Family: Moringaceae
Scientific name: Moringa pterygosperma Gaertner.
Common name: Drumstick, Horse radish
Sanskrit: Shigru, Shobhanjana, Sweta Mareecha
Hindi: Sahijin

Drumstick can be grown without much risk. It is considered as a source of many medicines since its leaves, flowers and pods are used as food and medicine from time immemorial. In Rig-Veda it has been mentioned as a plant grown in kitchen. A medicinal plant at your own yard ,the plant is also called “Shobhanjana” as the flowers are very attractive. Three sub-species have been identified after the flower colour as blue, red and white. Being a perennial, the drumstick can grow as a tree. It has compound leaves, with inflorescence having white flowers. The pods are slender and long.

Parts used: Root, Bark, Fruit, Seeds, Leaf, Flower, and Gum.

Chemical constituents: Different parts of the plant body differ in their chemical composition. The major nutrients include,

1. Pods: Polysaccharides, globulin and prolamine.

2. Seeds: Glycosides and moringyne fatty acid. The oil is rich in fatty acids and sterols.

3. Flowers: Ourcetin and Kemphoral.

4. Leaves: Arrtino acids like aspartic and glutamic acids, serine and glycine.

5. Whole plant: Moringine, Moringinine, Byrenol, Indol-acetic acid, Tergospermin, Carotins, Vitamins ‘A’ and ‘C, Iron, Phosphorus and Calcium.

6. A cup of drumstick leaves juice could be equated with the nutritive value of 9 eggs, 9 cups of badam milk, 8 cups of milk, 6 oranges, 8 apples, 16 bananas or 20 mangoes.

7. Handful of leaves can provide calcium equal to that of 900 gms of badam (almonds), 8 oranges or 3-4 kgs of papaya.

Medicinal properties and its benifits:

1. For Night – blindness in children, one cup of leaf – juice is given every day. It controls night blindness and improves immunity.

2. Anaema can be cured by taking the mixture of 150 gm of tender leaf, flower boiled (in 100g of water) and a bit of salt.

3. Root powder heated with til-oil is good remedy for skin disease.

4. The use of lightly heated leaf juice mixed with milk and sugar improves not only growth in children but also increases immunity.

5. The use of tender fruits prevents intestinal worms as well as pin worm infection.

6. The flower, leaf, fruit, seeds, all are good diuretic and used in renal disorders.

7. Face-pack prepared with leaf juice and lemon juice improves complexion.

8. Lactation after labour can be solved, by taking leaf juice is during pregnancy

9. Chewing of the tender leaf cures stomatitis.

10. The paste of the leaf mixed with curd is good remedy for Ulcer patients.

11. It is used as cardiac tonic in small quantities.

12. It is also good for splenic problems

13. Paste of the root bark acts as anti-rheumatic. The oil prepared from the seeds is also good anti-rheumatic.

Dr Vasundhara Bhupathy
Sidhartha Ayurvedic Clinic,
No 222, 2nd E cross
3rd Block 3rd Stage
Basaweswara nagar
Bangaluru 79
Mob: 91 9480334750

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