COMMON MEDICINAL PLANTS
Alfa-alfa, arjuna, bael, papaya are common medicinal plants. Most of us know little about these plants but are unknown of medicinal properties. Here is a description.
ALFALFA
Botanical Name: Medicago satina
Indian Name : Alfalfa
Alfalfa is nutritionally on of the most versatile herbs yet discovered. It is a leguminous herb which grows up to 50 cms in height. It has rich green alternate leaves, purplish flowers and adapts itself to widely varying conditions of soil and climate.
Alfalfa appears to have been discovered by the Arabs who called it the ‘king of kings’ of plants and the father of all foods. Alfalfa is a native of Europe. It is now widely cultivated in the temperate regions, the subtropics and higher altitudes in the tropics. It is grown through out India. Alfalfa is a valuable source of vitamins A, B, D, E and G. It also has some vitamin C and K. The rich quality and quantity and proper balance of calcium, magnesium and phosphorous, chlorine, sodium, potassium and silicon is of special value in Alfalfa.
Properties: The seeds, leaves and stems of the alfalfa plant have important properties—derived from the root of the plant which reach up to 12 meters in the subsoil and absorb the elusive trace minerals from the depths. The most important this trace minerals is manganese which is vital to the human digestive system in its manufacture of insulin. Alfalfa is an outstanding alkalizing food. Alfalfa build up for a healthy and vigorous old age and resistance to infection.
ANISEED
Botanical Name : Pimpinella anisum
Indian Name : Velaiti saunf
Anise is an annual culinary herb belonging to ajwain or celery family. Its fruit, known as aniseed, is one of the oldest spices. The seed is ground-grey to greyish-brown in colour, oval in shape and 3.2 to 4.8 mm in length. It requires sunshine and warmth and does not grow satisfactorily in the tropical lowlands. Aniseed is a native of the Middle East. It was cultivated by ancient Egyptians, who valued its medicinal properties and culinary use. Its oil is a colourless or pale-yellow liquid, with the characteristic odour and taste of the fruit.
Properties: Aniseed is esteemed in medicine for its properties to relieve flatulence and to remove catarrhal and phlegm from the bronchial tube. These properties are due to the presence of the essential oil. The seed also copious perspiration and increases the volume and discharge of urine.
ARJUNA
Botanical Name : Terminalia arjuna
Indian Name: Kahu Arjuna is a dense tree with a height of 20 to 27 meters. It has long, cone-shaped round leaves and white bark which gives out milky juice when cut. Mainly the bark of the tree is used in medicines.
This tree has been named Nadisarjja in the early Sanskrit treatises, wherein its bark has been described as a cardiac tonic. Arjuna tree is indigenous to India. It is found throughout the sub-Himalayan tracts, the Deccan regions, Myanmar and Srilanka. It grows chiefly along water channels or marshy belts. The bark contains unusually large quantities of calcium, aluminium and magnesium. It also contains a crystallic compound arjunine, lactone, arjunetin, essential oil, sugar and the colouring matter. In ayurveda the arjuna is beneficial in the treatment of asthma.
Properties: The bark of the Arjuna tree is a cardiac stimulant and has cooling and tonic effects. It is useful in arresting secretion or bleeding. It helps to relieve fever. It is also useful in removing calculi or stones formed in the urinary system.
ASAFOETIDA
Botanical Name: Ferula northex
Indian Name: Hing. Asafoetida is a resinous gum of a tall perennial herb, with robust carrot-shaped roots. It is dirty yellow in colour with a pungent smell.
It is used as a flavouring agent and forms a constituent of many spice mixture. Asafoetida has several varieties which are distributed from the Mediterranean region to Central Asia. An analysis of Asafoetida shows it to consist of carbohydrates 67.8 per 100 gms, moisture 16.0 per cent, protein 4.0 per cent, fat 1.1 per cent, minerals 7.0 per cent and fibre 4.1 per cent. Its minerals and vitamin contents include substantial calcium besides phosphorus, iron, carotene, riboflavin and niacin.
Properties: Asafoetida has been held in great esteem amongst indigenous medicines from the earliest times in India. It is reputed as a drug which expels wind from the stomach and counteracts any spasmodic disorders. It is also a digestive agent and a seductive.
PEAR
It is a member of Pyrus communis of the rose family (Rosaceae). It is mainly cultivated in temperate zones. The pear tree is broad headed and up to 13 metres (43 ft.) high at maturity; it is taller and more upright than the apple tree. The roundish to oval, leathery leaves, somewhat wedge-shaped at their bases appear about the same time as the flowers which are 25 millimetres (1 inch) wide and usually white. The pear flowers from groups of 5 to 8 in erect corymbs and are generally white or pinkish.
Pears are generally sweeter and of softer texture than apples. The fruit is distinguished by the presence of hard cells in the flesh, the so called grit or stone cells which are absent in apples. Pear fruits are elongated being narrow at the stem end and broader at the opposite end.
Pear trees are relatively long living (50 to 75 years) and may reach considerable size unless carefully trained and pruned. Within 4 to 7 years of setting out, the tree begins to bear fruits at the age of 20 to 25. It should yield 25 to 45 bushels of fruit. Fruits are consumed fresh or cooked in various ways. The fermented juice of the pear, corresponding to cider made from apples, is called ‘Perry’ (a type of wine).
Italy is the largest producer of pears. Then comes China which produces 11% of the world production. Pear contains various vitamins and minerals.
It is given in anaemia, general debility, fevers, diarrhoea, dysentery, cough and cold.
BAEL
Botanical Name: Aegle Marmelos
Family: N.O. Rutaceae
Synonyms: Belae Fructus. Bel. Indian Bael.
Part Used: Unripe fruit.
Habitat: India
Description: Fruit 2 ½ to 3 ¼ inches in diameter, globular or ovoid in shape, colour greyish brown, outside surface hard and nearly smooth. Rind about 1 /8 inch thick and adherent to a light red pulp, in which are ten to fifteen cells, each containing several woolly seeds. It has a faint aromatic odour and mucilaginous taste.
Constituents: The chief constituents appear to be mucilage and pectin contained in the pulp of the unripe fruit; the ripe fruit differs in yielding a tannin reaction and possessing a distinct aroma.
Medicinal Action and Uses: Fresh half-ripe Bael fruit is mildly astringent and is used in India for dysentery and diarrhoea; the pulp may be eaten or the decoction administered. The dried fruit does not contain the constituents requisite for the preparation of the decoction. It is said to cure without creating any tendency to constipation.
Dosages and Preparations: Decoction Belae, B.P.C., 1 to 2½: dose, ½ to 2 Oz. Fluid extract, ½ to 2 drachms.
Other Species: Mangosteen Fruit (Garania Mangostana) is sometimes substituted for it, also another species of the order Rutacece, Wood Apple or Elephant Apple (Feronia Elephantum), but neither are as effective as the fruit of the Bael Tree.
PAPAW
Botanical Name : Carica papaya.
Family: N.O. Cucurbitaceae
Synonyms: Melon Tree. Mamaeire. Papaya Vulgaris.
Parts Used: Fruit juice, seeds, leaves, pawpain
Habitat: South America, West Indies, and cultivated in most tropical countries.
Description: A small tree seldom above 20 feet high, 1 foot in diameter, tapering to about 4 or 5 inches at its summit. It has a spongy soft wood, hollow in centre; leaves are as large as 2 feet in diameter, deeply cut into seven lobes, ending in sharp points and margins irregularly waived; foot-stalks 2 feet long, diverge horizontally from the stem; fruit oblong, dingy green yellow colour, about 10 inches long, 3 or 4 broad with projecting angles, a rind like a gourd, thick and fleshy; the central cavity contains a quantity of black wrinkled seeds.
Constituents: The seeds of the Papaw tree contain a glucoside, Caricin, which resembles Sinigrin, also the ferment Myrosin, and by reaction of the two a volatile, pungent body suggestive of mustard oil. From the leaves an alkaloid called carpaine has been obtained; physiologically this alkaloid has the same effect on the heart as digitalis. Papain is often adulterated with starch; in cases of acidity it is said to be much superior to pancreatin because its action is not affected to any extent by its contact with the acid. This plant must not be confounded with the custard apple, which is often called Papaw and botanically known as Uvaria triloba.
Medicinal Action and Uses : The juice of the tree or an infusion of the leaves and fruit makes the toughest meat tender when rubbed with it or cooked in the leaves; if chickens and pigs are fed on the leaves it will make their flesh tender. The ripe fruit is refreshing and palatable; it is sometimes used as a sauce; the seeds cannot be detected from capers; it is sometimes preserved in sugar or boiled like turnips. The juice is used to remove freckles; it is also a strong vermifuge. The leaves are used as a substitute for soap; when the unripe fruit is pierced with a bone knife a milky juice exudes which is collected in a basin and allowed to coagulate; this is dried in the sun and contains a propeolytic enzyme which acts as a neutral or alkaline solution, and is given for impaired digestion. Pawpain is the dried white powdered unripe juice of Papaw, a ferment, and strongly suggests pepsin in odour, taste and appearance. It is said to dissolve the fibrinous membrane in croup and diphtheria, a solution over the pharynx painted every five minutes, when injected into the circulation in large doses it paralyses the heart; it is recommended to destroy warts and epithelioma, tuberculosis, etc.; is not caustic or astringent, but has the virtue of dissolving muscular and connective tissue.
The fresh leaves have been used as a dressing for foul wounds; internally the juice is useful in dyspepsia and catarrh of the stomach; the juice has a tendency to deteriorate by undergoing butyric fermentation, but this can be overcome by the addition of glycerine, which preserves it without impairing its digestive power.