Araliya-Lanka

Plants with Medicinal Properties

Aloe

Parts used: Gel from the leaves; thickened leaf juice.
Known effects: Gel: anti-inflammatory, wound-healing; thickened leaf juice: laxative, helps with constipation.

Chili pepper

Parts used: Fresh and dried fruit.
Known effects: Analgesic, improves circulation (e.g., for muscle pain, rheumatism, migraines), stimulates metabolism, circulation, and digestion.

Dragon's Blood Tree

Parts used: Sap of the tree (called "liquid bandage" by South American Indians).
Known effects: Anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, analgesic, antioxidant, wound-healing.

Galangal

Parts used: Root (also called fever root).
Known effects: Digestive, anti-inflammatory, appetite-stimulating, considered a tonic.

Ginger

Parts used: Rhizome.
Known effects: helpful against nausea, vomiting, and retching; anti-inflammatory for colds with cough and sore throat, as well as for rheumatism; antispasmodic; analgesic.

Cardamom

Parts used: Seeds.
Known effects: appetite stimulant, digestive aid, carminative, antispasmodic and expectorant, disinfectant, calming, diuretic, aphrodisiac.

Herb of Immortality

Parts used: fresh and dried leaves.
Known effects: anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, heart-strengthening, blood pressure-lowering, cleansing, calming, anxiolytic, antioxidant, rejuvenating.

Ayere (Mate)

Parts used: roasted and green leaves.
Known effects: appetite suppressant, weight-reducing, diuretic, skin-cleansing; may have negative effects on sleep and blood pressure.

Papaya

Parts used: almost all parts of the fruit - leaves, flowers, seeds, roots, and milky sap from unripe fruit.
Known effects: digestive, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, antimicrobial, and anti-worming.

Tea tree

Parts used: essential oil from leaves and twig tips.
Known effects: anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, expectorant, analgesic, disinfectant, and anti-itch, bad breath, and rash relief.

Cinnamon

Parts used: bark and essential oil from leaves and twigs or bark.
Known effects: bark: appetite-stimulating, antispasmodic; oil: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, and circulation-enhancing.

Lemongrass

Parts used: Leaves or the essential oil extracted from them.
Known effects: Tea - calming, antispasmodic, mildly diuretic; Oil: calming, analgesic, insect repellent, antibacterial.