Azadirachta indica (Neem) : A common medicinal plant of India

Sanjeet Kumar

Azadirachta indica

Common name: “Neem”

Botanical name:  Azadirachta indica L.

Family: Meliaceae                                                                                          

Botany of Azadirachta indica L.

Neem is a fast-growing tree with approx height 15- 25 meters. Leaf opposite, pinnate with dark green leaflets, short petioles. Flowers more or less drooping panicles, 5-7 mm long, bisexual, male flower exist on the same individual. Fruit smooth, drupe, elongate oval, roundish; mesocarp whitish yellow. Seeds with brown coat. It is very similar to Melia azedarach or chinaberry tree.

Distribution

Cultivated and naturalized throughout India and many other tropical countries. Native of India, Myanmar and China.

Chemical compound(s)

Three main important bitter compounds are Nimbin, Nimbinin and Nimbidin. The seeds contain azadirachtin a complex secondary metabolites.

Medicinal value(s)

Neem oil is used for preparing cosmetics product and many oral health products. It is used as anti-desertification and possibly as a good carbon dioxide sinks. Gum is used as a bulking agent and for the preparation of special purpose food. Extract of leaves is helpful in malaria  prophylaxis and other skin infections.

Common use(s)

·         It is used in non-pesticidal management (NPM). Aqueous extract of seeds sprayed onto crops to protect against pest. It acts as an anti-feedant, repellent and egg-laying deterrent. It also suppress the hatching of pest insect and its cake is used as bio-fertilizer

·         The tender shoots and flowers are eaten as a vegetable in India and particular in Odisha.

·         Neem flowers are very popular for their use in Ugadi Pachhadi, which is made on "Ugadi"  day in the South Indian States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka.

·         Used in Gudi Padva, this is the New Year in the state of Maharashtra.

·         The famous "Jagannath temple idols" are made up of Neem heart wood along with some other essential oils and powders.

·         In 1995, the European Patent Office (EPO) granted a patent on an anti-fungal product derived from neem to the US Department of Agriculture and W. R. Grace and Company.