Jatamansi

Jatamansi or Spikenard has a woody fragrance which is astonishingly herbaceous and aromatic, warm and sensual. This fragrance is also a combination of sweet, resinous, spicy, and animal-fat odors.  With Jatamansi, the essential oil is like an organic earthy scent.


Scientific Name(s): Nardostachys jatamansi  . Family: Valerianaceae .

Common Name(s): Jatamansi , Sambul lateeb , Sumbul-ut-teeb , balchar
  

Uses 
 
The plant has a rich history of medicinal use and has been valued for centuries in Ayurvedic (Indian) and Unani (ancient Greco-Arab) systems of medicine. The scientific literature contains primarily phytochemical and animal studies of the plant's activity on the nervous system.


 History
 
Jatamansi is native to the Alpine Himalayas. It is a critically endangered, rhizome-bearing medicinal plant that prefers high altitudes (3,000 to 5,000 m). The genus has 4 to 5 stamens. The calyx consists of 5 well-developed Lancelot or dentate lobes that continue to grow during maturation of the fruit.


 Jatamansi root



The plant has a rich history of medicinal use and has been valued for centuries in Ayurvedic (Indian) and Unani (ancient Greco-Arab) systems of medicine. The rhizomes of the plant are used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine as a bitter tonic, stimulant, antispasmodic, and to treat hysteria, convulsions, and epilepsy.

The root has been medically used to treat insomnia and blood, circulatory, and mental disorders. Some preparations of the plant have been used as a heptotonic, cardiotonic, analgesic, and diuretic in the Unani system of medicine. The plant is of economic importance and has been used to produce perfumes and dyes.

Chemistry

The rhizomes and roots of the plant have medicinal value and, therefore, have been the focus of chemical studies. They contain a variety of sesquiterpenes and coumarins. 

The sedative sesquiterpene valeranone, which also is found in Valerian and other plants, is a major component of the root essential oil, at least in some samples

 Other terpenoids include spirojatamol, nardostachysin,  jatamols A and B,  and calarenol.  Coumarins include jatamansi.

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