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Saturday, October 26, 2013

Herbal plants in the home garden




The more  common home grown plants are Ginger , Saffron, Kuturumurunga, Plantain, Papaw ,Sugarcane and King coconut. Today many of these are grown on a commercial scale and even the cultivators themselves od not know their medicinal value.

 
Ginger is known as Mahausadi in Ayuverdic circles. Besides, it has 20 epithets when in the raw from and 24 when dry. The Ayurveda  books  describes it as acrid and digestive and ,as an ingredient in medicine for costiveness, nausea cough, colic, and palpitation of the heart.But dry ginger should not be used by those who are suffering from skin  diseases, anemia, kidney compliant and high fever. A person suffering from acute diarrhea and vomiting is generally liable to catch a chill. A piece of ginger, a piece of      equal size of the bark of the murunga tree, and a few bulbs 0f garlic all crushed and rubbed on the palms and sole of the foot and also a little of it tide on the two big toes would warm him up. For diarrhea and colic, the liquid extracted by crushing   together row ginger, Iriveriya and Undupiyali and mixed with at ablespoon  of lime juice and bee’honey is good .

   Iriveriya(Plectranthus zatarhendi var) is another plant found in gardens. It is aromatic and grows easly and is used in many    prescription for fever anddiarrhoea. The Ayurveda books gives details   of how to use Iriveriya in various stages of diarrhea .

      Sugarcane is another plant found in the back garden of some homes and now grown in large plantations. There are two  varieties – the yellow and black . the black variety has a lower sugar content and a higher mineral content than the yellow. Sugar cane   is considered indigenous to Sri Lanka ,and is the type used in medicine. In case of continued fever, except enteric fever, a drink made from  sugar cane syrup, King coconut water and powdered Bulu seeds keepsthe patient comfortable. Sugar cane  is also the chief ingredient for a decoction for bleeding piles when used in combination with kooratampala and the yam of the plantain tree.

   The ash plantain is another useful plant. Every parts of it has some
medicinal use. The juice extracted from yam , the trunk and flower is used in decoction for bleeding piles and female disorders. The unripe fruit has astringent properties and is used in case of dysentery and diabetes. The juice extracted from the trunk is generally the first thing given in case of poisonous snake bites. The ripe ash plantain is a sure rededy for constipation. The stem of the fruit burnt down to shh together with slacked lime is the treatment of gangrenous wounds.

   Ash pumkin is mainly water but it has many minerals in solution which
gives it good medical value. It has peculiar action on the circulatory system in that it rapidly stop   hemorrhage. Hence it has  been found very useful in the treatment of hemorrhage from the alimentary canal.

The root of the puhul creeper with that of the Komadu(which is also the pulul  family) made a paste by rubbing them on s stone can be applied on carbuncles. For severe burns a drink of puhul juice mixed with Kitul jaggery is the first thing to be given to the patient. Puhul is also applied on the burnt area of skin.

    Ripe papaw(carica papaya) will keep down enlargement of the spleen. Here is a word of advice to those who regularly take alcoholic beverages. Take papaw regularly and keep your liver happy. To those affected with enlarge prostate glands there is relief to be found in half boiled and eaten in the morning.




Timberi/Diospyros malabarcia

                        TIMBERI HAS ANTISEPTIC PROPERTIES    Timibiri is a dry zone tree, but it is also generally found near streams or...