Barleria lupulina or Hophead is a mountainous plant that grows wild in the hilly regions of India. It is not native to India, Barleria was introduced into the country from outside. Thanks to its medicinal properties, local Ayurvedic and Unani practitioners included this herb in their pharmacopeia. The herb is also called the Philippine violet.

This simple quiz will help you know how well informed you are about your kidneys. Each correct answer fetches you 10 points. Excellent, if your score is 80 and above, good if it is between 60 and 80, average if it is 40 and 60, and bad if the points earned are below 40. Get ready to take the test.

One of Hollywood’s most celebrated actresses with a career spanning over 50 years, Debbie Reynolds led a very active life till she began to experience the symptoms of an overactive bladder. However, the actress thought that these more frequent trips to the bathroom were just a natural part of the aging process. She had no idea that her

This attractive, small fruit is golden-orange with a velvety skin and flesh. Beautiful to look at, apricots are not too juicy but they are definitely sweet. Some people however, describe the flavour of this fruit as a bit tart. The apricot season runs from May through August. But apricots are found in all seasons in their dried versions.

A cheaper alternative to saffron, Bixa Orellana is a natural dye that’s free of any toxicity. It is used as a colouring agent in food preparations, like saffron. Bixa Orellana is commonly known as the Lipstick Tree or achiote. It is present in many parts of the globe and has been used in local traditional medicines through the ages.

Veteran actor Sulabha Deshpande has entertained us both on screen and on stage. The intensity with which she portrays a character is known to all of us but few are aware that she was on the verge of ending her professional career because she had osteoarthritis. The actor went in for a computer-assisted knee replacement surgery and is

This tiny little dry fruit fondly known as kishmish comes in many varieties and is identified by its colour and size. Raisins come in shades of green, black, blue, purple and yellow and are typically sun-dried but may also be water-dipped, or dehydrated. The most popular types of raisins are sultanas, malagas, monukka, zante currants and Muscat and Thompson seedless raisins.

X eromphis spinosa or Mainphal is a shrub that’s native to north India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Mainphal is widely used in Unani and Ayurvedic as well as ethnic medication methods practiced by tribals in north India.
The Xeromphis is called an emetic nut as it induces vomiting and tribals have been using it to clean the stomach

This simple quiz will help you know how well informed you are about your general health. Each correct answer fetches you 10 points. Excel-lent, if your score is 80 and above, good if it is between 60 and 80, average if it is 40 and 60, and bad if the points earned are below 40. Get ready to take the test.

Bunions develop when the pressures of bearing and shifting your weight fall unevenly on the joints and tendons of your feet. This imbalance in pressure makes your big toe joint unstable, eventually moulding the parts of the joint into a hard knob that juts out beyond the normal shape of your foot.