Ashwagandha

Botanical Name

Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal.

Family

Solanaceae

Synonyms

Physalis somnifera L., Withania kansuensis Kuang & A. M. Lu., Withania microphysalis Suess.

Regional Name

English:-Indian ginseng, Winter Cherry, Hindi: Asgandh, Sanskrit: Hayagandha, Vajigandha, Urdu: Asgand, Punjabi: Asgandh, Assamese: Ashvagandha, Bengali: Ashvagandha, Gujrati: Asgandha, Kannada: Angarberu, Hiremaddina-gida, Kashmiri: Asagandh, Malayalam: Amukkuram, Marathi: Asagandha, Askagandha, Oriya: Aswagandha, Tamil: Amukkaramkizangu, Telugu: Pennerugadda.

Part Used

Root

Description

Ashwagandha is globally distributed from Africa, Mediterranean, India to Sri Lanka. Within India, it is distributed in the sub-Himalayan tracts, ascending up to an altitude of 1000 m. It is a perennial shrub, found in wasteland, widely cultivated in certain areas of Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and throughout the drier parts of India. Ashwagandha is a short, tender perennial shrub growing 35–75 cm (14–30 in) tall. Tomentose branches extend radially from a central stem. Leaves are dull green, elliptic, usually up to 10–12 cm long. Roots are straight, unbranched, thickness varying with age. Roots bear fiber-like secondary roots, outer surface buff to grey-yellow color, cylindrical with longitudinal wrinkles, fracture, short and uneven, characteristic odor and taste are bitter and acrid. The fresh roots smell similar to the urine of the horse (ashwagandha). The flowers are small, green, and bell-shaped. The ripe fruit is orange-red.

Medicinal Uses

Ashwagandha is used for excessive emaciation, rheumatic ailments, arthritis, gout, cardiac diseases, hypertension, anxiety, trouble sleeping (insomnia), tumors, ulcers, tuberculosis, bronchitis, bronchial asthma, backache, fibromyalgia, hiccups, and chronic liver disease, suppression of urine, and for conception in sterility. It promotes the development of the body and is useful in emaciated children. Ashwagandha is applied to the skin for treating wounds due to accident and skin diseases, white patchiness (leukoderma), and one-sided paralysis (hemiplegia). It is also used for improving thinking ability, pain, and swelling (inflammation) and also used for fertility problems in men and women and also to increase sexual desire. Ashwagandha is also used as an “adaptogen” to help the body cope with daily stress, preventing the effects of aging as a general tonic.

Phytoconstituents

The main constituents of Ashwagandha are alkaloids and steroidal lactones. Alkaloids contains withanine, withananine, pseudo-withanine, somniferine, somnine, somniferinine, tropane, pseudo tropane, choline, cuscohygrine, isopelletierine, anaferine , anahydrine, Sitoindoside VII, and sitoindoside VIII. The steroidal lactones contains Withanolides (withaferin).

Ayurvedic Properties

Rasa : Tikta, Kasaya, Guna : Laghu, Vipaka : Madhura, Virya : Usna, Karma : Balya, Rasayana, Vatakaphapaha, Vajikarana.

Ayurvedic Applications

Daurbalya, Kasaya, Klaibya, Sotha, Vataroga.