Family: Brassicaceae
Synonym: Raphanus caudatus L.
Bengali/Vernacular name: Mula.
Tribal name: Mulwa (Chakma), Mala (Marma), Mou-laa (Rakhaing).
English name: Radish, Cultivared radish.
Description of the plant: An annual herb, 10-30 cm tall, glabrous, hispid. Roots usually fleshy, white, pink, red or black, linear, fusiform, oblong or globose Leaves roughly hairy, the lower ones lyrate. Flowers variable, about 1.5 cm long, usually white or lilac, with purple veins, sepals erect, lateral ones saccate at the base. Pod indehiscent, lanceolate, cylindrical, and 2-2.6 cm in length, and terminates in a long beak. Seeds separated by pith.
Plant parts used: Leaf, Root, seed.
Herbal uses:Roots of the plant are used for the treatment of piles.
Old roots of the plant are used to treat asthma and chest complaints.
Decoction prepared from the leaves of the plant is given as remedy for diarrhoea.
Cottonseed-sized pills made from the roots of the plant are taken thrice a day (one pill each time) until the hyperacidity is cured.
Leaf juice is used as remedy for dropsy.
Seeds of the plant are used for the treatment cancer and stomachache.
Fresh juice extracted from the roots of the plant is taken thrice a day (5 ml amount each time) for seven days to treat tetanus.
Decoction prepared from the roots of the plant is taken thrice a day (50 ml amount each time) for five days to treat fever.
Paste prepared from the roots of the plant is applied to the burned skin once a day until the burning wound is cured.
Roots of the plant areused as remedy for gastric pains, dysuria, and strangury.
Distribution: It is cultivated all over the country.
