Adhatoda Vasica

Botanical Name : ADHATODA VASICA

Family Name : ACANTHACEAE

Common Name : MALABAR NUT

Part Used: Leaves, whole plant

Habitat: The plant grows in plains & in lower Himalayan ranges upto 1000 m above sea level

Uses : Principle constituents of Malabur nuts are the several alkaloids present and chief principle being quinazoline alkaloid, vasicine. The leaves are rich in vitamin C and carotene and yield an essential oil. The shrub is the source of the drug, well known in indigenous systems of medicine for its beneficial effects, particularly in bronchitis. The leaves, flowers, fruits and roots are extensively used for treating cold, cough, whooping-cough, chronic bronchitis and asthma. It acts as a sedative-expectorant, antispasmodic and anthelmintic. It is a bronchial antiseptic, bronchodilator and expectorant.

The roots, leaves and flowers and active principles of the plant possess a number of pharmacological properties and are used in cough, chronic bronchitis, rheumatism, asthma and bronchial asthma.