MENTHA ARVENSIS

Common name: Field Mint, Wild Mint, Corn Mint • Assamese: podina • Hindi: बन पुदीना Ban pudina • Kannada: chetamargugu, chetni-marugu • Malayalam: putina, puttina, puttityana • Manipuri: নুংশী হিদাক nungshi-hidak • Marathi: pudina • Mizo: pudina • Sanskrit: pudina • Tamil: iyeccirkirai, kumarakamuli • Telugu: igaenglikoora, igaenglikura • Urdu: podina

Botanical name: Mentha arvensis L.    

Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Synonyms: Mentha parietariifolia, Calamintha arvensis

Specie type: Herbaceous perennial

Introduction: Field Mint is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 10-60 cm (rarely to 100 cm) tall. The leaves are in opposite pairs, simple, 2-6.5 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, ovate, hairy, and with a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are pale purple (occasionally white or pink), in distant clusters on the stem, each flower 3-4 mm long. Flowers are borne in spikes at the end of branches, 2.5-3 cm long, about 1 cm wide, continuous or interrupted at base. Bracts are linear-lanceolate, slightly longer than calyx. Flower-stalk is 1 mm. Sepal cup is bell-shaped, about 1.5 mm, subglabrous, glandular, obscurely 5-veined; teeth triangular-lanceolate, ca. 0.1 mm, ciliate. Flowers are purplish, about 3.5 mm, hairless, tube about 2 mm, petals subequal, tip notched. Ovary brown, glabrous. Nutlets brown, triquetrous, ovoid, ca. 0.7 mm, sparsely glandular. Field Mint is found throughout Eurasia and into tropical Asia, at altitudes of 1200-2000 m

Chemical constituents:

The chemical components of peppermint leaves and oil vary with plant maturity, variety, geographical region and processing conditions. The fatty acid composition of the non-polar lipid fraction of peppermint leaves is dominated by palmitic (16:0), linoleic (18:2) and linolenic (18:3) acids. The main volatile components identified in the essential oil of peppermint are menthol (33–60%), menthone (15–32%), isomenthone (2–8%), 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol) (5–13%), menthyl acetate (2–11%), menthofuran (1–10%), limonene (1–7%), β-myrcene (0.1–1.7%), β-caryophyllene (2–4%), pulegone (0.5– 1.6%) and carvone (1%). The leaves contain 1.2– 3.9% (v/w) essential oil (0.38% yield from fresh leaves) (Kaul et al., 2001), while an infusion of dried leaves is reported to contain 21% of the original oil (25 mg/L). Proportions of the individual components found in oil were both higher and lower than those found in the infused tea

Medicinal Uses

uses of peppermint as a folk remedy or in complementary and alternative medical therapy include: biliary disorders, dyspepsia, enteritis, flatulence, gastritis, intestinal colic, and spasms of the bile duct, gallbladder and gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

MELIA AZEDARACH LINN.

Common name: Chinaberry tree, Persian lilac, Pride of India, Bead tree, Lilac tree • Hindi: Bakain बकैन • Manipuri: Seizrak • Marathi: Bakan-nimb बकाणनिंब • Bengali: Bakarjam • Tamil: காட்டு வேம்பூ Kattu vembhu

Botanical name:   Melia azedarach   

Family: Meliaceae (Neem family)

Synonyms: Melia azedarach var. japonica, Melia toosendan

Geographical distribution

The plant occurs throughout India in tropical and subtropical regions and also planted along roadsides

Introduction: The Persian lilac tree is frequently confused with Neem. However, the structure of the leaves and the color of the flowers, white in Neem and lilac in Persian lilac, are sufficient to distinguish between the two. A large evergreen tree native to India, growing wild in the sub-Himalayan region. In India, Muslims are credited with the spread of the tree. The bark is reddish brown, becoming fissured on mature trees. The deciduous leaves are bipinnate (twice feather-like) and 1-2 ft long. The individual leaflets, each about 2 in long and less than half as wide, are pointed at the tips and have toothed edges. In spring and early summer, Persian lilac produces masses of purplish, fragrant, star shaped flowers, each about 3/4 in in diameter, that arch or droop in 8 in panicles. They are followed by clusters of spherical, yellow fruits about 3/4 in in diameter that persist on the trees even after the leaves have fallen. All parts of Persian lilac tree are poisonous. Eating as few as 6 berries can result in death. Birds that eat too many seeds have been known to become paralyzed.

Medicinal uses:  Bark and fruit extract is used to kill parasitic roundworms. In Manipur, leaves and flowers are used as poultice in nervous headache. Leaves, bark and fruit are insect repellant. Seed-oil is used in rheumatism. Wood-extract is used in asthma.

Chemical composition

The bark contain ajwaridin and parosin. The fruit contain bakayanin, azaridin (mardgocin, stero), banning glucose and starch.

Therapeutic uses

The leaves are antilithic, diuretic and emmenagogue; their juice is given in one to two gm. doses. In leprosy and scrofula; the leaves and the bark are useful, a decoction of the leaves is given in doses of 10-20 ml. The bark of the stem is anthelmintic, stimulant and antispasmodic.

Folk medicinal uses

The leaf juice is applied for resolving cold swellings. A poultice of the leaves is used locally in nervous headache. Decoction of the root bark is given to children in doses 10 ml at an interval of three hours till the worm is expelled. A paste of the flowers is used to kill head lice and for eruptive skin diseases.

Flowers: March-May

Fruits: May-July

MARTYNIA ANNUA

Common name: Devil's Claws, Tiger's Claw • Hindi: उलट-कांटा Ulat-kanta, Bichu ,  बाघनख Baghnakh • Malayalam: Puli - Nakham • Tamil: Puli - Nagam • Marathi: Vinchu • Bengali: Baghnoki , Gujarati: Vichchida, Sanskrit: kakanasika

Botanical name: Martynia annua   

Family: Martyniaceae (devil's claw family)

Introduction: These interesting plants are called devil's claws. They produce strange seed pods that attach to the feet and legs of large animals, and include some of the largest hitchhiker fruits in the world. Bushy annual herb to 2 m high. Leaves kidney-shaped to circular, mostly 6–15 cm wide, both surfaces equally hairy, margins with shallow lobes; leaf stalk 9–14 cm long. Pod green and fleshy at first, drying to a black woody capsule. Seeds brown to black, 2 to each pod. Distinguished by leaves and stems covered with sticky glandular hairs; leaves pumpkin-like; flowers tubular, 4–6 cm long, predominantly white to pink with 5 spreading lobes at the apex, each lobe with a prominent purple spot, throat with red and yellow spots, fertile stamens 2; pod to 4 cm long and to 1.5 cm wide, with recurved claws about 1 cm long. Flowers in several flowered racemes. Flowers are bell shaped, purplish white, with dark purple markings. The yellow lines in the corolla throat are nectar guide lines to direct pollinator bees to the nectar source.

Chemical Constituents: glycosides, tannins, carbohydrates, phenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins. GC-MS studies on both aqueous and alcohol extract shows the presence of twenty eight compounds, out of which oleic acid, constitutes the major part. Other major biological compounds include pelargonidin-3-5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3- galactoside, p-hydroxy benzoic acid, gentisic acid, arachidic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, apigenin, apigenin-7-oglucuronide.

Traditional uses:

 Epilepsy, inflammation and tuberculosis

Medicinal Uses: This weed has been known to possess anthelmintic, analgesic, antipyretic, antibacterial, anti-convulsant, antifertility, antinociceptive, antioxidant, CNS depressant and wound healing activity.

MANILKARA HEXANDRA

Common name: Ceylon Iron Wood, milk tree, wedge-leaved ape flower • Hindi: दृढ़ drirh, खिरनी khirni, क्षीरी kshiri, रायन rayan • Marathi: करणी karani, खिरणी khirni, राजण rajana, रांजण ranjana, रायण rayan, रायणी rayani • Tamil: உலக்கைப்பாலை ulakkai-p-palai • Malayalam: കൃണി krini, പഴമുന്പാല pazhamunpaala • Telugu: అంకాలు ankalu, నందివృక్షము nandivriqshamu, పాలచెట్టు palachettu • Kannada: bakula • Bengali: krikhiyur • Konkani: कर्णी karni, रांजण ranjana • Gujarati: ખિર્ની khirni, રાયન rayan •Sanskrit: क्षीरिणी kshirini, निम्बबिज nimbabija, राजादन rajadana

Botanical name: Manilkara hexandra   

Family: Sapotaceae (Mahua family)

Synonyms: Mimusops hexandra

Geographical Distribution-

This tree is found in central india & deccan peninsula

Introduction: Ceylon Iron Wood is a tree or a shrub, 3-12 m tall, with gray bark and smooth branchlets. Alternately arranged leaves are often closely clustered towards the end of branchlets, with conspicuous scars. Leaf-stalks are 0.8-2 cm. Leaf blade is obovate to obovate-elliptic, 5-10 x 3-7 cm, both surfaces smooth, base broadly wedge-shaped to obtuse. Flowers areise in fascicles in leaf axils. Pedicel is thick, 1-1.8 cm. Sepals are ovate- triangular, 3-4 mm, yellowish gray velvety. Flowers are white or light yellow, about 4 mm. Petals are oblong, about 3 mm. Berry is obovoid-oblong to ellipsoid, 1-1.5 cm, 1- or 2-seeded. Seeds about 1 cm.

Cultivation Collection-

Khirni is cultivated on a small scale in especially near big cities where there exists a good market for the fruits.  Suitable temperature range of khirni tree is 10-38⁰c and most fruit tree prefers a soil which has pH between ranges 6.0-7.0.  Fruit trees grow best in well drained soil with a sandy,loamy texture. They also need deep soil to support their deep root system.

Chemical Constituents:

Bark contain triterpenoidsaponin and B-sitosterol, leaves contain sterols, volatile oil,tannis,cinnamic acid, hentriacon tane , teraxerol, & quercitol. Seeds contain saponin 1 ,saponin 2, saponin 3 , gallic acid, myrecetin, quercetin, unsaponifiable lipids, alcohols, hydrocarbons, triterpene & sterols. Fruits contain triterpene alcohols & roots contain a & b amyrins, taraxerol a-spinasterol.

Medicinal uses-

It is use for treatment of wide range of disease. Its bark is especially useful in treating gum problems & dental disorders such as bleeding gums, gum inflammation. The bark is used to treat fever, gas, stomsch disorders, joundice, deworming etc. decoction of bark is used for treatment of dysentery ,diarrhea & bodyache. Root is used in headache & a leaf is used in asthma. Fruits are used to treat arthritis, blood purifier, heat burning, and digestive disorder. Seed is useful in ulcers & the opacity of the cornea.

Flowering: August-December

MANGIFERA INDICA L.

Common name: Mango • Hindi: Am आम • Manipuri: Heinou • Tamil: மா Ma • Telugu: Mamidi •Malayalam: Mangga • Kannada: Mavina mara • Marathi: Amba अंबा • Konkani: Ambo आंबॉ

Botanical name: Mangifera indica     

Family: Anacardiaceae (Cashew family)

Geographical distribution

The plant occurs in tropical and subtropical parts of India and cultivated.

Introduction: It is a matter of astonishment to many that the delicious mango, one of the most celebrated of Indian fruits, is a member of the family Anacardiaceae–notorious for embracing a number of highly poisonous plants. The mango tree is erect, 30 to 100 ft high, with a broad, rounded canopy which may, with age, attain 100 to 125 ft in width, or a more upright, oval, relatively slender crown. In deep soil, the taproot descends to a depth of 20 ft, the profuse, wide-spreading, feeder root system also sends down many anchor roots which penetrate for several feet. The tree is long-lived, some specimens being known to be 300 years old and still fruiting. Nearly evergreen, alternate leaves are borne mainly in rosettes at the tips of the branches and numerous twigs from which they droop like ribbons on slender petioles 1 to 4 in long. Hundreds and even as many as 3,000 to 4,000 small, yellowish or reddish flowers, 25% to 98% male, the rest hermaphroditic, are borne in profuse, showy, erect, pyramidal, branched clusters 2 1/2 to 15 1/2 in high. There is great variation in the form, size, color and quality of the fruits. They may be nearly round, oval, ovoid-oblong, or somewhat kidney-shaped, often with a break at the apex, and are usually more or less lop-sided.

Chemical composition

The ripe fruit contain vitamin A, benzol, gallic acid, citric acid and gum. Bark have 16-20% tannin from which mangeferin is extracted. The cotyledons contain gallic and tannic acid.

Therapeutic uses

A powder of the tender leaves is given in diarrhoea and diabetes. The bark  is astringent and have marked action on mucous membranes. It is given in menorrhagia, leucorrhoea, dysentery, bleeding piles, haemorrhage from lungs, intestine, uterus and diarrhoea. Dried flowers, being astringent and are useful in diarrhoea, chronic dysentery and catarrh of the bladder. The unripe fruit is acidic and astringent. The ripe fruit is diuretic, laxative and astringent.

Folk medicinal uses

The juice of the fresh bark with the addition of the white of an egg or some mucilage and a little opium is given for the treatment of leucorrhoea and menorrhagia. Powder of the bark is given in doses of 60 gm twice a day for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery. An ointment made of the resinous gum from the tree is used in dressing for scabies and other parasitic skin diseases.

Flowers: March-April Fruits : June-July

LEPTADENIA RETICULATA

Common name: Cork Swallow-Wort • Hindi: dori, jhumka, jumka, meethi dodi • Kannada: bugudi hoovina gedde • Malayalam: atakodiyan, atapatiyan, curinil • Marathi: bhuidodi, dodi, khaandodkee •Sanskrit: arkapushpi, caksusya, jivaniya, जीवन्ती jivanti • Tamil: paalai keerai • Telugu: guttipaala, kalasa, mukku thummudu

Botanical name:  Leptadenia reticulata   

Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Synonyms: Cynanchum reticulatum

Geographical distribution: Hedges, open forests

Introduction: Cork Swallow-Wort is a twining shrub, with numerous branches. The stems have a cork-like, deeply cracked bark, hairless when young. Leaves are leathery, ovate, pointed, hairless above, finely velvety below. Flowers are greenish-yellow, in lateral or subaxillary cymes, often with small hairs. Seed-pods may be woody. The external surface of the root is rough, white or buff coloured with longitudinal ridges and furrows, and in transverse section, the wide cork, lignified stone cell layers and medullary rays can be seen. Cork Swallow-Wort is found in the sub-Himalayan tracts of Punjab and Uttarakhand and throughout the Deccan peninsula up to an altitude of 900 m and found particularly in hedges. It is also distributed throughout Mauritius, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, the Himalayas and Burma. 

Chemical Constituents: stigmasterol, ß–sitosterol α-amyrin, β-amyrin, ferulic acid, luteolin, diosmetin, rutin, stigmasterol, hentriacontanol, a triterpene alcoholsimiarenol and apigenin.
Medicinal uses: The plant is galactogogue, cooling, nutritive, aphrodisiac, stimulant, diuretic, and eyetonic. Useful to cure eye-diseases, seminal debility, general weakness, cough, dyspnoea, fever, asthma, constipation, sore throat, and gonorrhea. Extracts of roots and leaves of the plant act as antibacterial and anti-fungal agent. It promotes health and vigour, improves voice, alleviates the three dosas vata, pitta and kapha. It also cures eye diseases, hematemesis, emaciation, cough, dyspnoea, fever and burning sensation

Habit : Twiner(shrubby)

Parts used:Root

Medicinal uses: The roots are sweet, cooling, ophthalmic, emollient, tonic, stimulant, aphrodisiac, expectorant and galactagogue. They are useful in ophthalmology, orchitis, cough, burning sensation, stomachalgia and fever. The leaves, flowers and fruits are eaten as vegetable.

LAWSONIA INERMIS

Common name: Henna, Mehendi मेहेंदी (Hindi), Hena pambi (Manipuri), மருதாணி Marudaani (Tamil)

Botanical name: Lawsonia inermis   

Family: Lythraceae (Crape Myrtle family)

Introduction: Henna, or Menhdi as it is called in Hindi, is a symbol of festivity in India. It is especially associated with marriage in north India. Its leaves produce the henna or alhenna of the Arabs (cyprus of the ancients), a yellow die which is used in Egypt and elsewhere by women to color their nails, and by men to die their beards, and for other similar uses including horses manes and tails. It is known in the West Indies as "Egyptian privet", and sometimes as "reseda". It is the camphire of the authorized version of the Bible. A member of the Lythraceae, along with Crape Myrtles and Mexican Heather. Among the most fragrant flowers on earth. Widely cultivated in tropical countries but probably native to North Africa and Asia. It is best grown as a tender outdoor container tropical or annual and can be propagated by cuttings or seed. The fragrance is best from a distance when mixed with air.
Geographical distribution

The plant occurs throughout the country and cultivated as a hedge.

Chemical composition

It contains lawsone, flavonoids, phenolic acid, fatty acids and tannins. Other constituents are gallic acid, white resin, sugars and xanthones.

Therapeutic uses

The leaves of plant are alterative, astringent, prophylactic against skin diseases, refrigerant and soporific. The leaves are also useful in blood dysentery, boils, burns enlargement of spleen, headache, heart trouble, insomnia, sore throat, jaundice, burning sensation of feet, calculous affection, typhoid, haemorragia and spermatorrhoea.

Folk medicinal uses

The juice of fresh leaves in doses of two to four gm. is given in spermatorrhoea. The leaf decoction is given in jaundice. 12 gm. leaves of Tamarix dioca are mixed with 12 gm. leaves of Mehndi and boiled in 250 ml water. When it is left to one forth, it is taken for 40-50 days continuously. It is claimed that the leprosy is cured by this treatment.

Preparations

Madayantadi-churna.

Flowers and Fruits: June-October