Tuesday, May 24, 2011

www.malaysianherbals.com (7) Sesbania Grandiflora அகத்திக்கீரை

Malaysianherbs

Sesbania grandiflora

அகத்தின் அழுக்குகளை நீக்குமாம் அகத்திக்கீரை
Humming Bird Tree
   Sesbania Grandiflora  as it is called  Agathi in Tamil is used in cooking in IndiaSri LankaMalaysiaIndonesiaVietnam , mainly in the South east Asia pacific regions wherein its widely grown and eaten.There are two varieties grown in Malaysia. But the red variety is of more medicinal use and  is very rare to be seen.
           
The tender leaves, green fruit, and flowers are eaten alone as a vegetable or mixed into curries or salads. Flowers cooked with green peas serves as a tonic for weakening hearts. Tender portions serve as cattle fodder, (overeating is said to cause diarrhea). Ripe pods apparently are not eaten. The inner bark can serve as fiber and the white, soft wood not too durable, can be used for cork. The wood is used, like bamboo, in Asian construction. The tree is grown as an ornamental shade tree, and for reforestation
Eating Agathi keerai has a lot of benefits -

It is a tonic
It is cooling
It helps in digestion
It will cure ulcers in the stomach
It is a laxative
It balances pitta and kapha
It is an antidote for poisons
It is good for fever
It cures insanity
It is a very satvic food
Crushed leaves are applied to sprains and bruises of all kinds.
A tea made from the leaves is believed to have antibiotic, anti-thelmintic(a medication capable of causing the evacuation of parasitic intestinal worms), antitumour and contraceptive properties.
The principal medicinal effects are due to the trees’ astringency, hence it is used against inflammation, venom and other poisons, bacterial infections and tumors.
. In Java, the tree is extensively used as a pulp source. A gum resembling kino (called katurai), fresh when red, nearly black after exposure, exudes from wounds. This astringent gum is partially soluble in water and in alcohol, but applied to fishing cord, it makes it more durable.
 Pepper vines (Piper nigrum) are sometimes grown on and in the shade of the agati. According to NAS (1980a), this small tree produces firewood, forage, pulp and paper, food, and green manure and appears to hold promise for reforesting eroded and grassy wastelands throughout the tropics. It combines well with agriculture in areas where trees are not normally grown and becomes an important fuel wood source. Dried and powdered bark is used as a cosmetic in Java.
 Allen and Allen enumerated three undesirable features (1) short lived (2) shallow-rooted and subject to wind throw, and (3) prolific seeder, the pods often considered a litter. An aqueous extract of bark is said to be toxic to cockroaches. 

Folk Medicine

The juice from the flowers is used to treat headache, head congestion, or stuffy nose. As a snuff, the juice is supposed to clear the nasal sinuses. Leaves are poultice onto bruises. Rheumatic swellings are rubbed with aqueous decoctions of the powdered roots of the red-flowered variant.
In Siddha we do not recommend these leaves when under gong any treatment for it has a great effect in reducing the medicinal effect.  It has to be eaten as any dish once a month to neutralize the body.  This is recommended to reduce biliousness; so for giddiness and over hypertention this herb is recommended.
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 Yunani consider the tonic leaves useful in biliousness, fever, and nyctalopia. Indians apply the roots in rheumatism, the juice of the leaves and flowers for headache and nasal catarrh. Mixed with stramonium and pasted, the root is poulticed onto painful swellings. In Amboina, flower juice is squeezed into the eye to correct dim vision. The bark is used in infusions for smallpox. Cambodians consider the flowers emollient and laxative, the bark for diarrhea, dysentery, and palladium.
Malayans apply crushed leaves to sprains and contusions. They gargle with the leaf juice to cleanse the mouth and throat. In small doses, the bark is used for dysentery and sprue, in large doses, laxative, in still larger doses, emetic. Pounded bark is applied to scabies. Philippines use the pounded bark for hemoptysis. The powdered bark is also recommended for ulcers of the mouth and alimentary canal. In Java, the bark is used for thrush and infantile disorders of the stomach. Leaves are chewed to disinfect the mouth and throat.


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2 comments:

  1. Nice article and Tips.
    More Article about Herbal.

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    Replies
    1. I am trying my level to give articles about medicinal herbs. thank you for your appreciation.

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