Botanical name : Scavola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb. (Scaevola sericea)
Family : Goodeniaceae
SANSKRIT SYNONYMS
Bhadraksha
AYURVEDIC PROPERTIES
Rasa : Madhura, Kashaya, Tikta
Guna : Guru, Snigdha
Virya : Seeta
Vipaka: Madhura
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
English : Beach naupaka, Hawaiian half-flower, hailstones
Hindi : Bhadraksh
Malayalam : Bhadraksham, Katturudraksham
Distribution – Growing naturally in semi evergreen and dry forests in India also cultivated.
PLANT DESCRIPTION
A perennial soft wooded shrub or small tree grows up to 8 meters in height. Leaves simple, closely alternate, crowded at stem tips; blades thick, shiny green, wider near tips, to 21 cm (8.3 in) long, glabrous to hairy on both sides, margins revolute, light green becoming yellow with age; leaf axils with tufts of pale hairs. Flowers white to pale lilac, several in short cluster at leaf axils; Fruit a fleshy, sub spherical drupe, green then white, 8-12 mm (0.3-0.5 in) long, with sepal lobes persistent at tip.
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Plant cures pitta, vata, conjunctivitis (Fruit juice) Low back pain, Abdominal ache, Over menstruation, warts (ash) and mental diseases.
Useful part : Fruits, Seed kernel.