INDIAN FORESTRY: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis - Description, Medicinal and Ethnobotanical Uses : INDIAN FORESTRY

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

It is also known as china rose, Chinese hibiscus.
It belongs to Hibisceae tribe of the family Malvaceae, it is sp. Of tropical hibiscus .
It is a flowering plant, which is native to East Asia.
The latin term rosa-sinensis literally means rose of china.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is the national flower of Malaysia, called Bunga Raya in Malay.
In Malay Bunga means "Flower" and Raya means "Celebratory" or "Grand".
It is cultivated as ornamental shrubs.

Description:-

Nomenclature:-

It has several names in different languages

Marathi - जास्वंद

Bangla - Jaba (জবা)

Tamil - sembaruthi (செம்பருத்தி)

Hindi - गुड़हल, गुड़हर, अड़हुल, जपा,जवा कुसुम

Malayalam - cemparatti (ചെമ്പരത്തി)

Oriya - Mandara

Sinhala - Wada Mala (වද මල) / Sapaththu mala ( සපත්තු මල)

Telugu - Mamdaram (మందారం)

Indonesian - Kembang Sepatu

Filipino - Gumamela

Myanmar - Khaung-Yann

Punjabi - Salu

Uses:-

When the flower of this plant is crushed and add with coconut oil and massage in hair, it helps in hair growth.
Crushed mucilaginous petals of this flower is also used to treat skin sore between the toes due to water borne fungus.
Flower as well as roots are edible and flower is used as salad in pacific island.
It is also used to shine the shoes in some parts of India.
The flower of this plant is also used as pH indicator, it turns the acidic sol to dark pink and basic solution to green.
In Chinese herbology, flower extract function as an antisolar agent by absorbing Ultra violet rays (UV rays).
It also helps in inducing "ABORTION" , provide treatment of headache.
Flower is also used in food colouring.
The leaves are emollient (soothing nature) used to softens the skin.
The leaves and flowers are beaten into a paste and poulticed onto cancerous swellings and mumps.

Ethnobotanical Use

The petals are crushed and used orally for the treatment of diarrhoea by the tribal communities of India.