Bala, Sida cordifolia, Beauty and Health supplies, Look-Best

Bala - Sida cordifolia

Latin name: Sida cordifolia - Bala

Part used: Root, sometimes leaves and stem.

Bala grows wild along roadsides throughout the tropical and sub-tropical plains of India and Sri Lanka.

Medicinal and Healing Applications: Analgesic, aphrodisiac, demulcent, diuretic, nervine, rejuvenative, stimulant, tonic, vulnerary.

Action: Cooling, tonic, astringent, aromatic, stomachic febrifuge, diuretic, etc. Uses: Its infusion is useful in disorders of blood and bile, bleeding piles, strangury, hematuria, gonorrhea, cystitis, leucorrhea, chronic dysentery. It is also used in nervous disorders as insanity, facial paralysis and in asthma as a cardiac tonic.

Roots of these species are: aromatic, astringent, bitter, cooling, demulcent, diuretic, febrifuge, stomachic, and tonic.

Indian scientists in 1930 reported the presence of a sympathomimetic alkaloid in this herb whose pharmacological action closely resembled that of ephedrine and they thought that the alkaloid was undoubtedly ephedrine. Later work has shown that the sympathomimetic alkaloid had showed all the chemical and physical characteristics of ephedrine. This explains the widespread use of this herb in Ayurveda as a cardiac stimulant. The seeds are considered to be aphrodisiac.

Bala is considered to be one of Ayurveda's potent medications for a variety of ailments.

Bala and other special massage oils or Tailams are Ayurvedic herbal oils that contains Bala are recommended for all disorders produced by the derangement of vata dosha, emaciation, weakness, diseases of generative organs, paralysis and rheumatism.