Abutilon indicum (Linn.) Sweet

Family: Malvaceae

Synonym(s): Sida indica L.

English name: Indian Mallow

Description

A herbaceous or shrubby, softly tomentose plant. Stem is round, often tinged with purple color. The leaves are petiolate, ovate to orbicular-cordate, acuminate and toothed. Flowers are borne solitary in long, jointed and axillary pedicels. Calyx lobes divided in the middle, ovate and apiculate. Corolla is yellow or orange-yellow and opens in the evening. Carpels are 15-20 in number. Fruits are hispid, scarcely longer than the calyx and the awns are erect. Seeds are three to five, kidney-shaped, dark brown or black, tubercled or with minutely stellate hairs.   

Habitat

Found abundantly in wastelands from the seashore to 1,200 meters high in India and in the sub-Himalayan tracts.

Parts Used: Whole plant

Herb Effects

Aphrodesiac,anti-inflammatory,anthelmintic, analgesic, expectorant,laxative, diuretic, demulcent 

Active Ingredients

Alantolactone, isoalantolactone2 and gallic acid, Helenin (a mixture of alantolactone and isoalantolactone, q.v.)

Medicinal Uses

To treat ulcers, headaches, gonorrhea & bladder infection,for pile complaints,to increase semen in men, deafness, ringing in the ears, eye problems, colds, high fever, mumps, hives, pulmonary tuberculosis, cough, bronchitis (decocted), difficult/painful urination, painful menses.

Reference

WHO Monograhs of Selected medicinal Plants- Volume 1

During the fourth International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA) held in Tokyo in 1986, WHO was requested to compile a list of medicinal plants and to establish international specifications for the most widely used medicinal plants and simple preparations. Guidelines for the assessment of herbal medicines were subsequently prepared by WHO and adopted by the sixth ICDRA in Ottawa, Canada, in 1991.1 As a result of ICDRA’s recommendations and in response to requests from WHO’s Member States for assistance in providing safe and effective herbal medicines for use in national health-care systems, WHO is now publishing this first volume of 28 monographs on selected medicinal plants; a second volume is in preparation.

Monograph

WHO Monographs on Selected Plants- Volume 3

WHO published Volume 1 of the WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants, containing 28 monographs, in 1999, and Volume  including 30 monographs in 2002. This third volume contains an additional collection of 32 monographs describing the quality control and use of selected medicinal plants.

Monograhs

Abrus precatorius Linn.

Family: Fabaceae

Synonym(s) : Rhynchosia precatoria

English name: Jequirity bean, rosary pea, prayer bean, precatory bean, Indian liquorice

Description

A perennial, twinning shrub. Leaves 9-12 cm long, leaves have rachis bristle-tipped ; leaflet 10-20 pairs, 1-2 x 0.5-0.8 cm, oblong. Flowers pink, born in fascicles on swollen nodes of axillary racemes. Calyx campanulate, corolla 8-9 mm long, stamens 9, pods oblong, beaked, pubescent and turgid. Seeds ovate, elliptic, shinning smooth, scarlet red colour with black hilum and 3-8 mm long.

Herb Effects

Anti-spasmodic,anthelmintic, anti-diarrhoeal,  anti-convulsant,anti-bacterial,alexiteric,astringent,abortifacient,  anti-septic, diuretic, emetic, diuretic, febrifuge,insecticide,inhibits intestinal motility,purgative, toxic, trichogenous.

Active Ingredients: Abrin

Medicinal Uses:

A tea is made from the leaves and used to treat fevers, coughs and colds. In Ceylon it is taken for sore throat and rheumatism. It is used as a remedy for pain in the chest. Roots are applied to the snake-bitten part. A cold infusion of the root is used in leucorrhoea and for gonorrhoea. Seeds are useful in affection of nervous system and externally in skin diseases, ulcers, affections of the hairs. Seeds reduced to paste are applied locally in sciatica stiffness of shoulder joints, paralysis and of nervous disease. In white leprosy seed paste and plumbago root is applied as a stimulant dressing.

Reference

Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik.

English Name : Sweet hibiscus, Sunset-hibiscus

Family : Malvaceae

Description

A perennial herb growing to 2m. It has a single central stem to 2m and short sparse branches. Leaves dark palmate on erect stalks which bears large creamy yellow hibiscus flowers all season long. The large tear-shaped pods develop at the base of the flower, they are velvety in texture.

Habitat
Wasteland and humid rocky hillsides. In Nepal it grows at elevations of 700 - 1700 metres in rocky places with shrubs. Grasslands, near streams and margins of farm land.

Parts Used : Bark, root and leaves

Origin : East Asia

Herb Effects
Emmenagogue (bark)

Medicinal Use
The bark and leaves are used to treat menorrhagia. A paste of the bark is used to treat wounds and cuts. The root juice is warmed and applied to sprains. The juice of the flowers is used to treat chronic bronchitis and toothache.

Reference

Ammi majus Linn.

English Name : Greater Ammi

Family : Apiaceae

Origin : Northeastern Africa, Eurasia

Description

An erect, branching annual herb, up to 1.5 m in height, sometimes grown as a winter ornamental. Leaves oblong, 6-20 cm long (excluding petiole), broad ternate or pinnate: leaflets lanceolate, obtuse to acute; flowers white in loose compound umbels; fruits oblong, 1.5-2.0 mm long and 1 mm or less broad.

Habitat
Almost any soil, heavy or light, is ok. Minimal water requirements once established.

Parts Used : Fruit, essential seed oil and plant

Herb Effects
Induces photosensitization (fruit); Contraceptive, diuretic and tonic (Seed)

Active Ingredients
Ammoidin, ammedin and majudin (fruit); quercetin (leaves); 5-methoxy-psoralen, 8-methoxy-psoralen, angelicin, furocoumarin, isorhamnetin, khellin, luteolin, luteolin-7-glucoside, oleic acid, palmitic acid, pimpinellin, umbelliferone, xanthotoxol (plant); bergapten, heraclenin, imperatorin, isoimperatorin, isopimpinellin, isoquercetin, oxupeucedanin, tannin, xanthotoxin (seed).

Medicinal Use
In leukoderma and psoriasis (plant decoction); in asthma and angina (Seed infusion); in toothache (Seed decoction)

Dosage
50 mg three times daily or applied externally as one per cent liniment followed by exposure of affected areas to sunlight or ultravoilet light for 2-4 hours.

Reference

Pueraria tuberosa (ROXB. EX. WILLD.) DC.

English Name : Indian Kudze

Family :Fabaceae

Origin : Southern and Eastern India

Description

A large perennial climber with a woody, tubercled stem up to 12 cm in diameter and very large tuberous roots. Leaves trifoliate; rachis 10 to 15 cm long; stipules 4 mm long, ovate-oblong, cordate; leaflets subcoriaceous, ovate, 13 to 20 cm long and nearly as wide, apex acuminate, base cuneate or truncate, glabrescent above, pubescent beneath, lateral leaflets unequal-sided; petiolules 4.5 to 6 mm long. Flowers bluish-white to purplish blue, borne in lax, leafless racemes 15 to 30 cm long; pedicels 2 to 3 mm long, silky-pubescent, fascicled along the rachis. Fruits (pods) membranous, flat, linear, 5 to 7.5 cm long, constricted between seeds, densely covered with long, silky, bristly brown hairs; seeds 3 to 6.

Habitat
Forests and fields of India (except for dry and extremely humid areas)

Parts Used : Root and tuber

Herb Effects
Emetic, demulcent, antirheumatic, stimulates the secretion and/or flow of milk (root); lowers blood sugar and antiimplantation (tuber).

Active Ingredients
Puerarin, tuberosin, stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol and daidzin (root and tuber).

Medicinal Use
The root is used as a demulcent and in the treatment of fevers. It is peeled and bruised into a cataplasm for swelling of joints. It is crushed and rubbed externally in the treatment of fevers, headaches and rheumatism.

Reference

Pterocarpus santalinusLinn.f.

English Name : Red Sandal, Red Sanders, Ruby Wood

Family : Fabaceae

Origin : India and East Indies

Description

Tree standing as high as 25 ft (it is different from Pterocarpus marsupium because it has wider leaflets. which are always trifoliate). Bark is blackish-brown, deeply cleft into rectangular plates, and exudes a deep red juice when cut; leaves are usually imparipinnate; leaflets are 3 but rarely 5; flowers are yellow and are arranged in simple or sparingly branched racemes; pods are 5 cm in diameter including the wing, the central hard and long portion containing the seed; seeds are reddish brown, smooth and leathery.


Habitat
Grows typically on dry, hilly, often rocky ground and is occasionally found growing on precipitous hillsides.


Parts Used : Heartwood, wood, bark and fruit

Herb Effects
Coagulates semen (stem bark); alleviates spasms (stem); astringent, tonic, diuretic and diaphoretic

Active Ingredients
Beta-amyrin, beta-sitosterol, liquiritigenin, stigmasterol (plant); pterocarpolone, cryptomeridiol, pterocarpol and eudesmol (heartwood); betulin, lupenone, lupeol, epilupeol (bark); beta-eusdesmol, gallic acid, pterostilbene (wood).

Medicinal Use
For skin diseases, boils and scorpion stings (heartwood); dysentery (fruit); as an astringent, for bleeding piles and to eyes in ophthalmia and to sour eyes (powder), used in cephalalgia, odontalgia, hemicrania, vomiting, diarrhea and dysentery.

Dosage
Oil: 1–1.5 grams daily in enteric-coated form for supportive treatment of urinary tract infections.
For external use in skin conditions, a few drops of the oil are added to a cup of water.

Reference

Pterocarpus marsupium ROXB.

English Name : Indian Kino Tree

Family : Fabaceae

Description

A moderate-sized to large deciduous tree. The bark is grey, rough, longitudinally fissured and scaly. The older trees exude a blood red gum-resin. The leaves are imparipinnate: the leaflets are oblong; the flowers occur in large panicles, they are yellowish and fragrant; the pods are orbicular, flat, winged.

Habitat
Forests of arid parts of central and southern India; also in Orissa. Bihar and Ceylon.


Parts Used : Wood, bark and plant juice

Herb Effects
On the nictating membrane and stimulates the cardiovascular system (stem bark); hypoglycemic (bark and heartwood); antidiarrheal and astringent (bark); lowers blood cholesterol; regenerates beta cells and increases insulin and proinsulin levels.

Active Ingredients
Beta-eudesmol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, pterostilbene (root); catechol, gallic acid, isoliquiritigenin, liquiritigenin, marsupinol, protocatechuic acid (wood)

Medicinal Use
In diabetes (wood infusion); diarrhea, leucorrhea, heartburn and indolent ulcers (plant juice). The heartwood is useful in skin diseases, diabetes, anaemia, and obesity. It is an astringent. It is administered for diarrhoea, dysentery, pyrosis and as an injection for leucorrhoea. An aqueous infusion of the wood is used in diabetes.

Dosage
Powder: from five to fifteen or more grains, every six, four, or three hours.

Reference

Psoralea corylifolia L.

English Name : Bawchan seed, Babachi

Family : Fabaceae

Description

An erect annual 30 to 180 cm high. Leaves broadly-elliptic, incisodentate; flowers yellow or bluish purple, in dense axillary, long-peduncled heads; fruits in the form of pods small, 3.5-4.5 mm. x 2.0-3.0 mm., ovoid-oblong; seed one, smooth, adhering to the pericarp.

Habitat
It is found throughout India in waste places as a weed.


Parts Used : Seeds, root and leaves.

Herb Effects
Anthelmintic, antibacterial, aphrodisiac, astringent, cardiac, cytotoxic, deobstruent, diaphoretic, diuretic, infertility, kidney, odontalgic, skin, stimulant, stomachic, tonic.

Active Ingredients
(+)-Bakuchiol (seed), Psoralen, Bavachinin-A, a flavanone (fruits), triterpene, psoracinol and two phenolic cinnamates, plicatin A and plicatin B and angaelicin.

Medicinal Use
Skin diseases, vitiligo, poisoning, for conception, caries, deafness, filaria, wound, as rejuvinative, febrile diseases, premature ejaculation, impotence, lower back pains, frequent urination, incontinence, bed wetting etc. It is also used externally to treat various skin ailments including leprosy, leucoderma and hair loss.

Dosage
Seed powder: orally with warm water in a dose of 5g/day in cases of eczema.
Five grams powder twice daily before meals with some coriander and honey (to taste).

Contraindication
May increase Pitta when taken alone; do not take with low body fluids; do not use with licorice root.

Reference

Psidium guajava L.

English Name : Common guava, Guava, Round guava, Apple guava

Family : Myrtaceae

Origin : Tropical America

Description

A shrub or small tree to 10 m high, occasionally to as much as 20m, roots are shallow. Bark smooth, light reddish-brown, with pubescent 4-angled young branches, bark peels off in large flakes, exposing greenish layer beneath; trunk normally attains a diameter of about 25cm, but can reach 60cm, has a 'bony' appearance. Leaves opposite, ovate-elliptic or oblong-elliptic, acute-acuminate, pubescent beneath, often rather brittle, prominently nerved, lateral nerves 10-20 pairs; blades mostly 7-15 cm long and 3-5 cm wide, rounded at base, dull green, downy on the underside, aromatic when crushed. Flowers hermaphroditic, solitary or 2-4 together in leaf axils, rather large (2.5 cm wide); peduncle about 1-2 cm long, pubescent; calyx 4-5-lobed (anthesis, not before) about 6-8 mm long, petals white, 10-15 mm long, fugacious, usually 4 or 5, obovate, slightly concave, stamens numerous (c. 200-250), white, about as long as petals; style 10-12 mm long, stigma peltate. Fruits globose, ovoid, or pyriform, whitish-yellow or faintly pink, sweet-sour pulpy, many-seeded (100-500/fruit), 2.5-10 cm long; pulp granular-juicy. Seeds yellowish, reniform.


Parts Used : Plant, leaf, root, shoot, bark and fruit

Herb Effects
Astringent (roots, bark, leaves and immature fruits); taken as an emmenagogue and vermifuge (leaf decoction); febrifuge (decoction of the new shoots)

Active Ingredients
Methionine (plant); alanine, alpha-humulene, alpha-linolenic acid, alpha-selinene, arginine, ascorbic-acid, aspartic acid, benzaldehyde, beta-bisabolene, beta-carotene, beta-ionone, beta-pinene, beta-selinene, cinnamyl acetate, citral, citric acid, delta-cadinene, fructose, gallic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, lactic acid, limonene, linoleic acid, lysine, myristic acid, niacin, oleic acid, oxalic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, pantothenic acid, pectin, phenylalanine, riboflavin, stearic acid, thiamin, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine, xylose (fruit); arjunolic acid (root); aromadendrene, avicularin, beta sitosterol, calcium oxalate, caryophyllene oxide, oleanolic acid, quercetin, ursolic acid, xanthophyll (leaf); ellagic acid, leucoanthocyanin, myricetin, tannin (bark).

Medicinal Use
Commonly employed to halt gastroenteritis, diarrhea and dysentery (roots, bark, leaves and immature fruits); applied on wounds, ulcers and rheumatic places and chewed to relieve toothache (crushed leaves); taken as a remedy for coughs, throat and chest ailments, and leucorrhea, applied on skin diseases, gargled to relieve oral ulcers and inflamed gums, and for halting vomiting and diarrhea in cholera patients (leaf decoction); in cerebral ailments, nephritis and cachexia (leaf infusion); in epilepsy and chorea (leaf extract); given to expel the placenta after childbirth (decoction of bark and leaves).

Reference

Prunus persica BATSCH.

English Name : Peach

Family : Rosaceae

Origin : China

Description

When growing naturally, it is a medium-sized tree, with spreading branches of quick growth and not long-lived. The leaves are lance-shaped, about 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inch broad, tapering to a sharp point, borne on long, slender, relatively unbranched shoots, and with the flowers arranged singly, or in groups of two or more at intervals along the shoots of the previous year's growth. The blossoms come out before the leaves are fully expanded, and are of a delicate, pink colour. They have a hollow tube at the base, bearing at its free edge five sepals, and an equal number of petals, usually concave, and a great number of stamens. They have very little odour. The fruit is a drupe, like the plum, having a delicate, thin outer downy skin enclosing the flesh of the Peach, the inner layers becoming woody to form the large, furrowed, rugged stone, while the ovule ripens into the kernel or seed.

Parts Used : Fruit, leaf and flower

Herb Effects
Demulcent, sedative, diuretic and expectorant action (leaves, bark, flowers and kernels); vermicidal and insecticidal (leaf); diuretic, sedative and vermifuge (flowers); alterative, astringent, demulcent and sedative (gum from the stems); antiasthmatic, antitussive, emollient, haemolytic, laxative and sedative (seeds); demulcent, diuretic, expectorant and sedative (bark).

Active Ingredients
Kaempferol-3-rhamnoside, multiflorins A and B, quercitrin and chlorogenic acid (flower); caffeic acid, kaempferol, hentriacontanol, hentriacontane, ursolic acid and beta-sitosterol (leaf); ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, (fruit); ferulic acid, naringenin, quercetin, (plant)

Medicinal Use
On cattle sores (for killing maggots) (fresh leaf paste); used in whooping cough, ordinary coughs and chronic bronchitis and irritation and congestion of gastritis (plant); possess the power of expelling worms, if applied outwardly to the body as a poultice, to relieve vomiting and morning sickness during pregnancy, in the treatment of constipation and oedema (fresh leaves); used in the treatment of dropsy and jaundice (root bark).

Dosage
Infusion: 1 fluid drachm to 1 fluid ounce.
Specific amygdalus: 1 to 10 drops.

Reference

Prosopis cineraria (L.) DRUCE

Family : Fabaceae

Origin : Iran to India

Description

It is a small or moderate sized evergreen tree with light foliage and slender branches having conical spines. The bark is rough, exfoliating in thin flakes. Leaves are bipinnate, generally with 2 pairs of pinnae; pinnules 7 to 12 pairs. Flowers are small, yellowish and are borne in slender spikes. The pods are cylindric, torulose or flattish with coriaceous exocarp. Seeds are 10 to 15, compressed, oblong with moderately hard brown testa.

Habitat
Occurs in the dry and arid regions of India.

Parts Used : Pod, bark and flowers

Herb Effects
The pods are considered to possess astringent, demulcent and pectoral properties.

Active Ingredients
Sugars, five flavonones, fatty acids, and tannins

Medicinal Use
In rheumatism and scorpion sting (bark); by women during pregnancy to prevent miscarriage (flowers mixed with sugar); for the treatment of snakebite (plant).

Reference

Premna tomentosa Willd.

English Name : Bastard teak

Family : Lamiaceae

Origin : Tropical Asia

Description

A shrub or small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall, with bole up to 30(-50) cm in diameter, often crooked and fluted at base, bark fissured or striate and shaggy, grey or yellowish to pale brown or pale rusty; indumentum consisting of branched or stellate hairs. Leaves ovate or ovate-orbicular to ovate-oblong, (3-)10-35 cm x (2.5-)6-22 cm, entire, densely tomentose beneath, petiolate. Flowers with pedicel 0.5-1 mm long, corolla white, greenish-white or yellowish. Fruit obovoid-globose, 3-6 mm long, green turning black.

Habitat
Occurs frequently in open forest and deciduous forest, in Java up to 800 m altitude.


Parts Used : Whole plant, leaf, bark and root

Herb Effects
Used as a diuretic (leaves)

Medicinal Use
A decoction of the roots and leaves is used as a tonic in mixtures after childbirth. The bark is used to treat diarrhoea. The leaves are crushed and applied to sores, and used externally to treat dropsy. The dried entire plant is used to soothe skin irritation caused by caterpillars.

Reference

Premna latifolia Roxb.

English Name : Dusky Fire Brand Bark

Family : Verbenaceae

Description

A small bushy tree or a shrub. Bark ash-coloured, smooth; leaves cordate or oval, downy, odorous when crushcd; flowers small, dirty yellow, in compound corymbs; drupes wrinkled, 4-celled.

Habitat
Forests of West Bengal, Bihar and northeastern and peninsular India; also in lower altitudes in the Garhwal (Himalayas) area.

Parts Used : Bark (from root and stem) and leaf

Herb Effects
Diuretic and alleviates spasms (leaf); hypoglycemic and stimulates the cardiovascular system (stem bark).

Active Ingredients
Premnalatin (leaf); premnaspiral, premnaspirodiene, pimaradienols and sandarocopimars (root bark); geniposidic and 7-deoxyloganic acids (stem bark).

Medicinal Use
For boils (bark paste) and in dropsy (leaf).

Reference

Premna integrifolia L.

Family : Verbenaceae

Description

A shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall, bole up to 30 cm in diameter, much-branched and sometimes spiny, bark fissured-flaky, brownish-grey. Leaves broadly ovate, obovate to suborbicular, sometimes oblong, (2-)8-15(-21) cm x (1-)5-10(-16) cm, mostly entire, sometimes serrate, crenate or dentate, glabrous, petiolate. Flowers with pedicel 0.5-1 mm long, corolla greenish-white. Fruit obovoid-globose, 3-6 mm long, green turning black.

Habitat
Grows in brushwood and hedges, often near the sea.

Parts Used : Root and leaves.

Herb Effects
The leaves are carminative and said to have a galactagogue property.

Active Ingredients
Betulin

Medicinal Use
The decoction of the root is said to be a cordial, stomachic and useful in liver disorders. It forms an ingredient of Dasamoola. A decoction of the leaves is used in the treatment of colic and flatulence while that of the tender plants is used for rheumatism and neuralgia. The leaves are rubbed along with pepper and administered in cold and fever, also in gonorrhoea and during convalescence from fevers.

Reference

Portulaca oleracea L.

English Name : Indian Purslane

Family : Portulacaceae

Origin : India and the Middle East

Description

An annual, prostrate or spreading, succulent, branched herb; quite glabrous; 10 to 50 cm long. The stems are often purplish. Leaves are fleshy and flat, obtuse, oblong-obovate, base cuneate, 1 to 2.5 cm long. Flowers is sessile, axillary and terminal, few-flowered heads, the heads solitary or cymose, the buds compressed. Petals five; yellow; about as long as the sepals. Stamens 8 to 12.

Habitat
Cultivated fields (and is also cultivated) in India.

Parts Used : Seed, stem, plant and its aerial part

Herb Effects
Diuretic, tonic, vermifuge and contraceptive (seed); antigonorrheic, purifies blood, antibacterial, antiscorbutic, depurative, diuretic and febrifuge (plant); analgesic, anthelmintic, gently laxative, astringent, tonic (to the heart), demulcent, emollient, hemostatic, reduces fever and diaphoretic.

Active Ingredients
Nicotinic acid and tocopherol (aerial part); adrenaline, alpha-linolenic acid, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, caffeic acid, dopamine, eicosapentaenoic-acid, ferulic acid, tocopherol (plant); oleracins I and II (stem); beta-sitosterol (seed); betulinic acid (stem bark).

Medicinal Use
For maladies of the ear, spleen, kidney and liver, anitgonorrheic and purifying blood (plant); burns, diabetes, diarrhea, dysentery, indigestion, hypotension, insomnia, ophthalmia, heart palpitations, scurvy, skin ailments (plant); in preventing heart attacks and strengthening the immune system, applied to burns (leaves); in the treatment of strangury, coughs, sores etc and are particularly effective in the treatment of skin diseases and insect stings (plant juice); to earaches, to alleviate insect stings (leaf juice); in dyspepsia, worm troubles and opacities of the cornea (seed).

Dosage
Tincture: 1 - 4 ml daily.
Decoction: 1 cup 1-3 times daily.

Reference

Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre

English Name : Indian Beach

Family : Fabaceae

Origin : Western Ghats of India

Description

A medium-sized, semi-evergreen up to 18 m tall with a short bole and spreading crown; bark greyish green or brown, smooth or covered with tubercles. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, 5 to 9 foliate, dark green, shining; leaflets opposite, ovate to elliptic, shortly acuminate, glabrous, to 15 cm long and 8 cm broad. Flowers small, lilac or white tinged with pink or violet, fragrant, borne in fascicles of 2 to 4 flowers in axillary racemes to 15 cm long; calyx campanulate, truncate; corolla much exserted, standard suborbicular with curved folds above the claw, wings obliquely oblong, Fruit (pod) compressed, woody, glabrous, indehiscent, yellowish-grey when mature, varying in size and shape, elliptic to obliquely oblong, to 7.5 cm long and 3.5 cm wide, with a curved beak, usually 1 seeded; seed elliptical or kidney-shaped, to 2 cm long and 1.8 cm wide, wrinkled, reddish-brown.

Habitat
Forests and along the roadsides of India.

Parts Used : Leaf, seed (and their oils) and bark

Herb Effects
Carminative (leaf), antifungal and antibacterial (essential leaf oil), kills roaches (seed oil), insects (seed and leaf) and nematodes (leaf).

Active Ingredients
Pongapin and pongamol (seed and its oil), glabrachromenes I and II (leaf), karanjin and kanjone (leaf, seed and its oil); betulinic acid (stem bark)

Medicinal Use
As a tonic (seed) and in hemorrhoids (stem bark); chronic fevers, rheumatism, lumbago, herpes, scabies, leucoderma and other skin diseases, flatulence, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, cough, leprosy and gonorrhoea (plant); on the head to heal ulcers and cure dandruff (leaf paste); used for cleaning sores, as well as for cleaning teeth and strengthening gums (root juice).

Reference

Polypodium vulgare L.

English Name : Common Polypody

Family : Polypodiaceae

Description

Smallish evergreen fern of rock crevices, 10 - 25 cm high; fronds form a network of spreading, mat-like rhizomes. Leaves single; leathery, green, erect or spreading; blade elongated, tapering to a pointed tip, deeply cut almost to the central axis; leaflets almost altemate, hairiess, margins entire or shallowly toothed, blunt-tipped; central axis basically winged; leafstalk lightly scaled near the base. The fruit is borne on the lower surface of the frond, in large, distinct, golden dots, sori, or capsules, without any indusium, round, in a double row, and becoming finally brownish.

Habitat
Dry shaded ledges and crests in ravines, in calcareous or somewhat acid soils.

Parts Used : Roots

Herb Effects
Alterative, anthelmintic, cholagogue, demulcent, diuretic, expectorant, pectoral, purgative, tonic (root).

Active Ingredients
Benzoic acid, citric acid, citrostadienol, malic acid, (root); beta-sitosterol, butyric acid, caffeic acid, catechins, filicin, glycyrrhizin, lauric acid, methyl-salicylate, stearic acid, sucrose (rhizome); salicyclic acid (leaf).

Medicinal Use
For melancholia and also for rheumatic swelling of the joints (fresh roots); in jaundice, dropsy and scurvy, and combined with mallows removes hardness of the spleen, stitches in the side and colic. In the treatment of pleurisy, hives, sore throats and stomach aches and as a mild laxative for children (tea from roots).

Dosage
Powdered plant: from 1 to 4 drachms.
Decoction or syrup: 1 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day.

Reference

Polygonum glabrum WILLD.

English Name : Denseflower knotweed

Family : Polygonaceae

Origin : Pantropics

Description

An erect, glabrous herb. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate at apex, tapering at base, gland dotted; ochreae 2.0 to 3.5 cm long, glabrous, truncate at mouth. Racemes terminal. Panicled; bracts glabrous. Perianth pink; lobes 5. Stamens 8, styles 2. Fruit nut, biconvex.

Habitat
Marshes of India

Parts Used : Leaf, flower, rhizome and plant

Herb Effects
Antiviral, hypothermic and stimulates the cardiovascular system (plant); antibacterial (leaf).

Active Ingredients
Cyanidin-3 and delphinidin-3 (flower); quercitrin, avicularin, rutin and rhamnetin (leaf); quercetin (leaf and flower).

Medicinal Use
Colic (leaf); in pneumonia and as anthelmintic (plant juice); snakebite antidote (rhizome); for piles, jaundice, debility and consumption (root stocks).

Reference