Indian traditional herbs Adhatoda vasica and its Medicinal application

ABSTRACT:

Vasaka is a well-known herb in indigenous systems of medicine for its beneficial effects, particularly in bronchitis.Vasaka leaves, bark, the root bark, the fruit and flowers are useful in the removal of intestinal parasites. Vasaka herb is used for treating cold, cough, chronic bronchitis and asthma. The decoction of its root and bark in doses of 30 grams twice or thrice a day for 3 days can be given for this purpose. The juice of its fresh leaves can also be used in doses of a teaspoon thrice a day for days. In acute stages of bronchitis, vasaka gives unfailing relief, especially where the sputum is thick and sticky. It liquefies the sputum so that it is brought up more easily. For relief in asthma, the dried leaves should be smoked. In Ayurveda, a preparation made from vasaka flowers, known as gulkand is used to treat tuberculosis. The juice from its leaves should be given in doses of 2 to 4 grams in treating diarrhea and dysentery.A few fresh petals of vasaka flowers should be bruised and put in a pot of china clay. Some sugar crystals are added and the jar kept in the sun. It should be stirred every morning and evening. The preserve is ready for use in about a month. A poultice of its leaves can be applied with beneficial results over fresh wounds, rheumatic joints and inflammatory swellings. A warm decoction of its leaves is useful in treating scabies and other skin diseases. In olden times its leaves were made into a decoction with pepper and dried ginger. But the modern medicine searched its active ingradients and found out that vasicine,oxyvascicine and vasicinone are the alkaloids present.

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