Botanical Names Of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants have evolved over the centuries as essential parts of African civilization and are widely recognized today as representing its rich cultural and scientific heritage. The increasing demand for medicinal plant products has renewed interest in the pharmaceutical industry in the production of herbal health care formulations, herbal-based cosmetic products, and herbal nutritional supplements.

Thus, in addition to serving medical and cultural functions, medicinal plants in Africa have economic importance. Global and national markets have been growing for medicinal herbs, and significant economic gains are being realized through the sale of medicinal plant products. The propagation of plants has been a fundamental operation of mankind. When new kinds of plants have to be conserved or propagated, we need to develop knowledge and techniques to propagate them. An appropriate propagation technology can be selected for each kind of medicinal plant depending upon plant growth.

 Medicinal plants have been the basis of treatment of various diseases in African traditional medicine as well as other forms of treatment from diverse cultures of the world. About 80% of the world’s population still depends solely on traditional or herbal medicine for treatment of diseases, mostly in Africa and other developing nations. Most of the potent medicinal plants have relatively no toxic or adverse effects when used by humans, while some are very toxic to both humans and animals with the potential of damaging certain organs in the body. This calls for caution in the use of medicinal plants of which the use is presently on the increase due to easy availability, affordability, accessibility, and promising efficacy comparable to the often high cost and adverse effects of standard synthetic drug agents. Medicinal plants also can be poisonous, affecting the entire spectrum of organ systems, with some plants containing several toxic principles that affect different systems. Toxic principles can be found in different parts of medicinal plants: leaves, fruits, flowers, roots, and stem bark. Conservation can also be taken up by setting up a small community garden by distributing 50 to 100 useful plants for a primary health centre which the local community could maintain. Seed banks and nurseries can also be developed by the community to generate income, Medicinal plant species can be planted under the wasteland development programme.

Medicinal Plant With Botanical Name

 Some common medicinal plants with their botanical names and functions.

Common nameBotanical NameMode of Application
Vegetable hummingbirdSesbania grandiflorafever, kills intestinal worms
AshwagandhaWithania somnifera                  Fever
True indigoIndigofera tinctoriakills intestinal worms
Worm killerAristolochia bractiatakills intestinal worms
PineappleAnanas comosusstimulant for hunger, for constipation, promotes digestion
Malabar nutAdhatoda vasica 
Wild date palmPhoenix sylvestrisDiabetes,fever
SesameSesamum indicumIncreases milk secretion
GarlicAlium  sativumStimulant expectorant
GingerZingiber officinalePromotes digestion
ErythrinaErythrina indicaIncreases milk secretion
Gum Arabic treeAcacia niloticaDisease of respiratory tract
False daisyEclipta albaFor constipation
Indian nettleAcalypha indicaCold and cough, kills intestinal worms
EcliptaEclipta prostrataStrengthens liver
Temple plantsCrataeva religiosaFever
ChinaberryMelia azadirachKills intestinal worms
PomegranatePunica granatumKills intestinal worms
MangoMangifera indicaKills intestinal worms
Black pepperPiper nigrumCold and cough
TurmericCurcuma longaCold and cough
Indian gooseberryPhyllanthus emblicaDecreases body temperature
Rose appleEugenia jambusaDiabetes
Indian mulberryMorinda tinctoriaFever
Chinese chaste treeVitex negundoFever
Pinwheel flowerTabernaemontana divaricataKills intestinal worms
MomordicaMemordica charntiaKills intestinal worms
Sugar appleAnnona squamozaWounds/ulcers
AcaciaAcacia concinaCold and cough wounds
Turkey berrySolanum torvumCold and cough
Golden shower treeCassia fistulaFever
MukiaMukia maderaspatanaAsthma ,ulcer
ThumbiaLeucus asperaCold and cough
Southern indiaSolanium trilobatumCold and cough
Holy basilOcimum sanctumdiseases of the respiratory tract
GurmarGymnema sylvestrisstimulant for hunger
Indian baelAegle marmelosfever, digestion
Slender dwarf morning gloryEvolvulus alsinoidesfever
Neem treeAzadirachta indicaintestinal worms malerial fever skin diseases
CucumberCucumis sativusdescreases body temperature
OnionAllium cepacold and cough
Indian kino treePterocarpus marsupiumwounds / ulcers
TrigonellaTrigonella feenugracumincreases milk secretion
NeriumNerium odoratumfor constipation
Asthma plantsEuphorbia hirtadecreases body temperature
MahuaBassia longifoliadecreases body temperature
Fennel flowerNigella sativainduces labour pain during delivery
Bambusa bambosBambusa arundinaceafor leprosy, skin diseases, astringent, laxative, cooling
White sirisAlbizzia lebbeckastringent, asthma, expectorant, leprosy
Teak plantsTectona grandisastringent, cooling, constipation, bronchitis, hyper- acidity
SomrajVernonia anthelminticaastringent, anti-inflammatory, fever, expectorant
Camphor treeCinnamomum camphoraaphrodisiac, anti- inflammatory, asthma, expectorant, diarhoea
LemonCitrus limonaids digestion, for constipation, cough, laxative, antiseptic, bronchitis
Nut grassCyperus rotunduscooling, astringent, anti inflammatory, scabies, skin disease
SunflowerHelianthus annusstrengthening teeth, leprosy, ulcer, skin diseases, bronchitis
DaisyInula racemosaantiseptic, digestion ulcer, cough, asthma, bronchitis
Burflower treeNeolamarckia cadambaastringent, ulcer, digestive, diarrhoea, expectorant, fever, vomiting
Date palmPhoenix dactyliferaexpectorant, cooling, bronchitis, cough, burning sensation
HennaLawsonia inermisleprosy, skin diseases, premature falling & greying of hair
Veld grapeCissus quadrangularisChronic Ulcers
Wild mintMentha arvensisdigestion, cough
Lemon grassCymbopogon caesiusinsect bites
Black pepperPiper nigrumcold and cough
GingerZingiber officianaleheadache, dry cough
American basilOcimum americanumBronchitis
Herbal Plants With Scientific Name

Organic farming with medicinal plants as botanical pesticides can be encouraged as a practice to replace chemical pesticides among farmers. A gene pool of herbal and medicinal plants can be established. Conservation strategies based on present demands and immediate future needs to be prioritized. If all this has to be done, awareness programs should be conducted stressing the importance of medicinal herbs and their identification and utilization for treating diseases in human beings and animals.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.