PATTHAR SUVA

Patthar Suva is a small annual herb, 10-20 cm tall. The plant is branched from the base and the branches are grooved. Alternately arranged leaves, 1.5 cm long, are pinnately cut in to linear segments. Yellow flowers are borne in heads carried on slender stalks, in leaf axils or at the end of branches. Outer 3 bracts are 3 mm long, 3 inner ones are 7 mm long, striped. Seedpods are 6 mm, brown, hairy. Flowering: August-December.

Medicinal uses: Pithari plant is used as an emmenagogue in medicine. In Ayurveda, the plant is used as a substitute for Oldenlandia corymbosa. The tribal inhabitants of western Maharashtra use a decoction of the plant as febrifuge. A paste of the fresh Pithari plant is applied to promote healing of sores and wounds. It has a bitter taste and fennel like odour. Besides serving as a medicinal plant Pithari plant is also used in culinary purposes. People of some states in India take Pithari plant as a vegetable.

 MADRAS CARPET

Madras Carpet is a herb commonly seen in flat bunches in harvested fields, dry river and pond beds. This hairy, branched herb spreads from the roots and grows up to 70 cm in height. The buds are white and woolly. The leaves are alternate, stalkless, deeply cut, and divided into toothed lobes. Yellow flowering heads are borne opposite the leaves, and are short- stalked, rounded, and 8-10 mm across. The flowers are small, very numerous. The involucral-bracts are ovate, thick, rigid, and hairy. The achenes are cylindric, glandular, and about 2 mm long. The papus-hairs are connate, ending in a short, fimbriate tube.

Medicinal uses: Leaves are regarded in India as a valuable stomachic possessing deobstruent and antispasmodic properties, and are prescribed as an infusion and an electuary in cases of obstructed menses and hysteria.

HILL GYNURA

Hill Gynura is a tall succulent herb, growing to 1-2 m tall. Angular stems are 1 cm thick, branched at the top. Alternately arranged leaves are 10-20 cm long. Upper leaves are stalkless, oblong and toothed. Lower leaves are bigger and lance-like. Numerous yellow flower-heads occur in in corymsb, carried on slender peduncles. There are a few bracts below the flower-heads. Flowers are 1.5-2 cm across. This herb is commonly found in roadsides, fields and grassy slopes in Imphal and other places of Manipur. Flowering: August-November.

Medicinal uses: The juice of stem and leaves are applied to fresh wounds for stopping bleeding and fast healing in traditional medicines. The leaf paste is also applied to forehead to relive headache and used as sedative drug by the local people

STEM CLASPING LIGULARIA

A perennial that grows to 1.0 meter high by 0.5 meters wide. The leaves are large and green, and seem to clasp the stem. Flowers are carried on erect stems above the foilage. The flowers are large, shaggy, narrow-petalled yellow daisies which appear in loose, flat-topped sprays in mid-summer

Medicinal uses: The stems, leaves and flowers are used in Tibetan medicine, they are said to have an astringent taste and a cooling potency. Digestive and emetic, they are used in the treatment of vomiting from indigestion.

 CHAMOMILLA

Chamomilla is an annual herb 8–60 cm tall. The plant is aromatic when bruised. Stems are erect or rising, branched. Leaf blades are 0.5-7.8 cm long, very narrow, needle or thread-like. Flower-heads are daisy-like, 1-1.5 cm across, borne singly on long stalks, 2-5 cm. The central disk is yellow and prominently convex, obovoid or spheroid to ovoid. Ray florets are 14–26, white, 7-8.5 mm long, 2.4-3.3 mm wide. As the flower ages, the ray florets start pointing up. Chamomilla is native to Europe.

Medicinal uses: Chamomilla is a widely recognized herb in Western culture. Its medicinal usage dates back to antiquity where such notahles as Hippocrates, Galen, and Asclepius made written reference to it. A common ingredient today in herbal teas because of its calming, carminative, and spasmolytic properties, it is also a popular ingredient in topical health and beauty products tor its soothing and anti-inflammarory effects on skin.

RASNA

Rasna is an undershrub, growing up to 1.5 m tall, with whitish or greyish branches. Leaves are sessile, 1-7 cm long, 0.3-2 cm wide, oblong-invert-ed-lanceshaped, with a tiny point at the tip, leathery, minutely velvety on both surfaces. Margin is entire or obscurely toothed at the tip. Flower-heads are purplish, ovoid or bell-shaped, 3-5 mm in diameter, arranged in compound corymbs at the end of branches. Phyllaries are 2-3 seriate, outer ones purple tinged at the apex, broadly, obovate, obtuse, entire, pubescent, 2.5-3.5 mm long, silky pubescent, inner linear entire, 4-6 mm long. Florets are pink, outer female florets many, thread-like, disc florets tubular, few, 4-18, bisexual but functionally male. The one-seeded fruit is small, white, linear, hairless. Pappus hairs 20-26, distinctly fused at base. Flowering: March-August.

Medicinal uses: Rasna is a medicinal herb in Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine. The plant is used for the inflammations and bronchitis, psoriasis, cough and piles. It is also used as antipyretic, analgesic, laxative and nervine tonic. The decoction of plant is used to prevent the swellings of joint in arthritis, rheumatism and neurological diseases. The roots are antipyretic, bitter, laxative and thermogenic and are used for allaying the pain caused by the sting of scorpions.

COSTUS

Costus is a tall perennial herb, well known as a medicinal plant. Stems up to 2 m tall, or more. Lower leaves are long-stalked, pinnate, 30-40 cm long, with a trianglular terminal leaflet, up to 30 cm long. Upper leaves are smaller, up to 30 cm long, stem-clasping. All leaves are irregularly toothed. There is a rounded cluster of a few purple flower-heads at the top of the stem. The flower-heads look like balls covered with purple bracts. Costus is frequently cultivated in the Himalayas as a medicinal plant. It is found in the Himalayas, from pakistan to Himachal Pradesh, at altitudes of 2000-3300 m. Flowering: July-August.

Medicinal uses: Costus is widely used in several indigenous systems of medicine for the treatment of various ailments, like asthma, inflammatory diseases, ulcer and stomach problems.