Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

🎄🎄MEMBERS OF THE MAHOGANY FAMILY : MELIACEAE 🎄🎄 Chinese perfume plant (Aglaia odorata) is a much branched shrub growing up to 5- 10 m tall. It's dwarf variety however grows only about 2-3 m high and is popular as a potted house plant. It can even be trained into a bonsai. 🌿The plant is usually grown as an ornamental hedge in gardens for its tiny fragrant flowers, and showy glossy foliage. 🌿The shiny green leaves are pinnately compound with obovate leaflets having a wide and rounded tip. These leaflets occur in pairs with a terminal leaflet larger than the rest. ⚜️Tiny yellow flowers have a citronella like fragrance and occur in a thyrse inflorescence. These mature into red, round fleshy fruits about 1-1.2 cm in size. 🌿On maturity the seeds split to reveal the brightly colored aril surrounding the seeds. Each fruit contains 1-3 seeds.The aril is edible and consumed by birds and squirrels aiding in seed dispersal. ⚜️T...

It is a member of the Capsicum family, which also includes bell peppers, jalapeños, and habaneros. Cayenne peppers are known for their fiery heat, which is caused by the compound capsaicin. Cayenne pepper has a number of health benefits. Here are some of the most notable: Boosts metabolism:  -Cayenne pepper has been shown to boost metabolism, which can help you burn more calories and lose weight. Reduces inflammation:  -Capsaicin has anti-inflammatory properties, which can help to reduce pain and swelling. Improves digestion:  -Cayenne pepper can help to improve digestion by stimulating the production of stomach acid and increasing peristalsis, the movement of food through the digestive tract. It has also been used to treat and heal ulcers.  Relieves pain:  -Capsaicin can also help to relieve pain, including pain from arthritis, headaches, and muscle pain. Lowers blood pressure:  -Cayenne pepper may help to lower blood pressure by dilating blood...

🎄🎄MEMBERS OF THE MAHOGANY FAMILY : MELIACEAE 🎄🎄 Silver Boodyara also known as koping-koping (Aglaia argentea) is an evergreen tree from the family Meliaceae. It is found in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Thailand. It is also known as iloilo in the Philippines. The city of Iloilo is named after the tree. 🎄The tree grows up to 30m tall and mature trees may have buttresses.The bark is brown – grey and produces white latex when injured. 🌿The leaves are pinnately compound with sub-opposite, oblong elliptic leaflets that are shiny green above and covered with whitish brown peltate scales below giving the underside of leaflets a silvery appearance. 🌷It is a dioecious species so there are separate male and female plants. The flowers are tiny and produced in panicles. The flowering stalks are covered in brown peltate scal...

The Pithraj Tree (Aphanamixis polystachya) is a medium sized (about 20m tall), evergreen tree from the family Meliaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia, including Singapore. Its name has roots in the Greek aphanos, invisible; Greek mixis, mating; Greek poly, many; Greek stachys, branch, referring to the much-branched male flowering shoot. The tree has long imparipinnate compound leaves (that is having an unpaired terminal leaflet), alternately arranged and made up of 9-21 leaflets, each leaflet being oblong-elliptic, and wavy on the margins, with an acute tip. Flower clusters occur in leaf-axils. Flowers have 5 nearly circular sepals,. Its female flowering shoots are up to 110 cm long, while male and bisexual flowering shoots are up to 50 cm long. Its sweetly scented flowers are 4 x 9 mm across and produced in panicles, with cream to yellow coloured petals. Flowers are pollin...

All of these green stalks are alliums or part of the Amaryllidaceae family. They may look similar, but the good news is that, to tell them apart, you do not need to know their scientific names. GREEN ONION/SPRING ONION You might think you know that green onions are called spring onions, but is there really a difference? If you are familiar with green onions, you should be familiar with spring onions and scallions. That's because these are all the same thing just with different names. Allium fistulosum or the green onion is literally the young stalk of an onion. The green onion stalks, complete with the bulbs, can be harvested from either young white or red onions. The bulbs won't develop and show their white and red varieties until it's a more mature plant.  LEEK Leeks are not green onions. While both are considered part of the onion family, these are two ...

 MALPIGHIACEAE family is home to some very beautiful shrubs, trees and vines native to the tropics and subtropics. It is a large family with about 73 genera and over 1300 species. Some characteristics that can help identify its members are listed as follows: 🌷 Leaves are simple, opposite or arranged in whorls and have stipules. They frequently have paired glands on the petiole or base of the blade 🌷 Flowers are bisexual, usually radially symmetrical, with pentamerous perianth of well differentiated 5 sepals and petals. The petals are generally yellow or pink, claw shaped with their margins ciliate, toothed, or fringed. The sepals have basal glands that secrete sugar rich nectar.  🌷Stamens are arranged in 2 whorls and carpels are 3 in number. 🌷These flowers are either produced singly, or in racemes, panicles or cymes. 🌷The fruit is a drupe, nut, or samara (with variable shape of wings) usually indehiscent ...

Hi, let's meet, Barbados Cherry Bush (Malpighia glabra), also known as Wild Crepe Myrtle and Acerola, is a native of Puerto Rico and the USA. The plant is a member from the type genus Malpighia of the family Malpighiaceae  It is a shrub or small evergreen tree, less than 6 m tall, with spreading, more or less drooping branches on a short trunk. The glabrous leaves are opposite, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, with entire or undulating margins, dark green and glossy above, with short petioles. Inflorescences are sessile or have a short-peduncle, produced in axillary cymes of 3-5 flowers. The individual flowers are bisexual, 1-2 cm in diameter, bearing 5 pinkish, translucent, slender clawed petals with crinkled margins. The fruit, commonly known as Acerola cherry is a bright-red, juicy drupe, about 1-3 cm in diameter and usually produced in pairs or threes, obscurely 3-lobed; has a thin skin, flesh is soft. Seeds a...

Avocado is a popular fruit that is known for its health benefits. But did you know that the seed of the avocado is also edible and has its own set of health benefits? Avocado seeds are a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They contain: Fiber:  -Avocado seeds are a good source of fiber, which can help to regulate digestion and promote bowel regularity. Vitamins:  -Avocado seeds contain vitamins A, C, and E, which are all important for immune health, vision, and skin health. Minerals:  -Avocado seeds contain minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus, which are important for heart health, bone health, and muscle function. In addition to these nutrients, avocado seeds also contain a number of beneficial plant compounds, including: Antioxidants:  -Avocado seeds contain antioxidants that can help to protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. Phytosterols:  -Avocado seeds contain phytosterols, which are plant compounds that ...

If you're vegan and a fan of peanut butter, this fruit is for you. The Peanut Butter Fruit, also known as Bunchosia argentea or Bunchosia armeniaca, is an exotic fruit native to Northwestern South America. It has a sweet, soft pulp with a peanut butter-like flavor and texture. The plant is a small tree, growing up to 5m tall, and can also be kept as a bush. It quickly adapts to a variety of soil types and starts fruiting within 3 years of growing from seed. The leaves are large and ovate with wavy margins. The lightly scented, yellow flowers with claw-like petals ( characteristic of the Malpighiaceae family) are produced in clusters and are followed by an abundance of egg-shaped fruits that have a beak-like tip. These mature from green to orange and then dark red. Each fruit has 2 seeds.  The flesh of the fruit is rich and sweet, with a texture similar to peanut butter, and yet it is a much healthier food option. The fruit can be eaten fresh or made into milkshakes. ...

Hi, today let's take you to meet another fascinating member of the Malpighiaceae family. The Australian Gold Vine (Tristellateia australasiae), is an ornamental, flowering woody climber from Australia. It is known by many common names like, Maiden's Jealousy, Galphimia Vine and Golden Rod, or Golden Shower Vine. It is often confused with a similar looking shrub Galphimia glauca, that has almost identical flowers as this vine. Both plants have elliptical, glabrous leaves and yellow flowers with typical claw shaped petals. Naturally occurring around swamps, estuaries and creeks it is cultivated for its ornamental flowers. What makes this plant all the more interesting is its use by the aboriginal people in Australia, as a remedy for treating high blood pressure and poisoning. Source: Tristellateia australasiae - UBD Botanical Research Center Reference  https://www.facebook.com/myplant...