Public Health

Scientific Name Host: Pistacia integerrima Stew. Ex. Brandis syn. Pistacia kinjuk Stocks . Drug is Galls induced by insects. Family Anacardiaceae Used Part galls, the drug sample is of galls. Common Uses . Galls produced on the leaves and the petioles are used in medicine and for dyeing and tanning purposes. Dry powdered galls have a very astringent and slightly bitter taste and a terebinthine odour. The galls are aromatic, astringent and expectorant and are valued in Indian medicine as a remedy for asthma, phthisis and other ailments of the respiratory tract; they are…

Scientific Name Solanum surattense Burm. f. syn. S. xanthocarpum Schrad. & Wendl. Family Solanaceae Used Part Seeds and fruits Distribution Area Throughout India, in dry situtations as weed on roadside and wastelands Common Uses . The dried fruit powder is used as an internal medicine and the oil extracted is used for external application in the treatment of leucoderma. Useful in cough, asthama, chronic rhinitis,, dropsy, acute bronchitis and fever accompanied with chest affections. It is one of the main ingredients of the drug formulations for bronchial asthama specially for…

Scientific Name Curcuma zedoaria Rosc. Family Zingiberaceae Used Part Rhizome Distribution Area A species growing wild in eastern Himalayas and in the moist deciduous forests of the coastal tract of Kanara. Common Uses . The tubers are rich in starch. The Shoti Starch of commerce is a product extracted form the tubers and used as a substitute for arrowroot and barley. It is highly valued as an article of diet, especially for infants and convalescents. It is cooling and demulcent, and is often made into confections. A red powder, Abir, is prepared from powdered…

Scientific Name Caesalpinia bonduc (Linn.) Roxb. emend. Dandy & Exell; Baker (Fl Br Ind) syn. C. bonducella (Linn.) Flem.; C. jayabo Naza; C. rista L. Family Fabaceae Used Part Seeds Distribution Area An armed liana found wild throughout the plains of India and up to an altitude of 1,000 m in the Himalayas; it is also found in the deltaic regions of western, eastern and southern India. Common Uses . The root bark is emmenagogue, febrigue expectorant, anthelmintic and stomachic. Bonduc nuts have been used as an antiperiodic for a long time. Pharmacological trials have…

Scientific Name Chenopodium album Linn. Family Chenopodiaceae Used Part Seeds. Distribution Area An erect herb, up to 3.5 m in height, found wild up to an altitude of 4,700 m, and cultivated throughout India. Common Uses . The plant is sweet, acrid,oleaginous, digestive, carminative, laxative, anthelmintic, diuretic, aphrodisiac and tonic, and is useful in vititated conditions of pitta, peptic ulcers, helminthisasis, dyspepesia, flatulence,strangury, seminal weakness, pharyngopathy, splenopathy, haemorrhoids, ophthalmopathy, cardiac disorder and general debility. The plant improves…

Scientific Name Cannabis sativa Linn. ( syn Cannabis indica L.) Family Cannabinaceae Used Part Leaves, flowers Distribution Area A annual occurring wild throughout the western Himalayas, and is also cultivated in this and adjoining region. Common Uses . Cannabis drugs have been used in India from ancient times. The drugs -- bhang, ganja, and charas - commonly used in India, are derived from the flowers, leaves and the resinous matter obtained from them. Bhang When taken orally in small doses they stimulate the appetite and digestion but their prolonged use leads to…

Scientific Name Sphaeranthus indicus Linn. Family Asteraceae Used Part Inflorescence Distribution Area An aromatic herb, found abundantly in damp situations in the plains all over India, ascending to an altitude of c. 1,500 m. in the hills, especially as a weed in the rice-fields. Common Uses . All parts of the plant find medicinal uses. The drug may consist of the whole plant or only capitula (inflorescences). It is mostly administered in the form of its steam- distillate. The juice of the plant is styptic and said to be useful in liver and gastric disorders. The…

Scientific Name Mesua ferrea L.( syn Mesua nagassarium (Burm.f.)Kosterm. ) Family Clusiaceae Used Part Stamens ( Sample is crushed flower parts with some stamens) Distribution Area Found in the Himalayas , Madesh and Terai region of Nepal ascending to an altitude of 1,500 m.and eastwards, in north-eastern India, Deccan Peninsula and the Andaman Islands, Common Uses . Flowers astringent, stomachiac, used in cough attended with expectoration, paste with butter and sugar used in bleeding piles and burning of the feet. Flower buds used in dysentery. Unripe fruits aromatic and sudorific.…

Scientific Name Rosa alba Linn. Family Rosaceae Used Part Stem,flowers Distribution AreaIt is cultivated to some extent in Bulgaria and Turkey for extraction of oil (otto) from the flowers. Common Uses . The flowers are also said to be used as a cooling medicine in fevers and in palpitaion of the heart (Hurst, J. R. Leaves showed abortifacient activity. A pharmaceutical preparation from white rose extract along with other ingredients is used for treatment of liver disorders. Scientific Name Jatropha curcas L. Used Part Flowers Distribution Area Occurring almost throughout…

Scientific Name Bombax ceiba Linn Family Bombacaceae Used Part Flowers Distribution Area Throughout India in forests upto an elevation of about 1500 m also raised in plantations. Common Uses . The flowerbuds and fleshy calyces are eaten; the immature calyx known as semargulla in Uttar Pradesh, is consumed as vegetabe. The flowers are made into a conserve by boiling with the seeds of poppy and sugar in goat's milk. The dried and powdered flowers are made into bread with or without corn. The flowers are eaten by cattle, birds, squirrels and deer. They ae a source of…