The New Nation - Internet Edition

-Jamayet Ali

Joba is an evergreen woody, glabrous, showy shrub, 5-8 ft. high; leaves bright green; flowers solitary, auxiliaries, bell-shaped. It is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens throughout Bangladesh and often planted as a hedge or fence plant. It can be planted with advantage in group planting of shrubs or for beautifying parks and grassy plots. Numerous types adapted to sunny, semi-shady and shady locations and with single and double flowers of red, yellow, white, magenta, cherry and striped colours are in cultivation.

The plant thrives in any type of soil, but good results are obtained in well prepared, manured and irrigated soils. It can be propagated by cuttings, preferably from mature wood of current growth. It blossoms almost throughout the year and seldom sets seeds under cultivation.

Botanical name of Joba is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. It is a native of China. The flowers are reported to be eaten raw or pickled in China and Philippines. Analysis of the edible part of the flowers (61.6 %) gave the following values: moisture, 98.8 ; nitrogen, 0.064; fat 0.36; and crude fibre, 1.56%; calcium, 4.04; phosphorus, 26.68; and iron, 1.69mg./100g. The flower contains thiamine (0.031 mg.%), riboflavin (0.048 mg.%), niacin (0.61 mg.%) and ascorbic acid (4.16 mg.%)

Medicinal properties: The buds have a sweet odour and bitter taste; cooling, astringent; remove burning of the body, urinary discharges, seminal weakness, piles, uterine and vaginal discharges; promote the growth of the foetus; cause vomiting and intestinal worms. The flowers fried in ghee check excessive menstruation (Ayurveda). In Bombay, the roots are dried and sold in the shops as a substitute for Althoea. In the Konkan, the fresh root-juice of the wild flower variety is given for gonorrhoea, and the powdered root for menorrhagia. The root is valuable in coughs. The leaves are considered emollient and aperient. The flowers are considered emollient, and an infusion of the petals is given as a demulcent and refrigerant drink in fevers. The flowers are a household remedy in the Philippine islands. Externally they are used in all kinds of inflammation; internally they are prescribed in the form of decoction in bronchial catarrh as a bechic and sudorific. In La Reunion the flowers are considered emmenagogue. (Indian Medicinal Plants, Kirt, and Bose, 335,336 ).

Medicinal Properties: The flowers are considered demulcent, emollient, refrigerant, aphrodisiac and emmenagogue. They are made into a paste and applied to swellings and boils. A decoction of the flowers is given in bronchial catarrh. They are fried in ghee and given in menorrhagia. The leaves are emollient, aperient, anodyne and laxative. A decoction of the leaves is used as a lotion in fevers. Mixed with the juice of Vernonia cinerea Less., it is used in Malaya to stimulate expulsion after child birth. The root is used in indigenous medicine and used as a substitute or adulterant of the root Althaea officinalis Linn. The root occurs in the entire or nearly entire condition, 2 to 5 cm. in length and 1 to 3 mm. in diam., with indistinct odour and slightly sweetish, but acid taste.

It is demulcent and used for coughs. In Malaya, a decoction of the root is used for venereal diseases and fevers. Fresh root juice is given for gonorrhoea and powdered root for menorrhagia. The root is used in Mysore for certain diseases of cattle (Wealth of India, Vol. V, Raw Materials, 91, 92 ).

Medicine: The flowers are considered emollient, and an infusion of the petals is given as a demulcent.

Moodeen Sheriff reports favourably of an infusion or syrup of the petals as a demulcent and refrigerant drink in fevers, as a demulcent in cases of ardor urinae, strangury, and irritable conditions of the genito-urinary tract. He also recommends an oil, made by mixing the juice of the fresh petals and olive oil in equal portions, and boiling till all water has evaporated, as a stimulating application for the hair. O'Shaughnessy considered the leaves to be emollient, anodyne, and laxative.

Murray (Plants and Drugs of Sind), and Taylor (Medical Topography of Dacca), both mention the employment of the flower by the natives in the treatment of menorrhagia, the former describing it as administered fried in ghee.

Special Opinions: "The red variety is useful in colouring syrups" (Honorary Surgeon P. Kinsley, Chicacole, Ganjam, Madras). "Seeds pounded into a pulp, and mixed with water, are given in gonorrhoea" (Surgeon Anund Chunder Mukherji, Noakhally, Bengal) (Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. VI, 243)

Properties and Uses: Flowers possess emmenagogue, emollient, demulcent, aphrodisiac properties and they show anti-fertility activity in female rats, and are used in menorrhagia. Flower buds are used in the treatment of vaginal and urinary discharges. Juice of flower, mixed with juice of banana inflorescence, cures chronic dysentery. When a mixture of the flower-juice and infusion of the leaves.

Adhatoda zeylanica is applied to bleeding piles, the mixture produces highly beneficial effects. Leaves are emollient, anodyne and aperient. Root is demulcent and is used for coughs; decoction of the roots is given in fever and general diseases. Staminal column is diuretic and is used in the treatment of kidney trouble. Ethanol1c extract of aerial parts is spasmolytic, CNS depressant and hypotensive. Alcoholic extract of leaves is antipyretic, analgesic and anti-flammatory (Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh, Second Edition, Abdul Ghani, 252).