Traditional knowledge has been a boon for curing common ailment among Gonds and Bharias of central India.
Gonds and Bharia form a major population in the forests of Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. These tribals live in remote areas of the district. They are dependent upon various forest produces for their day to day life. There are so many villages where even primary health care facilities are unavailable. Tribals are more or less following their traditional knowledge for curing their common ailments. The current series of article aims to bring and highlight their system of treating disorders.
We again advice you to ask you family doctor before going through any formulation we suggest in our article series as we don’t exactly know the efficacy of drug. It’s just a representation of traditional knowledge gathered by verbal communication. A detailed study and toxicological trials can only finalize the efficacy of drug.
An extensively scandent, much-branched, spinous under-shrub, with tuberous, short rootstock bearing numerous fusiform, succulent tuberous roots 30-100 cm long and 1-2 cm thick, found growing wild in tropical and sub-tropical parts of India including the Andamans; and ascending in the Himalayas up to an altitude of 1,500 m. Stems woody, whitish grey or brown armed with strong, straight or recurved spines 5-13 mm long; cladodes more or less acicular, 2-6 nate, falcate, finely acuminate; leaves reduced to sub-erect or sub-recurved spines; flowers white, fragrant, small, profuse in simple or branched racemes up to 7 cm long; berries globose, scarlet, triobed, 4-6 mm in diam (WOA, 1997).
An erect, evergreen, tomentose shrub, 30-150 cm. high, found throughout the drier parts of India in waste places and on bunds; also cultivated to a limited extent for the medicinal roots. Roots stout fleshy, whitish brown; leaves simple ovate, glabrous, those in the floral region smaller and opposite; flowers inconspicuous, greenish or lurid-yellow, in axillary, umbellate cymes; berries small, globose, orange-red when mature, enclosed in the persistent calyx; seeds yellow, reniform (WOA, 1997).
3. Emblica officinalis Gaertn. syn. Phyllanthus emblica Linn. (Emblic Myrobalan, Indian Goosberry)
A small or medium-sized deciduous tree with smooth, greenish grey, exfoliating bark. Leaves feathery with small narrowly oblong, pinnately arranged leaflets. Fruits depressed globose, ½-1 inch in diam., fleshy and obscurely 6-lobed, containing 6 trigonous seeds. The tree is common in the mixed deciduous forests of India ascending to 4,500 ft. on the hills. It is often cultivated in gardens and homeyards. A type bearing comparatively larger fruits than the wild plant is known in cultivation (WOA, 1997).
4. Phyllanthus niruri Hook. f. P. fraternus Webster
A herb, up to 60 cm. in height, occurring as a winter weed throughout the hotter parts of India, particularly on cultivated land. Stem angular; leaves distichous elliptic-oblong, or linear-oblong; flowers axillary, yellowish, greenish or whitish, male flowers 1-3, females solitary; capsules depressed-globose, smooth, scarcely lobed; seeds 3-gonous, pale brown, longitudinally ribbed (WOA, 1997).
A polymorphic, much-branched, suberect, perennial herb, 30-60 cm. high, found throughout India, ascending to an altitude of 1,850 m. in the Himalayas. Leaves imparipinnate, 5-15 cm. long: leaflets 9-21, narrow, oblanceolate, glabrous above, obscurely silky below; flowers red or purple, in leaf-opposed racemes; pods slightly recurved, 3.7-5.0 cm.x 4.0 mm., glabrescent; seeds 5-10, greenish grey, smooth (WOA, 1997).
G. glabra, the principal source of the commercial drug, is a hardy herb or undershrub attaining a height up to 6 ft.; leaves multifoliolate, imparipinnate; flowers in axillary spikes, papilionaceous, lavender to violet in colour; pods compressed, containing reniform seeds. The underground part in some varieties consists of a rootstock with a number of long, branched stems; in others, the rootstock, which is stout, throws off a large number of perennial roots. The dried, peeled or unpeeled underground stems and roots constitute the drug, known in the trade as Liquorice (WOA, 1997).
7. Tribulus terrestris Linn. (Land-caltrops, Puncture-vine)
A variable, prostrate annual, up to 90 cm. in length, commonly found throughout India, up to an altitude of c 5,400 m. Roots slender, cylindrical, somewhat fibrous, 10-15 cm. long, light brown and faintly aromatic; leaves paripinnate: leaflets 5-8 pairs, subequal, oblong to linear-oblong; flowers leaf-opposed, solitary, pale-yellow to yellow; fruits globose, consisting of 5-12 woody cocci, each with 2 pairs of hard, sharp, divaricate spines, one pair longer than the other; seeds several in each coccus with transverse partitions between them (WOA, 1997).
A small, pretty, perennial herb, met with from Bihar to Manipur, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, ascending up to 1,200 m and also recorded from Maharashtra. Roots fleshy; leaves lanceolate-oblanceolate, 80 cm x 2 cm; scape up to 1m, stout, with the flowers in long racemes; capsules sub-globose (WOA, 1997).
An erect, annual, smooth herb, 30-60 cm. high, cultivated throughout India up to an altitude of 2,100 m. Leaves alternate, ovate-oblong, obtuse or acute, variously lobed, smooth, soft, succulent; flowers unisexual, greenish: male flowers in terminal; leafless spikes; female flowers in axillary clusters; fruits hard, compressed utricles, enclosed in a spined, capsule-like body; seeds vertical (WOA, 1997).
Dr Anshu Shrivastava- A Botanist, he is a PhD from Botanical Survey of India- Jodhpur. He is now working with SRISTI (www.sristi.org) as a Plant Taxonomist. Contact him on ansh24@gmail.com.
Dr Sanjay Pawar- He is a Botanist from Chhindwara, currently involved in scouting and documentation of herbal wealth in the district. His email address is: drpawar@rediffmail.com.
You can print this article by clicking the printer icon at the top this of page.
Ask, answer questions or add more facts concerning "Medicine for Weakness and Anaemia" below. Your comment will NOT show up right away, it will be sent for approval before it will appear here. Please bookmark this page so you can check back for possible replies and answers to your questions.
Support Disabled World by linking to this article - Medicine for Weakness and Anaemia
<a href=http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_00779.shtml>Medicine for Weakness and Anaemia</a>
This article is general information ONLY and is NOT a substitute for medical advice or treatment
Ask, answer questions or add more facts concerning "Medicine for Weakness and Anaemia" below.