Adalodakam / ആടലോടകം
Genus : Justicia
Botanical Name : Adhatoda beddomei Clarke / Adhatoda Vasica Nees
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
English : Malabar Nut
Malayalam : Adalodakam
Sanskrit : Vasa
Hindi : Adusa
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Adalotakam helps to increase the platelets in the body of the victims of snakebite. This is a shrub with lance-shaped leaves 10 to 15 centimeters in length by four wide. They are oppositely arranged, smooth-edged, and borne on short petioles. When dry they are of a dull brownish-green colour. They are bitter-tasting. When a leaf is cleared with chloral hydrate and examined microscopically the oval stomata can be seen. They are surrounded by two crescent-shaped cells at right angles to the ostiole. The epidermis bears simple one- to three-celled warty hairs, and small glandular hairs. Cystoliths occur beneath the epidermis of the underside of the blade.