Health

Bhringaraja belongs to the Asteraceae family and is perhaps best known for its association with healthy hair. Indeed, names such as Kesharaja, meaning “king of the hair”, and Kesharanjana, referring to its traditional association with darkening or colouring the hair, reveal how deeply this plant became connected with hair care in the Ayurvedic tradition. Yet Bhringaraja is considerably more than a hair herb. Classical Ayurvedic practice has also employed it in conditions involving the skin, digestion, respiratory system, intestinal parasites and disorders traditionally associated with the liver.

The plant also occupies an interesting position between classical Ayurveda and India’s regional medicinal traditions. Names such as Bhunimba, literally suggesting a small or ground-growing neem-like herb, reflect its remarkable bitterness rather than any botanical relationship with the Neem tree.

The plant also occupies an interesting position between classical Ayurveda and India’s regional medicinal traditions. Names such as Bhunimba, literally suggesting a small or ground-growing neem-like herb, reflect its remarkable bitterness rather than any botanical relationship with the Neem tree.

The renewed partnership seeks to develop uniform, scientifically robust and reliable quality standards for medicinal plants used as single drugs across Ayurveda, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, Unani and Homoeopathy. The initiative is intended to address a long-standing challenge in which the same botanical material may be described, tested or standardised differently across various medicinal systems.

The accepted botanical name is Justicia adhatoda L., belonging to the family Acanthaceae. The older botanical name Adhatoda vasica Nees remains extremely common in Ayurvedic literature, pharmaceutical preparations and research publications. Kew’s Plants of the World Online currently accepts Justicia adhatoda as the botanical name and lists Adhatoda vasica among its synonyms.

The accepted botanical species is Vitex negundo L., presently placed in the family Lamiaceae. Kew describes it as a shrub or small tree native across a vast region extending from eastern Africa and Iran through the Indian subcontinent to East and Southeast Asia. India forms an important part of its natural distribution.