Common
name: Indian Bay Leaf, Indian cassia, Indian cassia bark,
Tamala cassia • Hindi: तेजपत्ता
tejpatta • Manipuri: তেজপাত
Tejpat • Tamil: தாளிசபத்திரி
Talishappattiri • Malayalam: തമാലപത്രമ്
Tamalapatram • Telugu: Talisapatri, Talisha, Patta akulu • Kannada: Patraka •
Bengali: তেজপাত Tejpat •Urdu: तेज़पात Tezpat • Assamese:
Mahpat, তেজপাত Tejpat •
Gujarati: તમાલપત્ર
Tamaal patra • Sanskrit: तमालपत्र tamalapattra
Botanical
name: Cinnamomum tamala
Family:
Lauraceae (Laurel family)
Synonyms:
Cinnamomum tejpata, Laurus tamala
Geographical
source
South slopes of the Himalayas and the mountains of
North Eastern India, extending into Burma. The main production areas are
Nepal and Sikkim, but most of the harvest comes from wild or half-domesticated
trees.
Introduction: Indian bay-leaves are
the leaves of a tree closely related to Cinnamon. The tough, three-veined leaves are very popular in
Northern India, but are little known elsewhere — at least, today. They were
well known to the Romans under the name malobathrum (also spelt malabathrum)
and used both for perfumery and in cooking. The name Bay Leaf is used for some
other plant (Laurus nobilis). So, this one is called Indian Bay Leaf. It is a
small to moderately sized ever green tree. Plants are raised from seeds sown in
nursery beds in March-April. Seedlings are transplanted to the field in rows of
2 m apart with a spacing of 3 – 3.5 m between plants. Leaves are collected in
dry weather every year from vigourous plants, dried in the sun and tied up into
bundles for marketing. Flowers are tiny, greenish yellow, insignificant. Today,
Indian bay-leaves are a spice used almost exclusively in the kitchens of
Northern India, especially in the famous Moghul cuisine that was developed at
the Imperial courts in Delhi and Agra. One example of such a dish is biriyani बिरयानी.
Chemical constituents
In the essential oil from the leaves,
mostly monoterpenoides were found: Linalool (50%) is the major compound,
whereas α‑pinene, p‑cymene, β‑pinene and limonene range around 5 to 10% each. Phenylpropanoids
appear only in traces: Newer work reports 1% cinnamic aldehyde and no eugenol,
whereas older literature speaks of traces of both compounds.
Medicinal Uses: Stem&
bark is used in treatment for cough Leaf
in throat and heart complaints Used in
the cure of Respiratory diseases like
Flu, Sinus, Asthma,
Chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane. Bark and leaf used as tea and spice due to its aromatic
smell In Kashmir, fresh leaf is used as
betel leaf
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