ABELMOSCHUS
HIBISCUS
Common English name: Musk Mallow
Hindi: Mushk-dana
Konkani: Kasturi bhendi
Habitat : grows in wastelands, along roadsides, during the monsoon season. It is an annual herb. It grows to a height of about five feet. Its flowers and fruit resemble those of lady's finger plants, but the flowers are smaller and the pods are shorter and stubbier than those of lady's finger.
Medicinal
parts : Seeds, roots and leaves.
Constituents : The leaves contain a gum albumen. The seeds contain an
odoriferous essential oil and resin. The oil is greenish-yellow and solidifies
on exposure to air.
The
seeds have many uses:
Ó Decoction of the seeds is used as
a stimulant, carminative, cooling, diuretic, demulcent, stomachic and
antispasmodic.
Ó Tincture of the seeds is used in
nervous and hysterical disorders.
Ó A couple of dry seeds are sucked
to keep the breath fresh and prevent hoarseness of voice, esp. by vocalists
and singers.
Ó A paste of fresh seeds or oil extracted
from seeds can be mixed with milk and used as an ointment to cure itch
, esp. due to scabies.
Ó Mucilage prepared from the leaves
and roots of the plant was used to treat venereal diseases in the past.
