ALLIUM SATIVUM

Common name: Garlic • Assamese: naharu • Hindi: लहसुन Lahsun, लहसन Lahsan, लस्सन Lassan •Kannada: belluli • Malayalam: vellulli • Manipuri: চনম Chanam • Mizo: purun-var, purunvar • Tamil: acanam • Telugu: velluli • Urdu: लैहसन lehsan

Botanical name:   Allium sativum  

Family: Alliaceae (Onion family)

Synonyms: Allium ophioscorodon, Allium pekinense

Geographical distribution

The plant is cultivated throughout India in the winter season.

Introduction :-Garlic is commonly cultivated herb. Aerial stems are up to 1 m tall, erect, simple, herbaceous, green, hairless, round, mostly hollow. Bulb consists of many bulblets, with a papery coating and fibrous roots. Leaves are present in the lower 1/3 to 1/2 of the plant. Leaves are flat or very slightly folded, up to 30 cm long, 7-10 mm broad, smooth, often glaucous, with a prominent midrib, sheathing. The ligule is rounded ("U"-shaped), the free portion 1-2mm tall (long). Inflorescence is a dense head-like cluster of bubils at the end of the stem. Inflorescence is covered in a papery spathe. Spathe with a long apiculate tip, splitting on one side at maturity. Flowers are mostly or entirely replaced by bubils. Bubils are smooth, whitish or (more commonly) with a reddish tinge. If produced, the small flowers are greenish, whitish, or pinkish and tubular with pointed lobes. While sexual propagation of garlic is indeed possible, nearly all of the garlic in cultivation is propagated asexually, by planting individual cloves in the ground. Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor as a seasoning or condiment. This species is native to Central Asia, and spread to the Mediterranean region, China and western hemisphere. It is cultivated throughout India.

Chemical composition

Lahsun bulbs contain carbohydrates, proteins (albumin), fat, mucilage and

volatile oil. It also contains phosphorus, iron and copper.

The bulb contains allin, allicin, alitin, seordinine, scordine, anthocyanins and essential oil.

Therapeutic uses

Bulb is useful alterative, anti-arthritic, aperient, cholagogue, digestive, emmenagogue, expectorant, febrifuge, restorative, rubefacient, stimulant, tonic and vermifuge. It is also useful in cough, whooping cough, colic, facial paralysis, fatigue, flatulence, fever, heart trouble, hysteria, leprosy, piles, rheumatism, sciatica, swelling and worms. Ear-drops in ear-ache. It is also useful in anticholesterol, treatment of hypertension, diabetes, helminthiasis, chronic colitis, gastritis, angina pectoris, bacterial and fungal infections, amoebiosis, arterioselerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.

Folk medicinal uses

The oil extracted from the seeds is given for checking cold fits of intermittent fevers. As a liniment it is used for paralytic and rheumatic affections. Lahsun, in form of a syrup, is a valuable remedy for asthma, hoarseness and disorders of the chest and lungs. In case of earache, decoction of 2-3 bulbs of Lahsun is given in the dose of two drops, twice a day for 3-4 days. A decoction of Lahsun made with milk and water is given in small doses in hysteria, flatulence, sciatica etc.

Preparations

Rason-vati, rasonpind, rasonastak, lasunu-dya-ghrita and garlic capsule.

Flowers : May-June