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Premna serratifolia - Ganakasika
Premna serratifolia is a small tree/shrub in the Verbenaceae family. It flowers and fruits between May and November. During flowering season, it attracts a large number of butterflies and bees.
Uses
- The leaves and roots are used in traditional medicine as a diuretic, stomachic and febrifuge.
- The root has a warm bitter taste and agreeable smell, it is prescribed in decoction as a gentle cordial and stomachic in fevers.
- The leaves are used as a galactagogue, and also to treat rheumatic arthritis; colic and flatulence; coughs, headaches and fevers. The leaves,combined with those of morinda citrifolia, are squeezed into water and the solution drunk twice a day to treat severe malarial fevers.A steam bath made from the leaves and young stems is breathed in as a treatment for fevers. The cooled solution is then used to bathe the body.
- The leaves are boiled into medicinal tea that is reputed to have analgesic effects. This home remedy is used mostly in the treatment of backaches.
- A tea made from the boiled bark is used to treat neuralgia.
