Plumbago zeylanica L.

English Name : White Leadwort

Family : Plumbaginaceae

Description

A perennial herb 1.5 m tall. Leaves thin glabrous 4 to 16 cm long and 2.0 to 7.5 cm wide, ovate apex subacute, margins entire, base tapering into amplexicaul petiole, auricles present. Flowers white, borne in elongated spikes up to 30 cm long; sepals green, persistent with membranous margins, corolla tube less than 2.2 cm long, petals 6 to 7 cm long, obovate. Fruit capsule, oblong, sharply pointed with furrows, enclosed with persistent calyx.

Habitat
Found wild in Peninsular India

Parts Used : Bark, root, wood and powder

Herb Effects
Antiperiodic, stimulant, sudorific, stomachic, carminative, astringent, anthelmintic, laxative, expectorant, tonic, alterative, abortifacient, and alexipharmic.

Active Ingredients
Plumbagin

Medicinal Use
For dyspepsia, piles, anasarca, diarrhea, skin disease, obstinate skin diseases, ulcers, for treating laryngitis, rheumatism, diseases of the spleen, ring worm, scabies. The root of the herb is used in cases of enlarged spleen, helps improve digestion and it stimulates the appetite.

Dosage
To improve digestion: 2-3 grams one hour before the main meal of the day with warm water.
Colicky abdominal pain: 0.5 to 2 grams each with warm water.

Contraindication
It causes abortion. Large doses cause death from respiratory failure.

Reference

Plumbago indica L.

English Name : Rosy-flowered leadwort, Officinal leadwort, Scarlet leadwort, Whorled plantain

Family : Plumbaginaceae

Origin : South-East Asia

Description

A shrub up to 1.5 m tall, branched from the base, stems drooping, sometimes rooting. Leaves oblong, 5-15 cm x 2-8 cm, petiole not auriculate. Inflorescence a rather sparsely flowered spike, not corymbose, rachis glabrous, 10-30 cm long; flowers with calyx about 1 cm long, covered in glands, red, corolla tube 2.5-4 cm long, lobes 2-3 cm in diameter, distinctly mucronate, red. Fruit is long, sharp, slimy, which contains a seed in it that is long.


Habitat
Found in the vicinity of (former) anthropogenic localities, locally semi-spontaneous, often persistent in abandoned cultivation, also in teak forest, up to 1000 m elevation.


Parts Used : Leaf, root and bark

Herb Effects
Acts as a counter-irritant and abortifacient (roots); vesicant (root-bark); emmenagogue, stomachic and carminative (dried roots).

Medicinal Use
Used as a poultice for rheumatism, paralysis, tumours, toothache and swollen glands, and cut into thin slices and applied to the head for headache and to the skin for skin diseases (roots); in the treatment of haemorrhoids and for purifying blood and to stimulate digestion (dried roots); in the treatment of rheumatism and headache (leaves); externally applied in the treatment of rheumatism, glandular swellings and leprosy (leaves and roots); against dyspepsia (bark).

Contraindication
Do not use when pregnant.

Reference

Pluchea lanceolata C. B. Clarke

Family : Asteraceae

Description

An erect undershrub, 30-100 cm tall. Leaves 2-6 cm long, sessile, oblanceolate or oblong, coriaceous; flowers white, yellow, lilac or purple, in many headed compound corymbs.

Habitat
Salty or sandy areas of the Upper Gangetic plains, Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat.

Parts Used : Leaf, stem, plant and root

Herb Effects
Cholinergic and relaxes smooth muscles, antipyretic, analgesic, laxative and nervine tonic (plant); antiinflammatory (stem); antiimplantation (aerial part); succulent, aperient (leaves); alexiteric, antipyretic, bitter, laxative and thermogenic (root)

Active Ingredients
Quercetin and iso-rhamnetin (leaf); pluchine, choline, taraxasterol and beta and gamma-sitosterol (plant).

Medicinal Use
For inflammations and bronchitis, psoriasis, cough and piles (Plant) ; To prevent swellings of joint in arthritis, rheumatism and neurological diseases (decoction of plant); is highly effective in sciatica, muscular sprains and joint pains (leaf extract).

Reference

Plantago major L.

English Name : Plantain. Great Plantain

Family : Plantaginaceae

Origin : Eurasia

Description

It grows from a very short rhizome, which bears below a great number of long, straight, yellowish roots, and above, a large, radial rosette of leaves and a few long, slender, densely-flowered spikes. The leaves are ovate, blunt, abruptly contracted at the base into a long, broad, channelled footstalk (petiole). The blade is 4 to 10 inches long and about two-thirds as broad, usually smooth, thickish, five to eleven ribbed, the ribs having a strongly fibrous structure, the margin entire, or coarsely and unevenly toothed. The flower-spikes, erect, on long stalks, are as long as the leaves, 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick and usually blunt. The flowers are somewhat purplish-green, the calyx four-parted, the small corolla bell-shaped and four-lobed, the stamens four, with purple anthers. The fruit is a two-celled capsule, not enclosed in the perianth, and containing four to sixteen seeds.

Habitat
In cultivation lands by the sides of the roads, in rich fields and farms.

Parts Used : Leaves or aerial parts

Herb Effects
The leaves are astringent, demulcent, deobstruent, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, haemostatic and refrigerant.

Active Ingredients
Apigenin, ascorbic acid, asperuloside, aucubin, baicalein, baicalin, benzoic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, choline, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, fumaric acid, geniposidic acid, linoleic acid, luteolin, oleanolic acid, oleic acid, P-coumaric acid, salicylic acid, urosilic acid and vanillic acid.

Medicinal Use
It is used in inflammation of the skin, malignant ulcers, intermittent fever, etc., and as a vulnerary, and externally as a stimulant application to sores. The leaves arrest external haemorrhage. The fresh leaves are applied whole or bruised in the form of a poultice. Rubbed on parts of the body stung by insects, nettles, etc., or as an application to burns and scalds. Internally, they are used in the treatment of a wide range of complaints including diarrhoea, gastritis, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, haemorrhage, haemorrhoids, cystitis, bronchitis, catarrh, sinusitis, asthma and hay fever. They are used externally in treating skin inflammations, malignant ulcers, cuts, stings etc. The heated leaves are used as a wet dressing for wounds, swellings etc. The root is a remedy for the bite of rattlesnakes. The seeds are used in the treatment of parasitic worms. Plantain seeds contain up to 30% mucilage which swells up in the gut, acting as a bulk laxative and soothing irritated membranes. A distilled water made from the plant makes an excellent eye lotion.

Dosage
Infusion: pour a cup of boiling water onto 2teaspoonfuls of the dried herb and leave to infuse for l0 minutes. This shouldbe drunk three times a day.
Ointment: an ointment can be made that will aid the treatment of haemorrhoidsand cuts.
Tincture: take 2-3ml of the tincture three times a day.

Reference

Pistacia vera L.

English Name : Pistache, Pistachio

Family : Anacardiaceae


Origin : Central Asia

Description

Deciduous tree, growing slowly to 30 feet tall and wide (9 m). The flowers are apetalous and unisexual, and borne in panicles. The fruit is a drupe, containing an elongated seed (a nut in the culinary sense, but not a true botanical nut) with a hard, whitish shell and a striking light green kernel, having a very characteristic flavour.

Habitat
Hilly and mountainous regions, especially on sandstone soils, with a temperature range from -10°c in the winter to 40°c in the summer, to 1500 metres.

Parts Used : Plant, seed

Herb Effects
Sedative and tonic (seed)

Active Ingredients
Alanine, alpha-linolenic acid, alpha-tocopherol, arginine, arsenic, aspartic acid, beta-carotene, beta-sitosterol, cystine, folacin, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, linoleic acid, lysine, methionine, mufa, myristic acid, niacin, oleic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, phenylalanine, squalene, stearic acid, stigmasterol, succinic acid, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine (seed); shikimic acid (leaf); tannin (plant)

Medicinal Use
For the treatment of abdominal ailments, abscesses, amenorrhoea, bruises, chest ailments, circulation, dysentery, gynecopathy, pruritus, rheumatism, sclerosis of the liver, sores and trauma (plant)

Reference

Pistacia lentiscus L.

English Name : Mastic

Family : Anacardiaceae

Origin : Mediterranean, from sea level to 2500 feet elevation

Description

An evergreen shrub or small tree growing to 3–4 m tall and wide (4.5-7.5 m); leaves even-pinnately compound, leathery, 3 to 5 pairs of 1 inch leaflets. The flowers are very small, in axillary panicles, and dioecious; the raceme of the males is amentaceous with 1-flowered bracts; calyx 5-cleft; stamens 5; anthers subsessile and 4-cornered ; the females' raceme more lax; calyx 3-cleft; ovary 1 to 3-celled; stigmas 3, and rather thick. The fruit is a very small, pea-shaped drupe, reddish when ripe, with a smooth, somewhat bony nut.

Habitat
Open woods and scrub on dry hillsides, usually by the coast

Parts Used : Resin

Herb Effects
Analgesic, antitussive, carminative, diuretic, expectorant, odontalgic, sedative and stimulant (resin).

Active Ingredients
Alpha-pinene (resin, exudate, sap); aucubin, choline (seed); cycloartenol, kaempferol, lupeol, myricetin, quercetin, shikimic acid, tannin (leaf).

Medicinal Use
Can reduce bacterial plaque in the mouth, heal peptic ulcers, for bronchial troubles and coughs and as a treatment for diarrhoea, to boils, ulcers, ringworm and muscular stiffness.

Dosage
1 to 3 grammes (15 to 45 grains).

Reference

Piper nigrum L.

English Name : Black Pepper, Madagascar pepper, Pepper, White pepper

Family : Piperaceae

Origin : Southern India

Description

It is a perennial with a round, smooth, woody stem, with articulations, swelling near the joints and branched; the leaves are entire, broadly ovate, acuminate, coriaceous, smooth, with seven nerves; colour dark green and attached by strong sheath-like foot-stalks to joints of branches. Flowers small, white, sessile, covering a tubular spadix; fruits globular, red berries when ripe, and surface coarsely wrinkled.

Habitat
Wet and warm parts of India, South Vietnam and the East and West Indies; also it has been introduced into many tropical parts of the world. It prefers shade and fertile soils.

Parts Used : Dried, unripe fruit, leaf and plant

Herb Effects
Diuretic, stimulant, carminative, antifungal, antibacterial, kills certain larvae and tapeworms and stimulates the secretion of gastric juices (fruit); lowers blood pressure (leaf), abortifacient, antiinflammatory and rubefacient.

Active Ingredients
Piperine, hentriacontanol, hentriacontane and beta-sitosterol (stem), sabinene, alpha and beta-pinene, myrcene and limonene (fruit's essential oil), chavicin (a resin); 1,8-cineole, alpha-linolenic acid, alpha-pinene, alpha-terpinene, alpha-terpeniol, ascorbic acid, benzoic acid, beta-bisabolene, beta-carotene, beta-pinene, borneol, camphene, camphor, carvacrol, carvone, cinnamic acid, citral, citronellal, d-limonene, delta-3-carene, delta-cadinene, eugenol, gamma-terpinene, lauric acid, linalyl-acetate, linoleic acid, methyl-eugenol, myrcene, myristicin, nerolidol, niacin, oleic acid, oxalic acid, p-cymene, palmitic acid, piperine, safrole, terpinen-4-ol, terpinolene, thiamin, ubiquinone (fruit).

Medicinal Use
In malaria, as a diuretic and in various gastrointestinal problems (fruit), cancer (especially that of the nose), corns, gonorrhea, headache, sores, swellings, cholera, craw-craw and dhobey itch, as an aromatic stimulant for disorders such as coma, good for constipation, also on the urinary organs; externally it is a rubefacient, useful in relaxed conditions of the rectum when prolapsed.

Dosage
5 to 15 grains in powder; B.P. dose of Pepper. 1 to 2 drachms; Oleoresin. U.S.P. dose. 1/2 grain.

Reference

Piper cubeba L. F.

English Name : Tailed Pepper

Family : Piperaceae

Origin : Indonesia

Description

A climbing shrub with cylindrical, smooth, zigzag, striate stems, somewhat thickened at the nodes. Leaves alternate, on short stout petioles, blade about 6 inches long, lanceolate or oval-oblong, tapering to the acute apex, usually somewhat unequal at the base, quite entire, slightly wavy, glabrous on both surfaces, somewhat coriaceous, deep green, rather paler and with prominent veins beneath. Flowers unisexual, dioecious, minute, sessile, each with a bract at the base, densely crowded in small, cylindrical, stalked, solid spikes coming off opposite the leaves. Fruit globular, smooth, about ¼ inch long, with a blunt apiculus and tapering below into a stalk-like base.

Parts Used : Fruit, Seed and Essential Oil

Herb Effects
Kills mosquito larvae, anthelmintic and antiviral (essential oil); antibacterial (seed); antiasthmatic, irritant, carminative, sedative, diuretic and antidysenteric (fruit)

Active Ingredients
Linolic, palmitic, linolenic, oleic, arachidic, stearic, behenic and hexadecenoic acids (seed); sesquiterpenes (essential oil); 1,8-cineole, alpha-pinene, alpha-terpinene, alpha-terpineol, apiole, asarone, azulene, beta-bisabolene, beta-elemene, beta-pinene, caryophyllene, delta-cadinene, gamma-terpinene, limonene, myrcene, nerolidol, safrole (fruit); alpha-phellandrene (plant).

Medicinal Use
Asthma (fruit); in gonorrhea, gleet and inflammation of the bladder.

Dosage
Tea (add 1 tsp. Cubebs to 1 cup of boiling water cover and steep for 10 min): hot or cold, a mouthful 3 times a day or 1/2 cup at bedtime.
Oil:5 to 15 drops.
Powder:1/2 to 2 tsp.

Reference

Piper betle L.

English Name : Betel Vine

Family : Piperaceae

Origin : Malaysia

Description

A perennial dioecious creeper. Stems semi-woody, climbing by short, adventitious roots; leaves 5-20 cm long, broadly ovate, slightly cordate and often unequal at the base, shortly acuminate, acute, entire, with often an undulate margin, glabrous, yellowish or bright green, shining on both sides; petiole stout, 2.0-2.5 cm long; male spikes dense, cylindrical; female spikes 2.5-5.0 cm long, pendulous; fruits rarely produced, often sunk in the fleshy spike, forming nodule-like structures.

Parts Used : Root, leaf and essential oil

Herb Effects
Carminative, stimulant, antibacterial and inhibits tumor growth (leaf); anthelmintic, respiratory and cardiac depressant, alleviates spasms and antiseptic (essential oil); contraceptive (root); aphrodisiac and astringent.

Active Ingredients
Hentriacontane, beta and gamma-sitosterols, pentatriacontane and chavicol (leaf); eugenol, carvacrol, allyl catechol, cadinine, tannins, chavibetol and arakene.

Medicinal Use
Increasing the secretion of gastric juices (leaf); alleviating spasms and as an antiseptic (essential oil); abscesses, sores and cuts, asthma, bronchitis, cancer, catarrh, colic, cough, diphtheria, dysentery, earache and nose.

Dosage : Betel oil: 1 to 2 minims.

Reference

Myristica fragrans HOUTT

English Name : Nutmeg

Family : Myristicaceae

Origin : Eastern Moluccas (Indonesia)

Description

Nutmeg is an evergreen, small, dioecious tree attaining from 5 to 20 meters tall, crown is conical in shape. Bark is greyish-brown and when cut, it exudes a light red sap, a generic character for all species of Myristica. Leaves are alternate, simple, without stipules, papery thin; the stalk is about 1 centimeter long; leaf blades are elliptic to lanceolate, base acute, margin entire, top acuminate, aromatic when crushed. The inflorescences are axillary, in umbrella-like grouped flowers, male usually many-flowered, female 1 to 3 flowers only; flowers are fragrant, with fine hairs becoming smooth, pale yellow, floral envelopes 3-lobed; male flowers with slender stalk of less than 1 mm thick, usually narrowed at the base and with 8 to 12 stamens; female flowers with superior stalkless 1- celled ovary. Fruits are peach-shaped berry or drupe-like, fleshy, yellowish, splitting open into halves when ripe, containing only one ovoid seed, with a shiny dark brown, hard and stony furrowed and longitudinally wrinkled shell, enveloped by an aril cut into narrow parts that is attached to its base, the kernel with a small embryo and a chewed-up endosperm that contains many veins containing essential oils.

Habitat
Grows wild on rich volcanic soils in lowland tropical rain forests. Its cultivation as a crop is largely confined to islands in the hot, humid tropics at altitudes up to 4,500 metres.


Parts Used : Powder, aril, fruit and leaves

Herb Effects
Stimulant, carminative, astringent and aphrodisiac

Active Ingredients
1,8-cineole, acetic acid, alpha-phellandrene, alpha-terpinene, alpha-terpineol, butyric acid, camphene, caprylic acid, elemicin, eugenol, formic acid, furfural, gamma-terpinene, geraniol, geranyl-acetate, isoeugenol, lauric acid, limonene, linoleic acid, methyl-eugenol, methyl-isoeugenol, myrcene, myristic acid, oleanolic acid, oleic acid, p-cymene, palmitic acid, safrole, stearic acid, terpinen-4-ol, terpineol, terpinolene (seed); myristicin (leaf); kaempferol, quercetin (plant)

Medicinal Use
Used in treatment of pestilential and putrid fevers, asthma and heart disease, digestive disorders, kidney disease and lymphatic ailments. It stimulates the appetite and improves digestion and calms nausea and vomiting. The nutmeg oil is used to dispel flatulence.

Dosage
The dosage given was 9 tablespoons orally per day but it may vary between patients to avoid toxic symptoms.
Powdered dry seed, 0.3-1g three times a day.
Oil: Dilute 10 drops in 10ml almond oil and use for muscular pains associated with rheumatism or over-exertion.

Contraindication
Eating nutmegs produces stomach pain, double vision, delirium, and other symptoms of poisoning. Contraindicated in pregnancy. Do not use as a treatment on young children.

Reference