Traditional healing

March 2 2024

Ghav-bel

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A large climbing shrub grown as an ornamental in the gardens. Stem
tomenose white. Leaves ovate, cordate, glabrous with lower surface white
tomentose. Flowers silky pubescent funnel shaped and purple. Fruit globose
and apiculate with black seeds. Flowering and fruiting in August – December.
Part used: Root and Leaf

Usage: The roots are diuretic, aphrodisiac and used as a tonic. The decoction of roots purifies the blood and cures rheumatic pain. The lower hairy surface of leaves is tied over tumour, boils and wounds for early suppuration and healing. Poultice of leaves is used to reduce the swelling. The upper surface of leaves has cooling properties.

Agrotechniques : It grows on all types of soils. Seeds can be sown direct in the field or polybags during June July and saplings are transplanted after one month and irrigated every 10-15 days with regular weeding. Roots and leaves harvested and dried in shade.

March 2 2024

Kateli

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Naturalized throughout as weed of waste places, croplands, gardens and drains. A prickly annual whitish green herb with erect usually branched stem. Leaves sessile with slightly incised undulate margins and white veins.
Sharp, yellow prickles on leaf margin and mid rib. Flowers yellow solitary, axillary. Fruit a prickly capsule, oblong or elliptic with many seeds. Seeds small round, blackish brown and pitted. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year in moist localities but mainly from January to April.

Part used: Whole plant

Usage: Plant juice is used in eye infection, cataract problem, to increase eyesight and to relieve rheumatic pain, cutaneous affections and jaundice. Roots are useful in chronic skin diseases. The leaves are rubbed on the skin to cure scabies. Seeds laxative, expectorant, demulcent and cure cold, cough, asthma and other respiratory problems. Seed oil is used externally for skin diseases. Seed paste applied for tooth decay and pyorrhea.

Agrotechniques : Not Available as it is collected directly from the wild.

March 1 2024

Kalmegh

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An erect branched annual herb in moist and shady plains of uncultivated fields it is also cultivated now. Stem quadrangular, branched with longitudinal furrows.
Leaves dark simple, opposite, green and lanceolate. Flowers pale purple in axillary and terminal, panicle racemes. Fruits almost linear-oblong compressed capsules. Seeds subquadrate or oblong, numerous and yellowish brown. Flowering and fruiting from August to February.

Part used: Whole plant

Usage: The extract of whole plant is useful in jaundice, liver troubles, bronchitis and diabetes. Many household medicines known as “Alvi” is prepared from the leaves and is given to children suffering from stomach
complaints. A decoction of plant is considered a blood purifier and its extract or infusion is reportedly used to relieve fever. The dried leaves and tender shoots constitute the well known drug ‘Kalmegh’ or ‘green chiretta’ used as bitter tonic and febrifuge.

Agrotechniques : Seeds sown during May-June. Seedling transplanted at a distance of 60×60 cm and irrigated 2-3 times with regular weeding. Whole plant harvested during November to January.

March 1 2024

Kantio-chandelo

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An erect armed annual herb grows as weed of waste places, fields and gardens. Stem branched, angular, green or reddish. Leaves long petioled ovate elliptic or lanceolate. Flowers monoecious, minute, grayish green in dense axillary clusters or in terminal dense or interrupted spikes. Fruit dehiscent and ovoid. Seeds are shining black and compressed. Flowering and fruiting in August to November.

Part used: Whole plant
Usage : The plant is diuretic, subdrific and febrifuge. It is used in treating fever and colic pains. The pou1tice of leaves is applied to bruises, bums, inflammation and infusion as diuretic. Leaves are eaten as vegetable to
dissolve calculi. The decoction of root is given to cure stomach ache and externally applied on wounds and boils. In Ayurveda root is used to treat uterine disorder. Root paste also applied over the scorpion bite.
Agrotechniques : Directly collected from the nature and hence no Agrotechniques are available.

March 1 2024

Gwarpatha

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A perennial erect, succulent shrub found almost throughout the area. It has multiple tuberous roots. Stem is very small and leaves are pale green, fleshy, radical, sessile, tapering to a blunt point with horny prickles at the margins. Yellow or orange coloured cylindrical flowers on leafless scapes appear in December to February.

Part used: Juice and Leaf pulp

Usage: Fresh juice of leaves is cooling, cathartic and treats dermatitis, burns and other skin problems. It is a hair conditioner and additive in skin creams. A yellowish coloured juice from the cut leaves is concentrated to make commercial drug “aloes”. The juice of roasted leaves is valuable in colds, coughs, sciatica, rheumatism and stomach disorders. Aloe is externally applied on inflamed painful parts of the body. Pulp of leaves is applied externally to expel the guinea worms. It also cures jaundice, disturbed menstruation, earache, eye diseases, liver and spleen problems. Poultice of pulp tied over boils and tumour hastens suppuration. A tooth paste containing the Aloe gel has been prepared for preventing gingivitis and other bacterial infections. Leaves are eaten as vegetable
and as pickle.

Agrotechniques : Propagated through Root suckers in July August, preferably in sandy soil. Plant to plant distance should be 50x5O cm and row to row, 75-100 cm. The field should be ploughed and farm yard manure added at 2.S t/ha. Irrigation increases growth of plant. In rainfed areas, growth is slow. Weeding after one month. After one year of plantation leaves can be cut and used as such.

March 1 2024

Sares

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A deciduous tree with spreading crown occurs commonly in wastelands and also planted along road sides. Leaves are bipinnate. Pinnae usually 1-4 pairs and leaflets 5-10 pairs, elliptic oblong with oblique base. Flowers fragrant, white or greenish yellow born in globose umbellate heads. Pods wide, linear, oblong, pointed, thin, green turning straw coloured on maturity. Seeds smooth shining, pale brown and compressed. Flowering and Fruiting in August to December.

Part used: Whole plant

Usage: Paste of stem bark is used to treat boils, pimples and ulcer. Leaves are used to treat night blindness. The leaf paste is applied in snake bite and scorpion sting. Flowers are used as a cooling medicine and used externally
in treating boils, skin eruptions and swellings. Root paste is used to cure Opthalmia, skin diseases and inflammations. The powdered root bark and root gum used for strengthening the gums. Seed oil is applied externally for leukoderma.
Agrotechniques : Propagation is best by seeds, can be also by stump planting. Nursery raised saplings are planted in 60 cm pits at 5×5 m during rainy season.

March 1 2024

Bil patar

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Wild in mixed deciduous forest of Aravalli’s, it is now cultivated in orchards and planted near temples. It is a large deciduous tree with thorns and trifoliolate leaves. Leaflet ovate-obovate with acuminate apex, crenate margin and densely punctate on both surfaces. Flowers are greenish white and sweet scented. Fruit is woody and smooth, ovoid or subglobose. Seeds are embedded in a sour, mucilaginous aromatic pulp. Flowering and fruiting in January to July.

Part used: Roots, Stem bark, Leaf and Fruit

Usage : Infusion of leaves is effective in peptic ulcers. Leaves rich in tanin, reduce inflammation and heal the ulcers. The oil prepared from leaves is used in the treatment of cold and respiratory disorders. The juice of leaves effective in diabetes. Paste of leaves applied externally heals boils. Extract of root mixed with neem oil cures infection, inflammation and discharge in ear. Decoction of fruit is useful in typhoid fever. Ripe fruit is aromatic, cooling, laxative and is used in the form of ‘sherbat’. The pulp of ripe fruit is very useful in constipation. The unripe fruit is very effective in case of chronic diarrhoea and dysentery.

Agrotechniques : Propagated through Seeds/ root cutting. Sowing is done in June or July and saplings are transplanted in the next second rainy season in 1 x 1 x 1 m pits spaced 10-12 m. Irrigation every 15-20 days in
summer, and weeding essential. Fruits should be collected after ripening and used as such. Its pulp should be dried in the shade.

March 1 2024

Adusa

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A tall, densely branched, perennial evergreen shrub with unpleasant odour, common in wastelands, in rocky places and along the fences. Leaves large elliptic lanceolate, opposite. Flowers born on solitary axillary spikes, white in colour with few purplish marking. Fruit brown, pubescent and four-seeded capsule. Seeds glabrous. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.

Part used: Whole plant

Usage : Fresh juice 1 decoction, infusion and powder are extensively used as an expectorant, sedative and anthelmintic. The drug ‘vasaka’ is often taken in the form of juice extracted from its leaves mixed with ginger or
honey. Both, leaf powder and decoction effective in bronchitis, severe asthma, tuberculosis, cough, diarrhoea and dysentery. Paste and juice of fresh leaves is beneficial in healing wounds and in skin diseases. The root and stem bark has the same medicinal uses as the leaves. The flowers are used to treat tuberculosis.

Agrotechniques : Propagated through Seeds 1 Stem cuttings, 8-10 cms long with 3-4 internodes. Cutting takes 15-20 days to sprout and 30 days to root after which transplanted at 2x2m, with regular watering and weeding. Whole plant can be cut and dried in the shade.

March 1 2024

Undo kanto

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It is a common weed under shade throughout up to 1000 m elevation in India. An erect, stiff annual herb, up to 1 m tall, branching near the base. Stem angular, ribbed, thickened, light green or pink covered with short, stiff and slightly rough hair. Leaves simple, elliptic or obovate, acuminate or rounded at apex and glabrous. Flowers greenish white, small arranged on terminal 1 axillary spikes. Seeds light brown, sub cylindrical, pointed at apex and rounded at the base. Flowering and fruiting in August to December.

Part used: Whole plant

Usage: Its ash having high proportion of potash, acts as antacid. A bath with whole plant decoction relieves itching in skin diseases. Powder of whole plant cures spleen enlargements. Decoction of plant is diuretic while its ash is used in cold and cough. Leaves are used to treat asthma. Decoction of powdered leaves useful in the early stages of diarrhoea and dysentery. The juice of leaves is valuable in stomach disorders, kidney problems and is also applied externally over cuts and wounds. Its powdered root is very useful in pneumonia and cholera. Paste of the root is very beneficial in eye disorders (Opthalmia and opacity of the cornea). Root paste with cold water is given to stop bleeding after abortion. Root powder given as an antidote in dog bite, scorpion sting and rat bite. Root paste is applied on the abdomen for facilitating easy and painless delivery. Seeds mixed with milk are used as tonic.

Agrotechniques : Propagation through seeds. It is normally a weed and hence collected from nature. No specific agro techniques are available.

March 1 2024

Kumbat

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It is a small, prickly tree common on wastelands and gravels throughout the desert. It has glabrous-grey pubescent branches having hooked or straight spines. The two spines are slightly curved upwards and middle one curved
downward. Leaves dark green. Flowers in whitish fragrant spikes. Fruit is linear, oblong, thin flattened pod, pale brown, 3-6 seeded. Flowering and fruiting in August – January.

Part used: Gum resin, Stem and Flower

Usage: Source of true gum Arabic, which is demulcent and cures intestinal trouble because of soothing effect on mucous membrane. Externally it is applied on inflamed parts and bums and sores. It cures malaria, cough and
sore throat. Gum is used to prepare sweet dishes which are used after delivery as a tonic. Twigs are used for cleaning teeth. The bark decoction is beneficial as a gargle and mouth wash in throat infection. The decoction of
flowers is used to wash the infected eyes by desert dwellers. Seeds eaten as vegetable.

Agrotechniques : Propagated through seeds, it prefers sandy loam soils besides sand dunes and rocky areas. Direct sowing of seed! one year old plant prepared in nursery can be planted in June-July. It requires 1-3 irrigations in first year after plantation to ensure better survival. Weeding as and when required after planting. Gum is collected from bark.
Pods are dried in the sun light and seeds are taken out.