Bashok Ful (বাসক ফুল) - Justicia adhatoda

Common Name :	Malabar Nut, Vasaka, etc.
Bengali Name :	Bashok (বাসক ফুল).
Botanical Name :	Justicia adhatoda
Synonym :	Adhatoda vasica
Family :	Acanthaceae

Its a herbal plant, highly medicinal and well known at Indian subcontinent. This plant is native to this South Asian region along with Malaysia and China. Botanical name of this plant is Justicia adhatoda. It belongs to the plant family Acanthaceae. In our country Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) it is known as Bashok (বাসক), Basak (বাসক), etc. In other countries it is know as Malabar Nut, Vasaka, etc.

Basak (বাসক) is an evergreen shrub plant that can grow around 2 meter in height. Leafs are lens shaped, large and can be up to a foot in length. These leafs are arranged oppositely around the stem with a short petioles. Leafs are shiny when young but become brownish green color at the later age.

As Basak (বাসক) is a herbal plant, that's why it is not being cherished as an ornamental flowering plant. Basak flowers (বাসক ফুল) are white in color with having a hood. Flowers use to bloom in a cluster where the cluster having a shape of the tip of a spear. At the lower lip of the flower it's petal has a violet colored corrugated texture. The fruit of the plant is like the Nuts and having plenty of seeds inside that.

Basak (বাসক) has numerous uses as Herbal, Ayurvedic, Unani, etc systems of medicine. The Root and bark of the plant is very useful against the cough, asthma, etc. People in our country have been mixing the honey with the squeezed juice of the leafs to cure the colds of children.

Photos of this article were taken from the Mymensingh Botanical Garden (ময়মনসিংহ বোটানিক্যাল গার্ডেন) of Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) during the month of March 2013.


Another similar plant like this Bashok (বাসক) is Tamropuspi Basok(তাম্রপুষ্পি বাসক): Phlogacanthus pubinervius.


This article is written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icwow.blogspot.com/



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