Botanical Name:- Carissa carandas L.
Family:- Apocynaceae
Hindi:- करोंदा
Sanskrit:- करमर्द, सुषेण, कृष्णपाकफल
It is commonly grown in gardens and can grow in any area.
The tree is small, bushy, and stays green all year. It has sharp thorns that grow in pairs. The leaves are 3–5 cm long and 2.5–3 cm wide, and they look like lemon leaves. The flowers are white and have a nice smell. The fruits are small, shaped like berries, 12–25 mm long, and either black or light red. They taste very sour. There are two or three other types of this plant. One type grows in the south and has bigger fruits, while another type, called Karmardika, has smaller fruits and grows in many places.
Properties and Uses:
The fruit, roots, and leaves of this plant are used for medicine. It has a cooling effect, helps with bile-related problems, and is good for the heart. It is useful for treating prashitada, a gum disease that causes bleeding.
The root tastes katu and tikta. It can make someone vomit and helps remove extra water from the body (acts as a diuretic). It is also used to check if a person has been bitten by a snake if the root is mixed in cold water and given to drink, and the person does not vomit, it means a snake bite may have happened.
The root is also crushed with camphor in lemon juice and applied to white, watery skin boils in children. A boiled leaf mixture (decoction) is given to children who have intermittent fever (fever that comes and goes).
