rheumatism, gout, epilepsy, insanity, chronic nervous diseases, abdominal distention, intestinal gas, debility, impotence and turbid urine.

Holostemma Creeper

Common name: Holostemma Creeper • Hindi: Chhirvel • Marathi: Dudruli, Shidodi • Tamil: Palay kirai • Malayalam: Ada kodien • Telugu: Palagurugu • Sanskrit: Jivanti, Arkapushpi

Botanical name: Holostemma ada-kodien    Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Synonyms: Holostemma annulare

Holostemma Creeper is a handsome, extensive, laticiferous, twining shrub with large conspicuous flowers. The bark is deeply cracked. The leaves are ovate to heart-shaped, 5-12 × 2-8 cm, coriaceous, acute, smooth above, and finely pubescent. The flowers are greenish-yellow in color, purplish crimson inside, in lateral cymes. The petals are thick, typical of the milkweed family. Flowers are very fragrant. The central crown is edible. The fruits follicles sub-woody, 6-9 cm long, tapering and green. The roots are pretty long up to a meter or more in length, thick, cylindrical and irregularly twisted. It grows over hedges and in open forests especially on the lower slopes of hills. But its occurance has diminished very much within this range of distribution and hence it is considered endangered. Flowering: April-September.

Medicinal uses: Mainly the roots and the whole plant are used for medicinal purposes. Externally the paste of its leaves and roots alleviate oedema due to vitiation of pitta dosa. The herb is beneficial for external use in various skin diseases, wounds and inflammation of the skin.

Pergularia

Common name: Pergularia • Hindi: Utaran, Sagovani, Aakasan, Gadaria Ki bel, Jutak • Marathi: Utarn • Tamil: Uttamani, Seendhal kodi • Malayalam: Veliparatti • Telugu: Dustapuchettu, Jittupaku •Kannada: Halokoratige, Juttuve, Talavaranaballi, Bileehatthi balli • Bengali: Chagalbati, Ajashringi •Oriya: Utrali • Sanskrit: Uttamarani, Kurutakah, Visanika, Kakajangha

Botanical name: Pergularia daemia    Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Synonyms: Asclepias daemia, Daemia extensa, Cynanchum extensum

Pergularia is a perennial twining herb, foul-smelling when bruised and with much milky juice, stem hairy. Leaves are thin, broadly ovate, heart-shaped or nearly circular, hairless above, velvety beneath. Greenish yellow or dull white, and sweet-scented flowers are borne in lateral cymes which are at first corymb-like, afterwards raceme-like. The five petals are hairy and spreading outwards. Corona outer and inner, outer truncate, inner curved high over the staminal column, spur acute. Fruit is a follicle, with soft spines all over and a long beak. Seeds are densely velvety on both sides. Flowering: August-February.

Medicinal uses: Pergularia has been used in folk medicine for the treatment of liver disorders.

Indian Ipecac

Common name: Indian Ipecac, Indian ipecacuahna • Hindi: अंतमूल Antamul, Jangli pikvam • Marathi: Khadari, Pitthakaadi, Pitthamaari, Pitvel • Tamil: Naippalai, Nancaruppan • Malayalam: Nansjera-patsja, Vallippala • Telugu: Kakapala, Tellayadala, Verripala • Kannada: Antamula, Nipaladaberu, Aadumuttada gida • Bengali: অংতমূল Antamul • Oriya: Mendi, Mulini • Assamese: অংতমূল Antamul •Sanskrit: Arkaparni, Lataksiri, Shwasaghni

Botanical name: Tylophora indica    Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Synonyms: Asclepias asthmatica, Tylophora asthmatica, Cynanchum indicum

Indian Ipecac is a small, slender, much branched, velvety, twining or climbing herb with yellowish sap. It is mostly found in the sub-himalayan tract from Uttarakhand to Meghalaya and in the central and peninsular India. Rootstock is 2.5-5 cm, thick. Leaves, 6-11 cm long, 3.8-6 cm wide, are ovate-oblong to elliptic-oblong, with a narrow tip, heart-shaped at base, thick, velvety beneath when young, smooth above. Leaf stalks are up to 1.2 cm long. Flowers are small, 1-1.5 cm across, in 2 to 3-flowered fascicles in cymes in leaf axils. Sepal up is divided nearly to the base, densely hairy outside. Sepals are lance-shaped. Flowers are greenish- yellow or greenish-purple, with oblong pointy petals. Fruit is a follicle, up to 7 x 1 cm, ovoid-lanceshaped. Flowering: August-December.

Medicinal uses: It is traditionally used as a folk remedy in certain regions of India for the treatment of bronchial asthma, inflammation, bronchitis, allergies, rheumatism and dermatitis.

Garden Asparagus

Common name: Asparagus, Garden asparagus

Botanical name: Asparagus officinalis      Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)

Asparagus is believed to be native to the east Mediterranean and the Middle East. It thrives along sandy riverbanks, shores of lakes and wet, salty coastal areas. It is very salt tolerant. Today it grows “wild” across many of the areas around the world where it is grown for food. Asparagus grows into a tall upright bush. It’s hard to say what the asparagus flower means. It’s totally discrete. Hard to see, hard to study. Flowers are small, with two yellowish-green rings of petal-like tepals. Still, the asparagus flower is looked fro by the bees, the asparagus being honey-bearing. The leaves of the asparagus are even harder to define. They can’t even remind of what usually defines a plant. The leaves barely have the shape of scales.

Medicinal uses: Vegetable eaten raw or boiled, the asparagus has surprising medicinal properties. The asparagus is indicated in some general illnesses like asthenia, anemia, rheumatism, diabetes as well as renal lithiasis. It is firstly a fortifier. From the asparagus offshoots decoction, juice, syrup and tincture are prepared. Very often used is the asparagus juice, a preparation practically accessible to anyone.

Satawari

Common name: Satawari, Wild Asparagus • Hindi: सतावरी satawari, bojhidan, शतवीर shatavir •Manipuri: নুংগাৰৈ Nunggarei • Marathi: सतावरी मूल Satavari-mul, आसवेल Asvel • Tamil: ஸதாவரீ Sadavari, Tannir-muttan-kizhangu, கிலவரீ Kilavari • Malayalam: ചതവലീ Chatavali, സതവലീ Satavali • Telugu: challa-gaddalu, challagadda, ettavaludutige • Kannada: aheruballi, ashadhi, halarru-makkal • Bengali: সতমুলী Satamuli, সতমূল Satamul • Oriya: ବରୀ Vari • Urdu: ستاور Satawar, شقاقل مسری Shaqaqul misri • Assamese: সতোমূল Satomul • Sanskrit: Abhiru, शतावरी Shatavari, हिरण्यस्रिंगी Hiranyasringi • Mizo: Arkebawk

Botanical name: Asparagus racemosus    Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)

Synonyms: Asparagus volubilis

Satawari is a woody climber growing to 1-2 m in height, with leaves like pine needles, small and uniform and the flowers white, in small spikes. It contains adventitious root system with tuberous roots. Stems are climbing, branched, up to 2 m; branches usually distinctly striate-ridged. Leaves are just modified stems, called cladodes. Branches contain spines on them. Inflorescences develope after cladodes, axillary, each a many-flowered raceme or panicle 1-4 cm. Pedicel 1.5-3 mm, slender, articulate at middle. Flowers are white with a pink tinge, 2-3 mm, bell-shaped with 6 petals. Stamens equal, ca. 0.7 mm; anthers yellow, minute. Within India, it is found growing wild in tropical and sub-tropical parts of India including the Andamans; and ascending in the Himalayas up to an altitude of 1500 m. Flowering: October-November.

Medicinal uses: In Ayurvedic medicine, the root of Satavari is used in the form of juice, paste, decoction and powder to treat intrinsic haemorrhage, diarrhoea, piles, hoarseness of voice, cough, arthritis, poisoning, diseases of female genital tract, erysipelas, fever, as aphrodisiac and as rejuvinative.

Krantz Aloe

Common name: Krantz Aloe, Tree Aloe, Candelabra Aloe

Botanical name: Aloe arborescens    Family: Asphodelaceae (Aloe family)

Krantz Aloe is a large treelike multi-headed shrub. The common name krantz aloe refers to its habitat, a krantz being a rocky ridge or cliff. The species name arborescens is due to its stem forming habit. Typical height for this species ranges from 2-3 m. Its leaves are succulent and green with a slight blue tint. Its leaves are armed with small spikes along its edges and are arranged in rosettes situated at the end of branches. Flowers are arranged in racemes. The racemes are not branched but two to several can sprout from each rosette. Flowers are cylindrical in shape and are a vibrant red-orange color. Krantz Aloe is mostly native to the south eastern coast of the African continent. It is now a popular garden plant.

Medicinal uses: As with Aloe vera, Krantz Aloe has strongly medicinal sap. In the parts of Ecuador where it is cultivated. it is considered the first treatment for any type of scratch, bite, or burn, and is used in hospitals as a primary treatment for burns up to the third degree. The sap of Krantz Aloe contains much higher concentrations of the primary compounds present in other aloes, and this higher concentration is responsible for the faster and more effective action of the sap against skin conditions. Like the sap of all aloes, that of Krantz Aloe can be drunk as a liver and digestive tonic.

Aloe Vera

Common name: Aloe vera, Medicinal aloe, Burn plant • Hindi: Gheekumari घीकुमारी • Marathi: Khorpad • Tamil: கதலை Kathalai • Malayalam: Chotthu kathalai

Botanical name: Aloe vera    Family: Asphodelaceae (Aloe family)

Synonyms: Aloe barbadensis, Aloe indica, Aloe vulgaris

Aloe, a popular houseplant, has a long history as a multipurpose folk remedy. Commonly known as Aloe vera, the plant can be snapped off and placed on cuts and burns for immediate relief. Aloe vera is a clump forming succulent whose fleshy gray-green leaves are arranged in a vase shaped rosette atop a very short stem. The leaves are up to 18 in long and 2 in wide at the base, slightly grooved on top, and terminating in a sharp point. The leaves have small grayish teeth on the margins. The main rosette gets up to about 2 ft high, and the plant continually produces little offset rosettes. In winter and spring, medicinal aloe bears small tubular yellow flowers on branched stalks up to 3 ft tall. The real Aloe vera has yellow flowers, but many of the clones available have orange flowers. Although Aloe Vera is a member of the Lily family, it is very-cactus like in its characteristics.

Medicinal uses: Aloe Vera contains over 20 minerals, all of which are essential to the human body. The human body requires 22 amino acids for good health — eight of which are called “essential” because the body cannot fabricate them. Aloe Vera contains all of these eight essential amino acids, and 11 of the 14 “secondary” amino acids. Aloe Vera has Vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. In India, Aloe vera is believed to help in sustaining youth, due to its positive effects on the skin. Hence it is called ghee kunvar or ghee kumaari.

Common Yarrow

Common name: Common Yarrow, Sneezewort, Soldier’s friend, Thousand-leaf • Hindi: Gandrain, Puthkanda, भूतकॆशी Bhut Kesi • Marathi: Rojmaari • Tamil: Achchilliya • Konkani: Rajmari • Urdu: Tukhm gandana, Buiranjasif, Brinjasuf

Botanical name: Achillea millefolium    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Achillea lanulosa, Achillea magna

Yarrows are herbaceous perennials, most with fragrant lacy foliage and small daisy-like flowerheads borne in rounded corymbs. Common yarrow has leaves that are grayish green, aromatic, and very finely dissected, like soft dainty ferns. The plant forms dense spreading mats of lacy leaves from rhizomes that creep beneath the ground surface. In summer yarrow sends up erect, grayish, usually unbranched stems, 1-3 ft tall. The fifty or more small, about 0.25 in across with whitish flowerheads are borne in flat to domed clusters. Flower have white, 5-ray petals that surround tiny yellow to light cream-coloured disc florets, each flower head is 3-5 mm across; occur as independent and terminal round or flat-topped clusters; clusters are 6-30 cm across. The plant may have been named after the Greek person Achilles. Within India, Common Yarrow is found in the Himalayan region of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand in an altitude range of 1050-3600 m.

Medicinal uses: In Greek mythology it is said to have been used by Achilles to heal his warriors during the battle of Troy – hence the name “Achillea”. In Anglo-Saxon times it was used as a charm to ward off evil and illness – and as a treatment for wounds, much as Achilles used it, giving it a common name for the period of ‘Soldier’s Wound-Wort’. Yarrow has been used to stop bleeding by inserting leaves into the nostrils of wounded soldiers. Druids used Yarrow to predict seasonal weather. In Chinese legends, Yarrow was used to predict the future.

Toothache Plant

Common name: Toothache Plant, Para cress • Hindi: Akarkar, Pipulka • Marathi: Pipulka, Akarkara •Kannada: Hemmugalu • Assamese: Pirazha

Botanical name: Acmella oleracea    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Spilanthes acmella var. oleracea, Spilanthes fusca

Toothache Plant or “Paracress” is a flowering herb. Its leaves and flower heads contain an analgesic agent that may be used to numb toothaches. It is grown as an ornamental (and occasionally as a medicinal) in various parts of the world. The stems are prostrate or erect, often reddish, hairless. Leaves are broadly ovate to triangular, 5–11 cm long, 4–8 cm wide, margins toothed, tip sharp. Flower-heads arise singly, elongated-conical, containing primarily disc florets, 1–2.4 cm long, 1.1–1.7 cm in diameter. Disc florets are many, yellow to orange, 2.7–3.3 mm long. Achenes are black, 2–2.5 mm long. Eating Toothache Plant is a memorable experience. The leaf has a smell similar to any green leafy vegetable. The taste, however, is somewhat reminiscent of Echinacea, but lacking the bitter and sometimes nauseating element of that medicinal. First, a strong, spicy warmth spreads outward across one’s tongue, turning into a prickling sensation. With this the salivary glands leap into action, pumping out quantities of saliva. As the prickling spreads, it mellows into an acidic (slightly metallic) sharpness accompanied by tingling, and then numbness. The numbness fades after a time (two to twenty minutes, depending on the person and amount eaten), and the pungent aftertaste may linger for an hour or more.

Medicinal uses: The leaves and flower heads contain analgesic, antifungal, anthelminthic, and antibacterial agents, but some of the compounds are destroyed by desiccation or freezing.

Sticky Daisy

Common name: Sticky Daisy, Common medicineplant, Clubwort, • Hindi: जंगली जीरा Jangli-jira •Konkani: Ghanerem

Botanical name: Adenostemma lavenia    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Verbesina lavenia, Adenostemma viscosum

Sticky Daisy is a native species found in open, wet places along streams, in forest and in thickets, from sea level to an altitude of 1,800 meters. It is an erect, smooth or hairy, annual, slender or rather stout herb 0.3-1 m in height. The leaves are thin, opposite (upper ones alternate), oblong to broadly ovate, and 5-15 cm long, with the apex pointed and the margins entire or scalloped. The inflorescence is lax, and the heads are 5-7 mm in diameter. The flowers are very small and white, with the corolla hairy near the mouth. The achene is covered with wrinkles or is rough, and is crowned by a glandular ring bearing 3 to 5 club-shaped, short lobes.

Medicinal uses: The plant is used in medicine world-wide. In India, the extract of leaves is applied to injuries.

Goat Weed

ommon name: Goat weed, Billy goat weed, Tropical whiteweed • Hindi: जंगली पुदीना Jangli pudina, Visadodi, Semandulu, Gha buti, Bhakumbar • Manipuri: খোংগজাঈ নপী Khongjai napi • Marathi: Ghanera osaadi • Kannada: Oorala gida, Helukasa • Tamil: Pumppillu, Appakkoti • Malayalam: Kattappa, Muriyan pacca • Bengali: Uchunti • Sanskrit: Visamustih

Botanical name: Ageratum conyzoides    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Goat weed is a common tropical annual herbaceous weed. It is an erect softly hairy annual plant which grows up to a height of 2.5 feet. Oppositely arranged leaves are ovate to lance-like, coarsely rounded, and have toothed margin. Numerous pale blue or whitish flowerheads are 6 mm across, often forming dense domed to flat-topped clusters in leaf axils or end of branches. Flowers most of the year. The stem is often red and has long white hairs. The weak aromatic unpleasant smelling leaves are also covered with fine hair. The dark seeds have scales and ends in a needle-like shape. In alternative medicine, ageratum is used against epilepsy and wounds, also used as an insect repellent.

Wormwood

Common name: Wormwood, bsinthium, green ginger, madderwort • Hindi: vilayati afsantin •Kannada: urigattige, uruvalu, davana • Malayalam: nilampala, shulabandha, tirunitri-pachcha •Marathi: serpana, surpan, surapeena • Sanskrit: damar, indhana • Tamil: macipattiri, macippaccai •Telugu: moshipatri, tartiha • Urdu: afsanteen, qaisoom

Botanical name: Artemisia absinthium    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Wormwood is a perennial herb with a hard, woody rhizome. The stems are straight, growing to 0.8-1.2 m (rarely 1.5 m) tall, grooved, branched, and silvery-green. The leaves are spirally arranged, greenish-grey above and white below, covered with silky silvery-white trichomes, and bearing minute oil-producing glands. The basal leaves are up to 25 cm long, bipinnate to tripinnate with long stalks. Stem leaves are smaller, 5-10 cm long, less divided, and with short stalks. The uppermost leaves can be both simple and stalkles. Flowers are pale yellow, tubular, and clustered in spherical bent-down heads, which are in turn clustered in leafy and branched panicles. pollination is anemophilous. The fruit is a small achene; seed dispersal is by gravity. It grows naturally on uncultivated, arid ground, on rocky slopes, and at the edge of footpaths and fields. Flowering: June-September.

Medicinal uses: Its use has been claimed to remedy indigestion and gastric pain, it acts as an antiseptic, and as a febrifuge. For medicinal use, the herb is used to make a tea for helping pregnant women during pain of labor. A dried encapsulated form of the plant is used as an anthelmintic.

Indian Wormwood

Common name: Indian Wormwood, Fleabane, Mugwort • Hindi: नागदोना Nagdona, दवना Davana •Manipuri: লেইবাক ঙৌ Leibakngou • Marathi: ढोरदवना Dhordavana, Gondhomaro • Tamil: மக்கீபூ Makkippu • Malayalam: മക്കീപൂവൂ Makkippuvu, മാസീപത്രീ Masipatri • Telugu: Masipatri •Kannada: Manjepatre, Urigattige • Bengali: নাগদানা Nagadana • Oriya: Dayona • Konkani: Surpin •Assamese: নীলম Nilum • Sanskrit: नागदमन Nagadaman, दमनक Damanak

Botanical name: Artemisia nilagirica    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Artemisia vulgaris, Artemisia vulgaris var. nilagirica

Indian Wormwood is an aromatic shrub, 1-2 m high, yellow or dark red small flowers, grows throughout India in hills up to 2400 m elevation. This medicinal herb is erect, hairy, often half-woody. The stems are leafy and branched. The leaves are pinnately lobed, 5-14 cm long, gray beneath. Mugwort blossoms with reddish brown or yellow flowers. The flowers are freely small and stand in long narrow clusters at the top of the stem. The fruit (achene) is minute. It is believed that Indian Wormwood drives away insects. So the leaves and flowers are put in boxes and cupboards.

Medicinal uses: In Manipur, leaves are used to prepare a local hair-care lotion Chinghi.

Ironweed

Common name: Ironweed • Assamese: Chingkora • Hindi: काला जीरा Kala jira, Bakchi, सोमराजी Somraji • Kannada: Kadu-jirigay • Malayalam: Kattujirakam • Marathi: Kali-jiri, Kadu jire • Oriya: Vakuci • Sanskrit: Atavi-jirakaha, अवलगुज Avalguj • Tamil: Kattu shiragam • Telugu: Davijilakara

Botanical name: Baccharoides anthelmintica    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Conyza anthelmintica, Vernonia anthelmintica

Ironweed is large annual hern 60-100 cm tall. Stem is robust, erect, leafy with velvety branches. Alternately arranged leaves, 5-8 cm long, are obovate to lanceshaped, with base narrowing into the stalk. Flower-heads are borne at the end of branches in 10-20 cm clusters. Flowers are tubular, 5-lobed. Seed pods are 4-6 cm long, 10 ribbed, oblong. Flowering: October-January.

Medicinal uses: The seeds of Ironweed are of great repute in Sanskrit Materia Medica as a medicine for white leprosy (leuco-derma), and other skin diseases. It is mentioned also as an anthelmintic, but is not much used as such, except in combination with a number of other medicines.

Spanish Needles

Common name: Spanish Needles, yellow flowered blackjack, black jack, five leaved blackjack, beggar ticks • Hindi: चिर्चिट्टा Chirchitta

Botanical name: Bidens biternata    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Coreopsis biternata

Spanish Needles is an erect annual herb, up to 1 m. Closely related to B. pilosa, but can be distinguished by the leaves, which are usually 5-7 foliolate, with the lowermost pair redivided into two to three segments. The outer involucral bracts resemble those of B. bipinnata. The achenes are up to 16 mm long, almost glabrous. The flowers are yellow, including the ray-florets. Spanish Needles is a widespread weed of disturbed and cultivated areas.

Medicinal uses: Used to treat eye and ear affections (leaf juice); applied to skin affections in general, as a haemostatic on wounds, and wrapped around the umbilical cord of babies (rubbed leaves).

Kakronda

Common name: Kakronda, Blumea • Hindi: जंगली मूली Jangli Muli, ककरौंदा Kakronda • Marathi: Bhamurda, बुरंडो Burando • Tamil: Kattumullangi, Narakkarandai • Telugu: Advimulangi, Karupogaku •Bengali: কুকুৰমুতা Kukurmuta, Kukursunga • Gujarati: કોલહાર Kolhar, પીલો કપૂરિયો Pilo Kapurio •Sanskrit: कुक्कुरद्रु Kukkuradru, कुकुंदर Kukundara, म्रदु छड़ Mridu chhada, ताम्रचूड़ा Tamrachuda

Botanical name: Blumea lacera    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Kakronda is an annual herb with a strong odor, distributed throughout the plains of north-west India, up to an altitude of 2,000 m. The stems of this hairy or glandular herb are erect, simple or branched, very leafy and 1-2 ft in height. The leaves are obovate or oblanceolate, 5-12 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, smaller toward the top, stalked, and toothed or (rarely) lobulated at the margins. The bright yellow flowering heads are about 8 mm across, borne on short axillary cymes, and collected in terminal, spike-like panicles. The involucre-bracts are narrow and hairy. The achenes are not ribbed, are somewhat 4-angled, and are smooth.

Medicinal uses: Blumea is described by Ayurveda experts as hot, pungent and bitter; antipyretic; good for bronchitis, diseases of the blood, fevers, thirst and burning sensations. The root kept in the mouth is said to cure disease of the mouth. In the Konkan region of India, the plant is used to drive away fleas and other insects. In Homoeopathic system, it is given in enuresis, neuralgia, headache and cold borne cough.

Safflower

Common name: Safflower, Dyers’ saffron, False saffron • Hindi: Kusum कुसुम • Manipuri: কুসুমলৈ Kusumlei • Tamil: குஸும்ப Kusumba • Urdu: Gul rang گل رنگ

Botanical name: Carthamus tinctorius      Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Safflower is an annual plant native to the Mediterranean countries and cultivated in Europe and the U.S. Its glabrous, branching stem grows from 1 to 3 feet high and bears alternate, sessile, oblong, or ovate-lanceolate leaves armed with small, spiny teeth. The orange-yellow flowers grow in flower heads about 1 to 11/2 inches across. This thistle is valued for its orange-yellow flowers in summer and for the oil contained in its seeds. The orange-red flowers of safflower sometimes serve as a substitute for saffron, since they give a (rather pale) colour to the food. They are frequently sold as “saffron” to tourists in Hungary or Northern Africa (and probably many other parts of the world) Their value as spice is nearly nil, but their staining capability justifies usage in the kitchen.

Medicinal uses: Taken hot, safflower tea produces strong perspiration and has thus been used for colds and related ailments. It has also been used at times for its soothing effect in cases of hysteria, such as that associated with chlorosis. Powdered seeds made into a poultice used to ally inflammation of the womb after child birth. Flowers of this herb is useful for jaundice.

Siam Weed

Common name: Siam Weed, Bitter bush, Devilweed, Hagonoy, Jack in the bush, Triffid weed •Hindi: तीव्र गंधा Tivra gandha, Bagh dhoka • Malayalam: കമ്മ്യുണിസ്റ്റ് പച്ച Communist Pacha, Venapacha

Botanical name: Chromolaena odorata    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Eupatorium odoratum

Siam Weed is a big bushy herb or subshrub with long rambling (but not twining branches. In open areas it spreads into tangled, dense thickets up to 2 m tall, and higher when climbing up vegetation. Many paired branches grow off the main stem. The base of the plant becomes hard and woody while the branch tips are soft and green. The leaves are arrowhead-shaped, 5–12 cm long and 3–7 cm wide, with three characteristic veins in a ‘pitchfork’ pattern. They grow in opposite pairs along the stems and branches. As the species name ‘odorata’ suggests, the leaves emit a pungent odour when crushed. Clusters of 10–35 pale pink–mauve or white tubular flowers, 10 mm long, are found at the ends of branches. The seeds are dark coloured, 4–5 mm long, narrow and oblong, with a parachute of white hairs which turn brown as the seed dries. Siam weed is native to Tropical America, but is now naturalized throughout the tropics.

Medicinal uses: It is used as a traditional medicine in Indonesia. The young leaves are crushed, and the resulting liquid can be used to treat skin wounds.

Chicory

Common name: Chicory, Blue sailors, Succory, Coffeeweed • Hindi: कासनी Kasni, Hinduba •Marathi: kachani • Malayalam: chikkari • Telugu: kasini, kasini-vittulu • Kannada: chikory • Urdu: kasni, tukme-e-kasni, barg-e-kasni • Sanskrit: कासनी Kasni

Botanical name: Cichorium intybus    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Chicory is a bushy perennial herb with blue or lavender flowers. It is a bushy perennial plant that attains a height of 1 to 4 feet. The stem has edges having hard branches. Flowers occur either solitary on nearly leafless branches, or in clusters in leaf axils. Flower-heads are 2.5-4 cm across, with spreading ray-florets. The green bracts below the flowers are prominent. The outer lancelike bracts are spreading outwards, while the longer inner ones are upright. Leaves are oblong-lancelike, and lower leaves are pinnately lobed. The upper leaves are entire, bract-like, stem-clasping. Root is like a tail of a cow and is fleshy having brownish color from outside and white color from inside. It has a length of 2 ½ feet and has a bitter taste. Chicory is grown for its leaves, or for the roots, which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute in instant coffee. In India Chicory is found in the northwestern regions like Kashmir and Punjab and in areas of south India.

Medicinal uses: The ancient Egyptians ate large amounts of chicory because it was believed that the plant could purify the blood and liver, while others have relied on the herb for its power to cure “passions of the heart.” Chicory continues to be a popular herbal remedy due to its healing effects on several ailments.

Wild Cosmos

Common name: Wild Cosmos, Ulam Raja

Botanical name: Cosmos caudatus    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Wild Cosmos is a wild cousin of the popular garden plant, Cosmos. It is an annual herb, growing 1–8 ft tall, hairless or sparsely hairy. Leaf stalks are 1–7 cm long. Leaves are finely dissected, 10–20 cm long. Ultimate lobes are 2–10 mm wide. Flowers (flower-heads, technically) are borne on 10–30 cm long stalks. Petals (actually ray florets) are rose-pink to purple, oblong to inverted-lance shaped, 0.5–1.5 cm long, 3-lobed at the tip. Disc florets are 5–6 mm, yellow. Wild Cosmos is native to the American continents, but widely naturalized. This plant is supposed to be edible. It is believed that Wild Cosmos was brought to South Asia by sailing Spaniards who used it as food. Flowering: June-November.

Medicinal uses: In SE Asia, the plant is used traditionally for improving blood circulation.

Thickhead

Common name: Thickhead, Fireweed, Redflower ragleaf, Tera paibi (Manipuri)

Botanical name: Crassocephalum crepidioides    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Gynura crepidioides

Fireweed is an erect little-branched herb to 1 m tall, smooth or finely hairy. Leaves with lamina elliptic to ovate in outline; lowest leaves lyrate-pinnatifid, up to 20 cm long and 10 cm wide, base often with a pair of stipule-like lobes, margins coarsely toothed; upper leaves smaller, not lobed or with a lobe each side towards base; petiole up to 4 cm long. Heads in cymes, few to many, nodding at first, later erect; heads 4 mm diameter. Flowerheads are cylindrical, green, with red florets visible on top. Seeds are floating balls of numerous silky white hair, which kids in India call by names equivalent to ‘old lady’ in different languages. Thickhead is native to tropical africa, but now naturalized in India and SE Asia.

Medicinal uses: Its fleshy, mucilaginous leaves and stems are eaten as a vegetable. A lotion of leaves is used as a mild medicine that strengthens the stomach and excites its action.

Little Ironweed

Common name: Little ironweed, Purple feabane • Hindi: Sahadevi सहदेवी • Marathi: Sadodi • Tamil: பூவங்குருந்தல் Puvamkuruntal • Telugu: Sahadevi • Bengali: Kuksim

Botanical name: Cyanthillium cinereum      Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Vernonia cinerea, Conyza cinerea, Senecioides cinerea

Little ironweed is an annual or short-lived perennial to 50cm with ovate leaves. The stems branch repeatedly at the top to hold aloft the small cylindrical, purple flower heads. Flowers throughout the year. Originally from Central America, now a pantropical weed, it is sometimes considered native to Western Australia. Found in upland crop areas, waste places and roadsides throughout India.

Medicinal uses: The seeds yield a fatty oil and are used as an anthelmintic and alexipharmic; they are said to be quite effective against roundworms and threadworms. They are also given for coughs, flatulence, intestinal colic and dysuria and for leucoderma, psoriasis and other chronic skin-diseases. The seeds are made into a paste with lime juice and used for destroying pediculi.

False Daisy

Common name: False Daisy, Trailing eclipta • Hindi: भ्रिंगराज Bhringaraj, केशराज Kesharaj • Manipuri: Uchi-sumbal • Tamil: கரிசிலாங்கண்ணி Karisilanganni, Kavanthakara • Malayalam: Kannunni •Telugu: Galagara • Kannada: Ajagara • Oriya: Kesarda • Sanskrit: भ्रिंगराज Bhringaraj

Botanical name: Eclipta prostrata    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Synonyms: Eclipta erecta, Eclipta alba, Eclipta punctata, Verbesina prostrata

False Daisy is an annual commonly found growing in waste ground. Stems are erect or prostate, entirely velvety, often rooting at nodes. Oppositely arranged stalkless, oblong, lance-shaped, or elliptic leaves are 2.5-7.5 cm long. It has a short, flat or round, brown stem and small white daisy-like flowers on a long stalk. Eclipta grows abundantly in the tropics and is used with success in Ayurvedic medicine. Bhringaraj was used by Hindus in their Shradh, the ceremony for paying respect to a recently deceased person. This plant is one of the Hindu’s “Ten Auspicious Flowers” and is sometimes called, “the king of hair.”

Medicinal uses: Bhringraj is mainly used in hair oils, but it has been considered a good drug in hepatotoxicity. In hair oils, it may be used alongwith Centela asiatica (Brahmi) and Phyllanthus emblica (Amla) It may be used to prevent habitual abortion and miscarriage and also in cases of post-delivery uterine pain. A decoction of leaves is used in uterine haemorrhage. The juice of the plant with honey is given to infants with castor oil for expulsion of worms. For the relief in piles, fumigation with Eclipta alba is considered beneficial. The paste prepared by mincing fresh plants has got an anti-inflammatory effect and may be applied to insect bites, stings, swellings and other skin diseases.

Elephant Foot

Common name: Elephant Foot, Prickly-leaved elephant’s foot, Bull’s Tongue, Ironweed • Hindi: Samdudri, बन तम्बाखू Ban-tambakhu • Marathi: हस्तीपात Hastipata • Tamil: Anashovadi • Malayalam: Anayatiyan • Telugu: Enugabira • Kannada: Hakkarike • Bengali: হস্ী পদ Hasti pod • Sanskrit: गोजिह्वा Gojivha

Botanical name: Elephantopus scaber    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Elephant Foot is a rather coarse, rigid, erect, hairy herb 30 to 60 cm high. Stems forked, and stiff. Leaves are mostly in basal rosette and oblong-ovate to oblong-lancelike, 10-25 cm in length and often very much notched on the margins. Those on the stem few and much smaller. Purple flowers are 8-10 mm long. Each head comprises about 4 flowers. Flowering heads borne in clusters at the end of the branches and usually enclosed by 3 leaf-like bracts which are ovate to oblong-ovate, 1 to 1.5 cm long, and heart-shaped at the base. The flowering heads many-crowded in each cluster. Fruits are achenes, ribbed. Pappus from 4 to 6 mm long with rigid ristles.

Medicinal uses: Roots and leaves are used as emollient for dysuria, diarrhoea, dysentery, swellings and stomach pain. Root is prescribed to prevent vomiting. Powdered with pepper it is applied for tooth-ache. Leaves are used in applications for eczema and ulcers.

Burma Agrimony

Common name: Burma Agrimony • Manipuri: লাঙথ্ৰৈ Langthrei

Botanical name: Eupatorium birmanicum    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Eupatorium is a genus of flowering plants, which are herbaceous perennial plants growing to 0.5–3 m tall. Many of them are used in folk medicine, like the famed Communist pacha of Kerala. Burma Agrimony is a herb commonly found in North-East India, particularly Manipur. The stem has a woody base. The species name birmanicum indicates that it was first found in Burma. It has lance-shaped leaves with serrated margins. Flower-heads appear in corymbs at the end of branches. Flowers are quite fragrant, and appear like purplish buds with white threads projecting out. Commonly known in Manipuri as Langthrei it is used as offering to gods.

Medicinal uses: Leaf juice is applied to body in burning sensation. Leaf extract with milk is a remedy for leucorrhea. The extract with honey is given in stomach ulcers.

Source-globalhinduism