Allium Sativum

• Botanical Name(s): Allium sativum

• Popular Name(s): Garlic, Lashan, Rasonam, Lashuna, Veluthulli, Ugragandha, Mlecchagandha, Lesan.

• Parts Used: Bulb and Oil.

• Habitat: It is a native of Southwest Siberia and Southern Europe.

Description: The leaves are long, narrow and flat like grass. The bulb (the only part eaten) is of a compound nature, consisting of numerous bulblets, known technically as 'cloves,' grouped together between the membranous scales and enclosed within a whitish skin, which holds them as in a sac.

Uses: Garlic is often applied to indolent tumors, ulcerated surfaces and wounds. A poultice of the bulb is used for scrofulous sores and ringworm. A clove of Garlic when introduced into the ear passage gives relief of earache. It is locally used in sciatica, paralysis and neuralgic pains. Raw Garlic juice is inhaled in whooping cough and pulmonary tuberculosis.

Original from Central Asia, garlic is now cultivated worldwide. It was widely known by the ancients, being found in Egyptian tombs and used by Greeks and Romans. Recognized for its pungent odor and taste, garlic is a powerful home medicine for the treatment for a host of health problems. It is one of the most effective anti-biotic plants available, acting on bacteria, viruses and alimentary parasites. It counters many infections, including those of the nose, throat and chest. Garlic is also known to reduce cholesterol, helps circulatory disorders, such as high blood pressure, and lower blood sugar levels, making it useful in cases of late-onset diabetes.

Main Properties: Antibiotic, expectorant, diaphoretic, hypotensive, antispasmodic, expels worms.