Paati Vaithiyam: Wounds and Ulcers

Remedy for wounds

Crush kadukkai (Black Myrobal­an), add kar­pooram pow­der (edi­ble cam­phor) and apply to open wounds to stop the bleed­ing, pain and inflam­ma­tion. Impor­tant to note: The cam­phor used here is edi­ble cam­phor and not the syn­thet­i­cal­ly pro­duced cam­phor.

Remedy for mouth ulcers

Chew and eat Man­athakkali leaves (Black night­shade) raw for mouth ulcers.

Camphor tree

Cam­phor is a com­pound obtained from the tree Cin­na­mon­um cam­pho­ra, com­mon­ly called cam­phor lau­rel. It is a large ever­green tree which is dis­tin­guished by the aro­mat­ic cam­phor smell when leaves are crushed.

Cam­phor has been used for many cen­turies as a culi­nary spice, a com­po­nent of incense, and as a med­i­cine. In India, cam­phor is used in Ayurve­da. The cam­phor that is used for med­i­c­i­nal pur­pos­es is edi­ble (usu­al­ly sold in pow­dered form in mar­kets) and is dif­fer­ent from the cam­phor syn­thet­i­cal­ly pro­duced from the oil of tur­pen­tine. The syn­thet­i­cal­ly pre­pared cam­phor is not suit­able for con­sump­tion.

Inter­est­ing­ly, a new cam­phor tree species was dis­cov­ered in the south­ern West­ern Ghats recent­ly. It was named Cin­na­mon­um agasthya­malayanum, after the region to which it was endem­ic to – Agasthya­mala hills of Thiru­vanan­tha­pu­ram. It was found grow­ing in dense wet ever­green forests at an alti­tu­di­nal range of 500–1400m.

How to grow Manathakkali (Black nightshade)

Man­athakkali plant has sev­er­al health ben­e­fits and is a med­i­c­i­nal herb in Ayurve­da, called Kaka­machi in San­skrit. It is very easy to grow, requir­ing no main­te­nance at all. The plant pro­duces numer­ous small pur­ple-black berries, which have many seeds. The Man­athakkali spreads fast because the seeds ger­mi­nate and grow into new plants when the ripe berries fall on the ground. The leaves and berries are used in Indi­an kitchens to make chut­ney and kuzham­bu.

Sow the seeds of Man­athakkali direct­ly on the ground, exposed to full sun­light. Keep the soil damp, and ger­mi­na­tion will begin soon.

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