Description
Jatamansi or Nardostachys jatamansi is a flowering plant of the valerian family that grows in the Himalayas of Nepal. It is a source of a type of intensely aromatic amber-colored essential oil, spikenard. And the oil has been used as a perfume as well as traditional medicine and also in religious ceremonies since centuries. Nowadays, it is considered as an endangered plant due to overharvesting for folk medicine, overgrazing, loss of habitats, and forest degradation.
Jatamansi has a rich history of medicinal use and has been valued for centuries in Ayurvedic 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.
