(Native American) One who is bitter Melie, Melee, Melea, Meleigh, Mely, Meley
Habitat: Waste places.
Features ? Stem erect, two or three feet high. Leaves in threes, ovate-truncate, serrate, two horns at base of leaf stalk. Flowers small, yellow, in one-sided clusters. Hay-like taste and scent.Part used ? Herb.Action: Carminative, emollient.
The 1 ounce to 1 pint infusion in wineglass doses as needed, to relieve flatulence. Sometimes used in fomentations and poultices.... melilotMelidice, Melitine, Meliah, Meelia, Melya... melia
Habitat: Cultivated and naturalized throuhout India. Wild in the Sub-Himalayan tract up to 1,800 m.
English: Persian Lilac, Pride of India.Ayurvedic: Mahaanimba, Ramyaka, Dreka. (Neem is equated with Azadirachta indica.)Unani: Bakaayan.Siddha/Tamil: Malaivembu.Action: Leaf—diuretic, anthelmintic, antilithic. Leaf and flower—febrifuge, sedative, em- menagogue. Leaf, fruit and stem bark—antileprotic. Leaf, flower, fruit, root bark—deobstruent, resolvent. Seed oil—antirheumatic, insecticidal. Leaves, bark and fruit—insect repellent. Gum— used in spleen enlargement. Heart- wood—an aqueous extract, used in asthma.
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia ofIn- dia indicated the use of the dried stem bark in increased frequency and turbidity of urine, skin diseases, nausea, emesis, asthma, gastroenteritis, giddiness and vertigo.The bitter constituents are present exclusively in the pericarp, not in the kernel as in the case of Neem fruit. Bakayanin has been isolated from the pericarp (bitter in dilutions of 1 in 10,000).The heartwood also yielded bakaya- nin and a lactone, bakalactone. Leaves gave quercitrin and rutin and tetranor- triterpenoids, salanin and vilasinin.An infusion of the bark is effective against ascariasis. The activity resides in the inner bark which is bitter but not astringent (outer bark contains tannins and is astringent).The ethanolic extract of the leaves is fungicidal and antibacterial. The activity is attributed to azadrine and me- liotannic acid.The fruits are considered poisonous to man and animals; contain melianon- inol, melianol, melianone, meliandi- ol, vanillin and vanillic acid. Vanillic acid analogues show micro- and macro-filaricidal activity.Gedunin, present in the plant, inhibits Plasmodium falciparum, while the seed extract does not show anti- malarial activity against P. berghei.The plant exhibited sedative and psychostimulant properties. Antitu- mour and antiviral activities have also been reported. Intraperitoneal administration of partially purified extracts of fresh green leaves reduced the spread of Tacaribe virus (that causes typical encephalitis) to kidneys, liver and brain in inoculated neonatal mice.Dosage: Stem bark—5-10 g (API, Vol. IV.); leaf, seed, root—50- 100 ml decoction; 3-5 g powder. (CCRAS.)... melia azedarachHabitat: Eastern Himalayas, Assam, Western Ghats, Ganjam and Deccan up to 1,800 m.
English: Hill Neem, Malabar Neem, Common Bead tree.Ayurvedic: Arangaka.Folk: Malaivembu (Tamil).Action: Fruit—anthelmintic; used in skin diseases.
The leaves and seeds gave tetranor- triterpenoids, compositin and com- positolide. The fruit gave salannin. The heartwood yielded a triterpenoid.Tamil and Malyalam synonyms (Malaivembu and Malavembu) are common to Melia azedarach and Melia composita.... melia compositaHabitat: Native to Europe and Asia; grown in North India.
English: White Sweet Clover.Unani: Ilkil-ul-Malik, Naakhunaa (white-flowered var.).Action: See Melilotus indica.... melilotus alba
Melynda, Malinda, Malinde, Mallie, Mally, Malynda, Melinde, Mellinda, Mallee, Mallea... melinda
Melyora, Meliorah, Melyorah, Meleeora... meliora
Malisande, Malissande, Malyssandre, Melesande, Melisandra, Melisandre, Melissande, Melissandre, Mellisande, Melysande, Melyssandre... melisande
Habitat: Native to Eurasia; found as winter weed and cultivated for fodder in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
English: Sweet Clover, Annual Yellow Sweet Clover, Small-flowered Melilot.Ayurvedic: Vana-methikaa.Unani: Ilkil-ul-Malik (yellow- flowered var.).Folk: Ban-Methi, Senji.Action: Plant—astringent, dis- cutient, emollient. Used as poultice or plaster for swellings. The plant gave coumarins—fraxidin, herniarin, umbelliferone and scopoletin.
When fed alone as a green fodder, it exhibits narcotic properties; causes lethargy, tympanitis and is reported to taint the milk of dairy cattle. It may cause even paralysis. The plant contains 3-methoxyflavone, meliter- natin which experimentally inhibited cell growth, induced granularity, retraction and then lysis of cells.... melilotus indicaHabitat: Ladakh, at 3,000-4,000 m, also cultivated.
English: Yellow Sweet Clover, Melilot.Unani: Iklil-ul-Malik, Asaab-ul- Malik, Naakhunaa.Action: Plant—astringent, wound healer, styptic, anti-inflammatory, sedative, mild analgesic, anticoagulant, spasmolytic. Flower and leaf—diuretic, analgesic, anti- inflammatory, smooth muscle relaxant, vasodilator. Seed—used in cold.
Key application: In chronic venous insufficiency. For supportive treatment of thrombophlebitis, haemorrhoids and lymphatic congestion. (German Commission E.) As venotonic, vulnerary. (The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia.)The herb contains coumarin derivatives; flavonoid glycosides, including kaempferol and quercetin. Di- coumarol (melitoxin) is produced when fermentation takes place in me- lilot. Seeds gave canavanin and trigo- nelline. Reported poisonous to horses. The flowers contain the flavonoids, quercetin and myricetin besides kaem- pferol.The herb has shown increase in venous reflux and improvement in lymphatic kinetics. Animal experiments show an increase in healing wounds. Flower and leaf extracts have shown analgesic activity, prolongation in pento-barbital-induced hypnosis time and smooth muscle relaxant activity in mice; also exhibited hypotensive and vasodilatory activity in rabbit. Dicoumarol is a potent anticoagulant.In Europe and China, the plant extract is used for inflammations, arthritis, rheumatism, phlebitis, venous insufficiency, haemorrhoids, brachialgia and bronchitis.The Red Clove is equated with Tri- folium pratense.... melilotus officinalisFAMILY: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
SYNONYMS: Common melilot, yellow melilot, white melilot, corn melilot, melilot trefoil, sweet clover, plaster clover, sweet lucerne, wild laburnum, king’s clover, melilotin (oleoresin).
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A bushy perennial herb up to 1 metre high with smooth erect stems, trifoliate oval leaves and small sweet-scented white or yellow flowers. The scent of the flowers becomes stronger on drying.
DISTRIBUTION: Native to Europe and Asia Minor. Other similar species are found in Asia, the USA and Africa. The flowers are mainly cultivated in England, France, Germany and the USSR.
OTHER SPECIES: There are several similar species such as M. arvensis, the oil of which is also used in perfumery and flavouring work.
HERBAL/FOLK TRADITION: The leaves and shoots are used on the Continent for conditions which include sleeplessness, thrombosis, nervous tension, varicose veins, intestinal disorders, headache, earache and indigestion. In the form of an ointment or plaster, it is used externally for inflamed or swollen joints, abdominal and rheumatic pain, also bruises, cuts and skin eruptions.
ACTIONS: Anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, antispasmodic, astringent, emollient, expectorant, digestive, insecticidal (against moth), sedative.
EXTRACTION: A concrete (usually called a resinoid or oleoresin) by solvent extraction from the dry flowers.
CHARACTERISTICS: A viscous dark green liquid with a rich, sweet-herbaceous ‘new mown hay’ scent.
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS: Mainly coumarins – melilotic acid and orthocoumaric acid. Safety data in 1953 in some countries including the USA, coumarin was banned from use in flavourings due to toxicity levels. Some coumarins are also known to be phototoxic.
AROMATHERAPY/HOME: USE None.
OTHER USES: The oleoresin is used in high-class perfumery work. Extensively used for flavouring tobacco in countries without the coumarin ban.... melilotus
Habitat: Temperate and alpine Himalaya, from Garhwal to Bhutan and in Darjeeling and Aka, Mishmi and Khasi hills at l,000-3,600 m.
Unani: Billilotan.Action: Carminative, diaphoretic, febrifuge in cases of catarrh and 406 Melissa officinalis Linn. influenza. The fruit is considered a brain tonic and useful in hypochondriac conditions.
The aerial parts of the plant yield 2% essential oil which is a good source of monoterpenic alcohols and aldehydes. It contains d-camphene 2.5, dl-alpha- pinene 2.3, 1-beta-pinene 2.13, delta- carene 2.05, d-limonene 12.95, azulene 1.26, linalool 13.36,1,8-cineole 9.33, cit- ronellal 4.0, citronellol 8.2, citral 13.0, geraniol 21.01, neptalactone 1.91, thymol 4.0 and citronellic acid 2.0%.The herb is used as a substitute for Melissa officinalis Linn.MJHabitat: Indigenous to the east Mediterranean region; introduced in India.
English: Mountain Balm, Sweet or Lemon Balm.Unani: Baadranjboyaa, Billilotan. (Nepeta cataria Linn. and Nepeta 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- cal 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 (0.100.2%) 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); caf- feic acid derivatives (rosmaric acid); flavonoids (including cymaroside, cos- mosiin, 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. (J Neurol Neurosurg Memecylon edule Roxb. 407 Psychiatry, 74, 2003; Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, 2007.) (For cholinergic activity, BMJ, 325, 2002, 1312-1233.)... melissa axillaris
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