Ayurvedic Plants and information

The use of plants as medicine predates written human history. Many of the herbs and spices used by humans
to season food also yield useful medicinal compounds.[2][3] The use of herbs and spices in cuisine developed in
part as a response to the threat of food-borne pathogens. Studies show that in tropical climates where
pathogens are the most abundant, recipes are the most highly spiced. Further, the spices with the most
potent antimicrobial activity tend to be selected.[7] In all cultures vegetables are spiced less than meat,
presumably because they are more resistant to spoilage.[8]Angiosperms (flowering plants) were the original
source of most plant medicines.[9] Many of the common weeds that populate human settlements, such
as nettle, dandelion and chickweed, have medicinal properties.

Commonly known as sarpagandha in hindi and rauwolfia, this herb is very erect with a smooth stem.
The drug consists of the dried roots with their bark intact, preferably collected in autumn from three or
four year old plants.

CHARACTERISTICS:
Rauwolfia particulary belongs to India, though the name refers to a 16th century German botanist and
physician, Leonard Rauwolfia.
This herb is believed to have been used in Indian system of medicine for about 4,000 years and the
same is also mentioned in Charakas work. Its roots have been valued in India and Malayan peninsula
as an antidote for the bites of poisonous reptiles and insects, since ancient times. It also helps in
relieving fever.
In Modern era, this herb was introduced by Dr. Ganpath Sen and Dr. Kartik Chandra Bose, renowned
physicians of Calcutta (India). According to them, the roots of this herb contain several alkaloids, the
more important being two chemical classes known as the ajmaline and the serpentine group. The
quantity of the total alkaloids has been estimated to be fairly high in the dried roots. The roots also
contain a lot of resin and starch and when incinerated, leave an ash consisting mainly of potassium
carbonate, phosphate, silicate and traces of iron and manganese.

Ranwolfia serpentine

Tulsi
Tulsi or Tulasi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) or Holy basil is a sacred plant in Hindu belief. Hindus regard it as an
earthly manifestation of the goddess Tulsi; she is regarded as a great worshipper of the god Vishnu. The offering
of its leaves is mandatory in ritualistic worship of Vishnu and his forms like Krishna and Vithoba.
Many Hindus have tulsi plants growing in front of or near their home, often in special pots or a special masonry
structure known as Tulsi Vrindavan. Traditionally, Tulsi is planted in the center of the central courtyard of Hindu
houses.[1] The plant is cultivated for religious and medicinal purposes, and for its essential oil.

Babool
Vachellia nilotica (widely known by the taxonomic synonym Acacia nilotica, or the common names gum
arabic tree,[5] Babul/Kikar, Egyptian thorn, Sant tree, Al-sant or prickly acacia;[6][7][8] called thorn
mimosa or prickly acacia in Australia; lekkerruikpeul or scented thorn in South Africa; karuvela maram in
South India) is a species of Vachellia native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. It is also
currently an invasive species of significant concern in Australia.
Vachellia nilotica is a tree 520 m high with a dense spheric crown, stems and branches usually dark to black
coloured, fissured bark, grey-pinkish slash, exuding a reddish low quality gum. The tree has thin, straight, light,
grey spines in axillary pairs, usually in 3 to 12 pairs, 5 to 7.5 cm (3 in) long in young trees, mature trees
commonly without thorns. The leaves are bipinnate, with 36 pairs of pinnulae and 1030 pairs of leaflets each,
tomentose, rachis with a gland at the bottom of the last pair of pinnulae. Flowers in globulous heads 1.21.5 cm
in diameter of a bright golden-yellow color, set up either axillary or whorly on peduncles 23 cm long located at
the end of the branches. Pods are strongly constricted, hairy, white-grey, thick and softly tomentose. Its seeds
number approximately 8000/kg. Is also called BABOOL

Neem

All parts of neem are used for preparing many different medicines, especially for skin disease. [4]

Part of the Neem tree can be used as a spermicide .

Neem oil is used for preparing cosmetics (soap and shampoo, as well as lotions and others), and is
useful for skin care such as acne treatment. Neem oil has been used effectively as a mosquito repellent.

Neem is useful for damaging over 500 types of insects, mites, ticks, and nematodes, by changing the
way they grow and act. Neem does not normally kill pests right away, rather it slows their growth and drives
them away. As neem products are cheap and not poisonous to animals and friendly insects, they are good
for pest control

In the UK, plant protection products that contain azadirachtin, the active ingredient of neem oil, are illegal

Alovera
Aloe vera is a stemless or very short-stemmed plant growing to 60100 cm (2439 in) tall, spreading by offsets.
The leaves are thick and fleshy, green to grey-green, with some varieties showing white flecks on their upper
and lower stem surfaces.[4] The margin of the leaf is serrated and has small white teeth. The flowers are
produced in summer on a spike up to 90 cm (35 in) tall, each flower being pendulous, with a yellow
tubular corolla 23 cm (0.81.2 in) long.[4][5] Like other Aloe species, Aloe vera forms arbuscular mycorrhiza,
a symbiosis that allows the plant better access to mineral nutrients in soil.[6]
Aloe vera leaves contain phytochemicals under study for possible bioactivity, such as acetylated mannans,
polymannans, anthraquinone C-glycosides, anthrones, other anthraquinones, such as emodin, and
various lectins