Gardenia jasminoides

Gardenia jasminoides

Scientific Name: Gardenia jasminoides

Family: Rubiaceae

Common Names: common gardenia, cape jasmine, Zhi-zi, Gandhraj

Gardenia jasminoides, is an evergreen flowering plant of the family Rubiaceae. It originated in Asia and is most commonly found growing wild in Vietnam, Southern China, Taiwan, Japan, Myanmar and India. With its shiny green leaves and heavily fragrant white summer flowers, it is widely used in gardens in warm temperate and subtropical climates, and as a houseplant in temperate regions. It has been in cultivation in China for at least a thousand years, and was introduced to English gardens in the mid-18th century. Many varieties have been bred for horticulture, with low growing, and large- and long-flowering forms.

Chamomile is a flowering plant that has been used for centuries for its astounding medicinal properties. A naturally occurring substance in chamomile is coumarin and this active ingredient renders the potent anti- inflammatory and blood thinning attributes that chamomile is famous for.
 

Traditionally brewed like tea, chamomile leaves have therapeutic uses and help relieve muscular cramps, soothe the digestive system, and treat several skin conditions.

Chamomile is contraindicated in people who are pregnant, prone to allergies, or are taking blood thinners.
Medicinal Uses:

This gentle herb is blessed with many health benefits. Here are the top five conditions where chamomile can be used to alleviate symptoms:
 

1. Aches and pains. Organic Roman chamomile has anti-spasmodic properties and is suggested as a muscle relaxant to relieve menstrual cramps and muscular pains.

2. Digestive complaints. Organic chamomile works wonderfully to treat ailments related to digestion such as nausea, abdominal pain, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, and indigestion.

3. Skin conditions. Cool lavender chamomile based oils help to soothe skin burns, acne, skin allergies, diaper rash, and even eczema. Placing cooled Roman chamomile tea bags on eyes reduces dark circles and puffiness. Take a bath in water infused with chamomile oil for lighter, more refreshed, glowing skin. Organic chamomile is used to prepare soothing and moisturizing lotions and sprays that are best suited for sensitive skin prone to redness and irritation.

4. Insomnia. A remedy for sleeplessness or insomnia, Roman chamomile tea taken at bedtime helps to calm the senses and induce sleep.

5. Headaches. The pleasantly flavored Roman chamomile tea helps to reduce migraine headaches and also cures anxiety. The active ingredient apigenin in Roman chamomile helps one relax after a stressful day.

Gardenia jasminoides

Mimusops elengi

 Mimusops elengi

Scientific Name: Mimusops elengi

Family: Sapotaceae

Common names: Spanish cherry, medlar, bullet wood, maulsari 

Mimusops elengi is a medium-sized evergreen tree found in tropical forests in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Its timber is valuable, the fruit is edible, and it is used in traditional medicine. As the trees give thick shade and flowers emit fragrance, it is a prized collection of gardens.

Bullet wood is an evergreen tree reaching a height of about 16 m. Leaves is glossy, dark green, oval-shaped, 5–14 cm long, and 2.5–6 cm wide. Flowers are cream, hairy, and scented. Bark is thick and appears dark brownish black or greyish black in colour, with striations and a few cracks on the surface. The tree may reach up to a height of 9–18 m with about 1 m in circumference.

Medicinal Uses:

The bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds of Bakula are astringent, cooling, anthelmintic, tonic, and febrifuge. It is mainly used in dental ailments like bleeding gums, pyorrhoea, dental caries, and loose teeth.

Extracts of flowers are used against heart diseases, leucorrhoea, and menorrhagia, and act as antidiuretic in polyuria and antitoxin. The snuff made from the dried and powdered flowers is used in a disease called ahwa in which strong fever, headache, and pain in the neck, shoulders, and other parts of the body occurs.

Ripened fruits facilitate a cure for burning urination. The ripe fruit pounded and mixed with water is given to promote delivery in childbirth. The powder of dried flowers is a brain tonic and useful as a snuff to relieve headache. Decoction of bark is used to wash the wounds.

Mimusops elengi

Punica granatum

Scientific name: Punica granatum

Family: Punicaceae

Common name:  Pomegranate, Anar

An attractive shrub or small tree, to 20 or 30 ft (6 or 10 m) high, the pomegranate is much-branched, more or less spiny, and extremely long-lived, some specimens at Versailles known to have survived two centuries. It has a strong tendency to sucker from the base. The leaves are evergreen or deciduous, opposite or in whorls of 5 or 6, short-stemmed, oblong-lanceolate, 3/8 to 4 in (1-10 cm) long, leathery. Showy flowers are home on the branch tips singly or as many as 5 in a cluster. The interior is separated by membranous walls and white spongy tissue (rag) into compartments packed with transparent sacs filled with tart, flavorful, fleshy, juicy, red, pink or whitish pulp (technically the aril). In each sac, there is one white or red, angular, soft or hard seed. The seeds represent about 52% of the weight of the whole fruit.

Punica granatum Plant

Pomegranate

Interesting Facts

§  Punica granatum is nicknamed the "Jewel of Winter" because it is in season from September to January in the Northern Hemisphere.

§  Color does not indicate the ripeness of pomegranate fruit. Rather, fruit should be selected based on weight. The heavier a pomegranate is, the more juice it holds.

§  November is National Pomegranate Month.

§  According to legend there are 613 arils in each pomegranate, which is the same number of commandments in the Jewish faith.

§  Similar to human hair, the bark of a pomegranate tree turns gray with age.

§  Punica granatum was present during biblical times. It is thought that pomegranate may have been the “forbidden fruit” in the Garden of Eden.

§  Pomegranates symbolize fertility, success, and wealth.

§  The city of Grenada, Spain is named after Punica granatum.

§  Pomegranate trees are commonly sold at tree farms throughout the Midwest. However, to survive the winter, they may need to be brought indoors.

§  The inside of the fruit can be a variety of different colours, ranging from shades of light orange to deep red.

§  There are multiple variations of pomegranates, each possessing slightly different characteristics. These differences are evident in fruit size, juice sweetness, and durability of the seeds.

§  Pomegranates are used in creating a wide variety of dishes, including salads, dressings, salsas, main dishes, desserts, breads, syrups, and wines.

§  To maximize fruit production, trees should be trimmed in each of the first three years of growth.

Medicinal Properties

Pomegranate has been used for thousands of years to cure a wide range of diseases across different cultures and civilizations. It has great nutritional values and numerous health benefits. Pomegranate prevents from diseases like, Cancer, Osteoarthritis etc. The pomegranate has been used in natural and holistic medicine to treat sore throats, coughs, urinary infections, digestive disorders, skin disorders, arthritis, and to expel tapeworms. Studies also show that pomegranate seeds might help rid the digestive system of fats. Clinical research shows that pomegranates, when part of a healthy diet, might help prevent heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. This is because pomegranates have the potential to thin the blood, increase blood flow to the heart, reduce blood pressure, reduce plaque in the arteries, and reduce bad cholesterol while increasing good cholesterol. A decoction of seed is used to treat syphilis. Juice used to treat jaundice and diarrhoea. Juice of flower is used to treat nose bleeds. The fruit pulp and the seed are stomachic. Dried, pulverized flower buds are employed as a remedy for bronchitis.

Cascabela thevetia

Scientific name: Cascabela thevetia

Family: Apocynaceae

Common names: Kaner, Karber, Peeli kaner, Indian oleander, Yellow oleander

Cascabela thevetia is a shrub, grows upto 4 m tall. Leaves alternate linear lanceolate. Flowers large, bright-yellowish, in terminal cyme. Fruit drupe, broadly terbinate, seeds are few and flattened.

Cultivated in gardens, flowering and fruiting occurs throughout year.

Medicinal Uses:

A tincture of bark is a bitter cathartic or emetic, it is also used as febrifuge. In large doses, it is poisonous. The roots are made into a plaster which is applied to tumours. The seeds are abortifacient and as purgative in rheumatism and dropsy.

Cascabela thevetia Plant

Cascabela thevetia Flower

Achyranthes aspera

Scientific name: Achyranthes aspera

Family: Amaranthaceae

Commmon names: Prickly Chaff-flower, Chirchita, Latjira, Onga.

Achyranthes aspera is an important medicinal herb found as a weed throughout India. It grows as wasteland herb everywhere.

Achyranthes aspera

Achyranthes aspera

Since time immemorial, it is in use as folk medicine. Though almost all of its parts are used in traditional systems of medicines, seeds, roots and shoots are the most important parts which are used medicinally.

Traditionally, the plant is used in asthma and cough. It is pungent, antiphlegmatic, antiperiodic, diuretic, purgative and laxative, useful in oedema, dropsy and piles, boils and eruptions of skin etc. Crushed plant is boiled in water and is used in pneumonia. Infusion of the root is a mild astringent in bowel complaints. The flowering spikes or seeds, ground and made into a paste with water, are used as external application for bites of poisonous snakes and reptiles, used in night blindness and cutaneous diseases. For snake bites the ground root is given with water until the patient vomits and regains consciousness. Inhaling the fume of Achyranthes aspera mixed with Smilax ovalifolia roots is suggested to improve appetite and to cure various types of gastric disorders. It is useful in haemorrhoids, leaves and seeds are emetic, hydrophobia, carminative, resolve swelling, digestive and expel phlegm. Ash of the plant is applied externally for ulcers and warts. The crushed leaves rubbed on aching back to cure strained back. A fresh piece of root is used as tooth brush. Paste of the roots in water is used in ophthalmia and opacities of the cornea. Paste of fresh leaves is used for allaying pain from bite of wasps.

The plant is useful in liver complaints, rheumatism, scabies and other skin diseases. It also possesses tranquillizing properties

Cynodon dactylon

Scientific name: Cynodon dactylon

Family: Poaceae (Grass family)

Common names: Dhub, Doob, Harialil, Couch grass, Bermudagrass, Bahama Grass, Devil's Grass, Wire Grass.

Cynodon dactylon 

Cynodon dactylon

Cynodon dactylon is a hardy perennial grass and is one of the most commonly occurring weeds in India.

The culms(stems) take root at lower nodes. The leaf blade is flattened with a sharp tip, and is hairy or glabrous(hairless).The inflorescence consist of 3-7 slender spikes up to 60mm long, arranged terminally on the axis. The spikelets are sessile and without an awn. Flowering is from March to September.

It occurs on almost all soil types especially in fertile soil. It is common in disturbed area such as gardens, roadside, overgrazed, trampled area, uncultivated lands, localities with high level of nitrogen, and often found in moist sites along rivers. Tey helps in preventing soil erosion.

To the Hindu in India, Bermudagrass was a sacred grass because it fed their sacred cows.

Medicinal Uses: A decoction of the root is used as a Diuretic in the treatment of dropsy and secondary syphilis. An infusion of the root is used to stop bleeding from piles. The juice of the plant is astringent and is applied externally to fresh cuts and wounds. When mixed with the powder of a clove (Syzygium aromaticum), it is used as an anthelmintic. Internally, it is used in the treatment of chronic diarrhoea and dysentery. It is also useful in the treatment of catarrhal ophthalmia. The juice is also diuretic and is used in the treatment of dropsy and anasarca. The leaf juice has also been used in the treatment of hysteria, epilepsy and insanity. The plant is a folk remedy for anasarca, calculus, cancer, carbuncles, convulsions, cough, cramps, cystitis, diarrhoea, dropsy, dysentery, epilepsy, headache, haemorrhage, hypertension, hysteria, insanity, kidneys, laxative, measles, rubella, snakebite, sores, stones, tumours, uro-genital disorders, warts, and wounds.

BENEFITS OF ALOE VERA

ALOE VERA

Aloe vera is a plant of division: magnoliophyta, class: liliopsida,

 order: liliales and family: aloaceae.

Aloe Vera(Aloe barbadensis Miller) looks like a cactus but it isn't – the plant is a member of the lily family which includes garlic and onion.
Traditionally, the clear gel from the Aloe plant is rubbed on the skin as  an ointment to treat wounds and burns. The green part of the leaf can be made into a juice or dried and taken orally as a laxative. Aloe Vera is used in many commercial products in various forms, including drinks, concentrates, capsules, powders, and as a flavoring. 
Today, Aloe Vera is cultivated throughout the world. The properties of Aloe Vera, due to its long history of use, were mostly folkloric. Early attempts to scientifically validate its uses produced mixed results; different assessments of the anecdotal evidence and a wide chasm between the proponents of Aloe Vera and the detractors. 

Different parts of the plant are used for different effects on the body and Aloe Vera has both internal and external applications.

 Aloe vera contains over 200 active components including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, polysaccharide, and fatty acids- no wonder it’s used for such a wide range of remedies. The bulk of the Aloe vera leaf is filled with a clear gel-like substance, which is approximately 99% water.

Man has used aloe therapeutically for over 5000 years. 

 The Top 12 Benefits and Medicinal Uses for Aloe Vera are:

1.  Aloe Vera Is High in Vitamins & Minerals:

Aloe Vera contains many vitamins including A, C, E, folic acid choline, B1, B2, B3 (niacin), B6. Aloe Vera is also one of the few plants that contains vitamin B12.

Some of the 20 minerals found in Aloe Vera include: calcium, magnesium, zinc, chromium, selenium, sodium, iron, potassium, copper, manganese.

2. Aloe Vera is High in Amino Acids & Fatty Acids

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are about 22 amino acids that are necessary for the human body and it is said that 8 of these are essential. Estimates of the amino acids found in aloe range from 18-20 amino acids, with all 8 essential amino acids.

Alove Vera also includes quite an impressive range of fatty acids. Aloe contains three plant sterols, which are important fatty acids- HCL cholesterol (which lowers fats in the blood), campesterol, and B-sitosterol. All are helpful in reducing symptoms of allergies and acid indigestion. Other fatty acids include linoleic, linolenic, myristic, caprylic, oleic, palmitic, and  stearic.

3. Aloe Vera is an Adaptogen

Aloe Vera is a well-known adaptogen. An adaptogen is something that boosts the body’s natural ability to adapt to external changes and resist illness. This allows you an increased ability to cope with stress (physical, emotional and environmental stress like pollution)

4. Aloe Helps with Digestion

Poor digestion is related to many diseases. A properly functioning digestive tract is one of the keys and foundations of health. Aloe is known to soothe and cleanse the digestive tract and help improve digestion. The interesting thing about taking aloe internally is that, because it is an adaptogen, it helps with either constipation or diarrhea, helping to regulate your elimination cycles in whatever way you need.  

5. Aloe Helps in Detoxification

Aloe Vera is a gelatinous plant food, just like seaweeds and chia. The main benefit to consuming gelatinous plant foods in your diet is that these gels move through the intestinal tract absorbing toxins along the way and get eliminated through the colon. This will help the proper elimination of waste from your body and help the detoxification of your body.

6.  Aloe Alkalizes the Body

Disease cannot manifest in an alkaline environment. Most people are living and subsisting on mostly acidic foods. For great health, remember the 80/20 rule – 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acidic. Aloe vera is an alkaline forming food. It alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits

7. Cardiovascular Health

There hasn’t been a lot of studies conducted in this but there has been some research to show that Aloe Vera extract injected into the blood, greatly multiplies the oxygen transportation and diffusion capabilities of the red blood cells.

8. Aloe Helps Boost the Immune System

The polysaccharides in aloe vera juice stimulate macrophages, which are the white blood cells of your immune system that fight against viruses.

Aloe is also an immune enhancer because of its high level of anti-oxidants, which help combat the unstable compounds known as free-radicals, contributing to the aging process. (Free radicals are a bi-product of life itself, it is a naturally occurring process but we can overload ourselves with unnecessary free-radicals by living an unhealthy lifestyle) Aloe is also an antipyretic which means it used to reduce or prevent fever.

9. Aloe Vera is Great for the Skin

Because of aloe’s well-known healing properties for the skin, aloe is one of the primary compounds used in the cosmetic industry. It is a known vulnerary, (meaning it helps heal wounds) and is great for applying topically to burns, abrasions, psoriasis and even to bug bites. Aloe acts as an analgesic, acting to help relieve pain of wounds. It’s feels especially good to cut a stem of aloe, place it in the fridge and rub it on sun burnt skin – the immediate soothing effect feels like an absolute lifesaver. Aloe is also an antipruritic: A substance that relieves or prevents itching. Aloe Vera is an astringent: which causes the contraction of body tissues, typically used to reduce bleeding from minor abrasions.

Due to aloe’s high water content (over 99% water) it is a great way to hydrate, moisturize and rejuvenate the skin and fits within my general guideline: “Don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat!” Aloe increases the elasticity of the skin making it more flexible through collagen and elastin repair. Aloe is an emollient, helping to soften and soothe the skin. It helps supply oxygen to the skin cells, increasing the strength and synthesis of skin tissue and induces improved blood flow to the skin through capillary dilation.

10. Aloe Helps Reduce Inflammation

Aloe Vera contains 12 substances, including B-sisterole, which can help to slow down or inhibit inflammation.  This may be able to help with painful joints due to stiffness and help improve joint flexibility.

11. Weight Loss – A Secondary effect

Improving your digestion, and detoxifying your will have a secondary effect in promoting weight loss because when we start to improve our digestion we naturally eliminate more efficiently, which is a primary way they we detoxify – through our bowels. This will lighten our toxic load on the body and will give us more energy.