Types of weed used in herbal medicine in Assam

Generally people tend to get rid of all types of weed when they come across them in their garden, as they think of them as an inconvenience.

They are not of aware of the medicinal value of some types of weed. Even the bible says "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground"

No plant is useless, in North East India, Assam, a number of women; elderly women and housewives in particularly are familiar with herbal medicine.

For some women herbal medicine is their profession, it provides an important, which is used to support their family.

The winter and summer crop fields in the Nalbari district of Assam contain types of weed which are used by the local villagers. The table below shows the types of weed found in the crop fields and their uses.

Names of the weed	Parts of the weed used	Ailment	Method
Baleria porcupine flower	Leaves and roots	Neuralgia, fever	120 g of baleria porcupine leaves are pounded and squeezed to extract juice from the leaves and water are added to make up the volume. 120 ml of the extracted juice is given to the fever patient. 60 g of baleria porcupine leaves are put in 1920 ml of water and boiled until the water goes down to 240 ml. 20 ml is then given to the neuralgia patient twice daily.
Coffee senna	Leaves	Worm infestations	120 g of coffee senna leaves are put in 1920 ml of water and boiled until the water goes down to 240 ml. It is then given to the worm infestation patients.
Sickle senna, foetid Cassia,	Leaves	Cough dermatitis	120 g of sickle senna leaves are put in 1920 ml of water and boiled until the water goes down to 240 ml. It is then given to the patient.
Asian pigeon wings	Roots	Peptic ulcer	Asian pidgeon wing roots is made into a fine paste and given with ghee and bee’s honey and ghee to the patient.
False daisy	Entire plant	Gastritis	False daisy and pericarp of terminalia chebula are turned into a powder. 10 g of the powder with jaggery are given to the gastritis patients.
Ivy gourd	Roots and whole creeper used.	Diabetes mellitus	120 g of the ivy gourd plant are put in 1920 ml of water and boiled until the water goes down to 240 ml. It is then given to the patient.
Nut grass	Rhizome	Diarrhoea.	60g of dried rhizome from nut grass is put in 1920 ml of water and boiled until the water goes down to 240 ml. It is then given to the diarrhoea sufferer.
Elephant’s Foot	Whole plant	Bleeding wounds	The leaves are crushed up and applied to the wound or wounds to stop bleeding. Additionally it is used also to treat cancers, fractures and abscess.
Lilac tassel flower	Whole plant	Diarrhoea,cough and fever	The lilac tassel flower is cooked then given as to those suffering from diarrhoea, fever and cough.
Indian Acalypha	Whole plant	Bronchial asthma	120 g of Indian Acalypha leaves are pounded and squeezed to extract juice from the leaves and water is added to make up the volume. 10 ml of the extracted juice is given to the bronchial asthma sufferer.
Polpala	Whole plant	Renal Calculi, dysuria	60 g of polpala is boiled in 1920 ml of water until it is reduced to 240 ml. Given twice a day to reduce dysuria and to expel renal calculi
Indian mallow,Indian abutilon	Leaves	Haemorrhoids	480 g of Indian mallow leaves are boiled in 7680ml of water untill the water is reduced to 1920ml. The haemorrhoid patients then dip their anal and buttock area into the decoction for thirty minutes to reduce haemorrhoids.
Slender amaranth, pigweed	Roots	Oedema	120 g of pigweed roots of are boiled in around 1920 ml of water until reduced to 240 ml and given twice a day to reduce oedema and also used as a diuretic.
Indian heliotrope	Whole plant	Joint swelling, dermatitis	Roots and leaves are ground into paste then applied to the dermatitis affected areas and swollen joints.
Spanish flag	Leaves	Joint swelling	Spanish flag leaves and curcuma domestica rhizome are ground down and mixed with azadirachta indica oil
Common wire weed	Roots	Neuralgia	60 g of common wire weed dried roots are put in 1920 ml of water and boiled until the water goes down to 240 ml. It is given twp times daily to the patient in order to reduce pain.
Knotgrass, joint weed.	Whole plant	Diarrhoea	Knotgrass is boiled in some water and given to the diarrhoea patient.
Toothache plant	Leaves and roots	Toothache	Toothache plant leaves are crushed and kept over the tooth to reduce pain.
Cuban jute	Roots	Fever	60 g of cuban jute roots are boiled in around 1920 ml of water until reduced to 240 ml and given twice a daily to reduce fever.
Peperomia, Pepper elder	Whole plant	Burns	Entire plant of P. pellucida is crushed and rubbed over the burned area to reduce burning sensation and prevent blisters due to burns.

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