Horse-radish/Ben oil tree (Sajne danta)

Botanically it is known as Moringa oleifera Lan. It is popularly called as 'Sovanjan'. The fruits contain iron, vitamin A and C, calcium, riboflavin, protein and carbohydrates. They are stimulant, diuretic and antiasthmatic. The leaf, flowers, fruit, seed, bark, root and gum are used for medicinal purposes. This plant possesses anti-biotic properties. The fruit is generally used as small-pox vaccine.

The leaves are very useful in scurvy and catarrhal diseases. A poultice of the leaves is often: applied to wounds, boils and swellings. The bark of the stem is a cardiac stimulant and used in asthma, cough and cold. It is also used locally as a counter-irritant in rheumatism and nervous pains. A hot decoction of the root-bark is used to relieve earache, and in dental cavities to remove toothache. A powder of the root-bark is often used as snuff in cases of headache, earache and toothache.

Several medical books and ayurvedic texts have described the various medicinal uses of horse-radish. These are enumerated as under:

Benefit and uses of Horse-radish/Ben oil tree.

• Leaf juice is often used to reduce high blood pressure. The tender leaves are given in scurvy and catarrhal diseases. A poultice of fresh leaves is applied to wounds, boils and swellings.
• Flowers are eaten as vegetables in order to prevent the possible attack of small-pox in spring. They are also very useful in asthma, bronchitis, cough and cold, spleen and liver troubles.
• The fresh root of a young tree is valuable in intermittent fever, epilepsy, hysteria, palsy, chronic rheumatism, gout, dropsy, dyspepsia and enlargement of liver and spleen.
• It contains iron, amino acids, proteins, and vitamins A, B and C in plenty. The raw fruit is very helpful in rheumatism, arthritis, paralysis, smallpox, chicken-pox, toothache, and earache. It is prized as anti-pox vaccine.
• Externally the bark juice is applied as paste in ringworm.
• It is rubbed locally on the painful joints of rheumatic and gouty patients. This offers great relief.
• The seeds are valuable in cases of venereal diseases and ascites.
• The gum that exudes from the stem is taken with milk for relief of headache; it is locally applied on the forehead. The fried gum is eaten for relief of windiness. The gum is an efficacious drink for glandular swellings. The gum mixed with mustard oil is very useful in toothache and earache.