Unani Baadranjboyaa, Billiotan. (Nepeta cataria Linn. and Nep eta hindostana Haines are also known as Billilotan.)
Action Antidepressant, antispasmodic, antihistaminic, antiviral. Used in anxiety neurosis and nervous excitability, palpitation and headache. Also in hyperthyroidism.
Key application In nervous sleeping disorders and functional gastrointestinal complaints. (German Commission E, ESCOP.) Externally for Herpes labialis (cold sores). (ESCOP.) As sedative and topi ca
antiviral. (The British Herbal
Pharmacopoeia.)
Only fresh (herb within 6 months after collection) is usable as a sedative, because of low volatile oil content and its high volatility.
The volatile oil of the herb (0.1— 00.2%) consists mainly of geranial and neral, with caryophyllene oxide and smaller quantities of terpenes; glycosides of the alcoholic or phenolic components of the volatile oil (including eugenol glucoside); caffeic acid derivatives (rosmaric acid); flavonoids (including cymaroside, cosmosiin, rhamnocitrin, isoquercitrin); triterpene acids (including ursolic acid).
Hot water extracts exhibit antiviral properties, mainly due to rosmaric acid and other polyphenols. (A cream containing the extracts of Balm is used for the treatment of cutaneous lesions of Herpes simplex virus.) Aqueous extracts inhibit tumour cell dividing.
Freeze-dried aqueous extracts inhibit many of the effects of exogenous and endogenous thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH) on bovine thyroid gland by interfering with the binding of TSH to plasma membranes and by inhibiting the enzyme iodothyronine deiodinase in vitro.
The anti-hormonal, mainly anti- thyroid effects of Balm are well documented. (Potter’s New Cyclopedia, Sharon.M. Herr.)
For mild to moderate Alzheimer disease, 60 drops per day of standardized Lemon Balm extract (1: 11 45% alcohol) was prescribed daily. Results were encouraging. (I Neurol Neurosurg
Memecylon edule Roxb. 407
Psychiatry, 74, 2003; Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, 2007.) (For cholinergic activity, BMJ, 325, 2002, 1312—1233.)
Melochia corchorifolia Linn.
Family Sterculiaceae.
Habitat Kumaon to Sikkim, Gujarat and Peninsular India.
Siddha/Tamil Pinnakkuppundu. Folk Chunch, Bilpat.
Action Leaf and root—antidysenteric. Leaf—applied as poultice for swellings of abdomen and sores.
