Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants

Adhatoda vasica Nees

Family: Acanthaceae
Genus: Adhatoda
Botanical name: Adhatoda vasica Nees
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Sanskrit: Brihat vasa, Brihat vasaka, Vrisha, Vrishaka, Simhasya
Hindi: Adusa, Arusa
English: Malabar nut
Malayalam: Valiya adalotakam, Peradalotakam

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Malabar nut, also known as Malabar nut tree is part of the Acanthaceae plant family. Small evergreen, sub-herbaceous bush which grows commonly in open plains, especially in the lower Himalayas. The Leaves are 10 to 16 cm in length, minutely hairy and broadly lanceolate. A herbal plant which requires very little watering and is an extremely hardy plant is Malabar nut. If there is one herbal plant that needs to be singled out for propagation and planting on a large scale, it would be this one. Adhatoda in Tamil, meaning a plant shunned by herbivorous animals. Propagated easily by cuttings, grows to a height of eight to 14 feet and has attractive white flowers.
The whole plant of Malabar nut is used for kapha, cough, bronchitis, asthma, inflammation, hemorrhage, hemorrhoids, diseases of eyes, and bleeding diarrhea.