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Herbs & Plants

Jajoba

Botanical Name ;Simmondsia chinensis
Family :Simmondsiaceae – Jojoba family
Genus : Simmondsia Nutt. – goatnut
Species: Simmondsia chinensis (Link) C.K. Schneid. – jojoba
Kingdom :Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom :Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Euphorbiales

Synonyms:
Simmondsia chinensis (Link) C.K. Schneid.

BUCH Buxus chinensis Link
SICA14 Simmondsia californica Nutt.

Common Names: Jajoba, goat nut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffeeberry, and gray box bush.(The name “jojoba” originated with the O’odham people of the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States, who treated burns with an antioxidant salve made from a paste of the jojoba nut)

Habitat : Jajoba is  native to areas of northern Mexico, Lower California, on the Islands off the coast of California, New Mexico, and Arizona. It inhabits the mountains bordering the Salton Sea basin in the Colorado Desert in California, and the southern portion of San Diego County. In Arizona, it is found in the mountains around Tucson, near Phoenix, and north of Yuma. In nature, it grows between 600 and 1500 m elevation in the desert, down to sea level near the coast, between latitudes 25° and 31° N. There is a major effort underway in the U.S., Mexico, and Israel to domesticate jojoba. There are reports that it has been planted in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Egypt, Haiti, Israel, Paraguay, Rhodesia, the Sahel, and South Africa for example. The Israeli examples are bearing fruit. We are anxious to hear more success stories. There seems to be no major difficulty in growing the plant in frost free, arid, subtropical, and tropical zones, but not many success stories have materialized.

Ranging from Warm Temperate Desert (with little or no frost) to Thorn through Tropical Desert Forest Life Zones, jojoba is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 2 to 11 dm, annual temperature of 16 to 26°C, and pH of 7.3 to 8.2 (Duke, 1978). Jojoba is usually restricted to well-drained, coarse, well-aerated desert soils that are neutral to alkaline, with an abundance of phosphorus. It grows best where the annual rainfall exceeds 30 cm, but does exist where less than 12.5 cm occurs. Where rainfall is ca 75 mm, the jojoba grows to ca 1 m tall, where rainfall is 250–400 mm, it may attain 5 m. It tolerates full sun and temperatures ranging from 0° to 47°C. Mature shrubs tolerate temperatures as low as -10°C, but seedlings are sensitive to light frosts just below freezing.

Description:
Jajoba  grows to 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft) tall, with a broad, dense crown. The leaves are opposite, oval in shape, 2–4 centimetres (0.79–1.6 in) long and 1.5–3 centimetres (0.59–1.2 in) broad, thick waxy glaucous gray-green in color. The flowers are small, greenish-yellow, with 5–6 sepals and no petals.

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Each plant is single-sex, either male or female, with hermaphrodites being extremely rare. The fruit is an acorn-shaped ovoid, three-angled capsule 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long, partly enclosed at the base by the sepals. The mature seed is a hard oval, dark brown in color and contains an oil (liquid wax) content of approximately 54%. An average-size bush produces 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of pollen, to which few humans are allergic.

Jajoba  foliage provides year-round food opportunity for many animals, including deer, javelina, bighorn sheep, and livestock. The nuts are eaten by squirrels, rabbits, other rodents, and larger birds. Only Bailey’s Pocket Mouse, however, is known to be able to digest the wax found inside the jojoba nut.

In large quantities, the seed meal is toxic to many mammals, and the indigestible wax acts as a laxative in humans. The Seri, who utilize nearly every edible plant in their territory, do not regard the beans as real food and in the past ate it only in emergencies.

Despite its scientific name Simmondsia chinensis, Jojoba does not originate in China; the botanist Johann Link, originally named the species Buxus chinensis, after misreading Nuttall’s collection label “Calif” as “China”.

Jojoba was briefly renamed Simmondsia californica, but priority rules require that the original specific epithet be used. The common name should also not be confused with the similar-sounding Jujube (Ziziphus zizyphus), an unrelated plant

Cultivation
Jojoba seeds retain nearly 99% germinability after 6 months, and 38% after 11 years stored in an open shed. Germination is good in alkaline sands at temperatures of 27°–38°C. Seedlings are frost sensitive. Field seeding can be done with a modified cotton planter. Seedlings need two or three irrigations during the first summer and must be protected from animals. Weeding is recommended after each irrigation. Adventitious roots may form on 50–80% of the cuttings treated with growth promoting substances. Plants could start producing seeds in 5 years, but full production would not be attained for 8 to 10 years. Using a 2 x 4 m spacing in planting would permit the planting of about 500 female and 50 male pollinating plants per hectare. Apomictic plants are known, lessening the need for male non-fruiting plants in the orchard. Suggested methods for planting include: Close spacing, ca 15 cm apart, resulting in hedge rows, with the seeds planted in flat borders or in a slightly depressed ditch so as to keep them moist until they germinate (ca 10–14 days). Male plants should be thinned out to about a 5–1 ratio, finally allowing about 2,500 plants per hectare, with possible annual yields of 2.5 MT/ha seed. Propagation by cuttings from selected shrubs could increase seed and/or oil yields. Generally flowering nodes and leaf nodes alternate, but some plants flower at nearly all nodes; some plants produce more than one flower per node. Transplanted seedlings survive readily, if the roots are pruned. Hence, cuttings could be made in a nursery for later transplanting in the field. The more efficient spacing for this method of planting is in rows 4 m apart, and the bushes in the rows 2 m apart. Male bushes should be interspersed throughout the grove (about 1,500 female and 250 male plants per hectare), possibly yielding ca 2.75 MT/ha seed. When softwood cuttings were treated with IBA, 4 mg/g of talc, they rooted 100% in 38 days.

Chemical constituents:
The seed contains liquid wax rather than oil, sort of unusual for the conventional analyses. Verbiscar and Banigan (1978) approximated a proximate analysis, some of which follows: per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 4.3–4.6 g H2O, 14.9–15.1 g protein, 50.2–53.8 g fat, 24.6–29.1 g total carbohydrate, 3.5–4.2 g fiber, and 1.4–1.6 g ash. Seeds contain 2.25–2.34%, seed hulls, 0.19%. Core wood, 0.45; leaves, 0.19–0.23%; twigs, 0.63–0.75%; an inflorescence, 0.22%; simmondsin, a demonstrated appetite depressant, toxicant. Three related cyanomethylenecyclohexyl glucosides have also been isolated from the seed meal. The acute oral LD50 for crude jojoba oil to male albino rats is higher than 21.5 ml/kg body weight. Strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus can ameliorate this toxicity. The amino acid composition of deoiled jojoba seed meal is 1.05–1.11% lysine, 0.49% histidine, 1.6–1.8% arginine, 2.2–3.1% aspartic acid, 1.1–1.2% threonine, 1.0–1.1% serine, 2.4–2.8% glutamic acid, 1.0–1.1% proline, 1.4–1.5% glycine, 0.8–1.0% alanine, 1.1–1.2% valine, 0.2% methionine, 0.8–0.9% isoleucine, 1.5–1.6% leucine, 1.0% tyrosine, 0.9–1.1% phenyalanine, 0.5–0.8% cystine and cysteine, and 0.5–0.6% tryptophane. Detailed analyses of the wax esters, free alcohols, free acids, are reported in NAS (1975). Per 100 g jojoba meal, there is 1.4 g lysine, 0.6 g histidine, 1.9 g arginine, 2.6 aspartic acid, 1.3 threonine, 1.3 serine, 3.2 glutamic acid, 1.5 proline, 2.4 glycine, 1.1 alanine, 0.6 cystine, 1.5 valine, 0.1 methionine, 0.9 isoleucine, 1.8 leucine, 1.1 tyrosine, and 1.2 g phenylalanine. The two major flavonoid constituents of the leaves are isorhamnetin 3-rutinoside (narcissin) and isorhamnetin 3,7-dirhamnoside.

Edible Uses:
Seeds were said to be palatable and were eaten raw or parched by Indians. Recent studies suggest they are toxic. They may also be boiled to make a well-flavored drink similar to coffee, hence the name coffeberry.

Medicinal Uses:
Folk Medicine
This shrub is first mentioned in the literature by the Mexican historian Francisco J. Clavijero in 1789, who noted that the Indians of Baja California highly prized the fruit for food and the oil as a medicine for cancer and kidney disorders. Indians in Mexico use the oil as a hair restorer. According to Hartwell (1967–1971), the oil was used in folk remedies for cancer. Reported to be emetic, jojoba is a folk remedy for cancer, colds, dysuria, eyes, head, obesity, parturition, poison ivy, sores, sorethroat, warts, and wounds. Seri Indians applied jojoba to head sores and aching eyes. They drank jojoba-ade for colds and to facilitate parturition.

The leaves are good tea for chronic mucus-membrane inflammation, ranging from chronic colitis,vagnitis and hemorrhoids to stomach and esophageal ulcers.In Mxico it has been widly used as a floke medicine for asthma and emphysema, but it is a more matter of adding the injured pulmonary  membranes than addressing any underline causes.A tea for the  seeds will decrease inflamation in phryngitis,tonsillitis and various types sore throat.Two to three ounces of the infusion drunk every several hours decreas  the irretability of bladder and urithra membranes and painful urination.

Other uses:
Simmondsia is unique among plants in that its seeds contain an oil which is a liquid wax. Oil of Simmondsia is obtained by expression or solvent extraction. It is light yellow, unsaturated, of unusual stability, remarkably pure, and need not be refined for use as a transformer oil or as a lubricant for high-speed machinery or machines operating at high temperatures. The oil does not become rancid, is not damaged by repeated heating to temperatures over 295°C or by heating to 370°C for four days; the color is dispelled by heating for a short time at 285°C, does not change in viscosity appreciably at high temperatures, and requires little refining to obtain maximum purity. Since Simmondsia Oil resembles sperm whale oil both in composition and properties, it should serve as a replacement for the applications of that oil. The CMR (Nov. 28, 1983) reports that a new oil from the fish known as orange roughy is “attempting to make inroads on the jojoba and sperm whale markets.” Jojoba oil can be easily hydrogenated into a hard white wax, with a melting point of about 73°–74°C, and is second in hardness only to carnauba wax. The oil is a potential source of both saturated and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids and alcohols. It is also suitable for sulfurization to produce lubricating oil and a rubber-like material (factice) suitable for use in printing ink and linoleum. The residual meal from expression or extraction contains 30–35% protein and is acceptable as a livestock food.It is an important browse plant in California and Arizona, the foliage and young twigs being relished by cattle, goats and deer, hence the name goatnut.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/simmondsia_chinensis.html
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SICH
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_IJK.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jojoba

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simmondsia_chinensis_form.jpg

http://www.delange.org/Jojoba/Jojoba.htm

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Healthy Tips

Keeping & Maintaining Beautiful Hair

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Three main things are needed for a good-looking head of hair – haute hair – good health, the right attention to cleanliness, and caution when using cosmetic treatments.

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1. Adequate Diet
Hair growth depends on an adequate diet. A widespread diet problem which causes loss of hair is iron deficiency Anaemia. The cause is too little iron in blood, brought on by a diet containing too little meat, eggs, cereals or peas and beans. Fresh fruits and vegetables are also needed to provide vitamin C, which enables the body to absorb iron.

2. Cutting the hair
Although cutting the hair is not essential to its well-being, it is easier to keep the scalp clean if the hair is kept reasonably short. Regular cutting does not make the hair grow strong or faster.

3. How hair can be damaged
Although scalp hair is hardy, and can withstand a lot of abuse, it can be damaged by too much or inexpertly applied perming, dyeing – Blonde to Brunette, bleaching and massage. The amount of beautying the hair can take varies from person to person. Occasionally the scalp is allergic to the dye and becomes inflamed and swollen. To prevent this occuring, the dye should be tested by applying it to a small area on the arm. If a patch of inflammation has developed, the dye must not be used on the hair.

Most people who bleach their hair do so with hydrogen peroxide. If the peroxide is repeatedly applied, it may make the hair brittle. Hair SOS If this happens the hair may turn rough, develop split ends, or become thinned or shortened.

Now, How to Maintain Good Hair?
Maintaining your hair is very easy. But in order to have sleek, beautiful hair you must be quite dedicated. These few steps will enhance your entire look immensely.

1. Brush hair regularly to loosen dead skin cells and help brush out old hair styling creams/sprays. This also stimulates the scalp and helps to promote healthy hair growth.

2.Wash hair with good-quality shampoo and conditioner chosen specifically for your hair type. (The most gentle you can find for your hair, as this will prevent over-drying.)

3. Towel-dry hair, squeezing hair between the towel. Do NOT rub the hair, this can weaken the follicle and make the hair brittle and dull. The cuticle of the hair will not lie flat, so it will not be smooth or shiny.

4.A “tiny” amount of olive oil or a similar oil can be used to give hair shine and to condition it. Beware of going overboard — too much will make hair look like an oil slick.

5. Get a haircut to suit your face shape. If in doubt as to what would suit you best, ask your hairdresser.

6.Frizz-control serum can be used in small quantities to tame frizzies, but make sure you do not use too much, and wash once a week with a deep-cleanse shampoo to avoid build-up which will leave hair looking dull and flaky.

7.Once a week, massage hair and scalp with coconut oil, wrap in gladwrap or a showercap, and leave overnight. In the morning, rinse well with water, and shampoo and condition as normal.

8.If you have dry hair, massage your head with your scalp nightly, for 5 minutes. This, like brushing, stimulates the oil glands to produce the amounts of natural serum needed to have glossy, moisturised hair.

9.Don’t wash your hair too often, for this will dry out your hair.

10. Putting too much heat in your hair can cause damage to the hair shaft and hair.

11. When brushing or combing hair, be gentle. Combing too roughly will cause your hair to break off each time you brush or comb.

12. Use some type of hair conditioner or oil creames to your hair, this will avoid dullness and dry looking hair.

13. Give yourself a hot oil treatment at leasts twice a month to maintain healthy shiny hair.

14.When blowdrying your hair, put a oil or cream in it before you blow your hair to prevent the damages from the heat of the blow dryer onto your hair.

CARE FOR THE FOLLOWING:-
1. Straightening and blowdrying your hair too often can damage your hair, so make sure you use a heat protectant spray first.
2.Also, try to have days off (eg, on the weekend) where you do not heat-style your hair. Use a ceramic straightner when possible.
3.If you have coloured hair, put hair wax in it before swimming in chlorinated water or the sea. This will prevent it drying out too much, and from fading.

4.Try to give your hair a break a few times a week, and do not heat-style. Instead, experiment with up-dos — a simple ponytail or chignon looks clean and requires very few hair products. You could also just keep your hair down and wear a headband.
You may click to see:->

How to Have and Maintain Beautiful Hair
Natural Hair Loss Remedies

Hair Loss Help and Advice

How You Can Treat Hair Loss
Resources:
http://free-beauty-tips.glam.com/hairroutine.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-Good-Hair

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Categories
Ailmemts & Remedies

Dandruff (Scaliness of the scalp)

Dandruff is a mysterious ailment. Mysterious, in that there is no commonly agreed upon theory about what actually causes the condition. It is estimated that as much as 97% of the population of the United States will at some point in their lives have a form of dandruff, but there is still a lack of total agreement about this condition.
Dandruff can happen at any age but is most commonly found in people between the ages of 12 and 80. (A form of dandruff known as cradle cap occurs in newborns and infants)….click & see

Dandruff is an itchy, annoying and persistent skin disorder of the scalp. A dark shirt and dandruff just simply don’t go together! There is nothing more embarrassing than to have someone brush white flakes off your new black sweater or denim jacket. In the past ten years dandruff problems in the United States have become more serious and more frequent.

What Is Dandruff? ……....CLICK & SEE
First you should know that a person’s entire body surface continuously sheds dead skin cells. The skin itself sheds every twenty-four days. Dandruff is the result of the normal growing process of the skin cells of the scalp. Shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp at an excessive rate, is the result of the normal growing process of the skin cells of the scalp.

In a normal scalp, the process of sloughing off old cells and manufacturing of their replacements is very orderly and complete. In the dandruff scalp, there is mass disorder and often the departing cells are not dead before leaving the scalp.

The term dandruff generally refers to the condition of the skin where in shiny, silvery scales separate from the scalp and collect amidst the hair. The condition can become troublesome when the skin gets infected.

Symptoms:
When the hair is combed or brushed, or when the scalp is scratched, the scales from the scalp fall like snowflakes and settle on the eyebrows, shoulders and clothes. These scales sometimes appear as lumps or crusts on the scalp. Often there is itching as well and the scalp may become red from scratching.

Root causes:
The main causes of dandruff are impairment of general health, development of a toxic condition mainly due to taking of wrong foods, constipation, and a low vitality due to infectious diseases. Other factors contributing to this disorder are emotional tension, harsh shampoos, and exposure to cold, and general exhaustion.

HEALING OPTIONS:
————————
Home Remedies :Apply listerine mixed with baby oil on your hair. Within 2 to 3 days you will get rid of dandruff. Fenugreek seeds, Lime , Green Gram Powder and Snake gourd are also used as home remedy.

Other Remedies: Dandruff can be removed by massaging the hair for half an hour with curd which has been kept in the open for three days or with a few drops of lime juice mixed with alma juice every night before going to bed. Another measure, which helps to counteract dandruff, is to dilute cider vinegar with an equal quantity of water and dab this on the hair with cotton wool in between shampooing. Cider vinegar added to the final rinsing water after shampooing also helps to disperse dandruff.

Ayurvedic Suppliments : Amlaki Rasayan, Guducgyadi Taila (Oil) Buy in internet.

Diet: People should avoid spicy and greasy food because it helps dandruff to increase and spread. People should add more vegetables and fruits on the diet. It is very essential to take fresh foods avoid taking tinned and canned foods add more green vegetables and fruits.
Strong tea and coffee, processed foods should be avoided for the dandruff.

Lifestyle: The foremost consideration in the treatment of this disorder is to keep the hair and scalp clean so as to minimise the accumulation of dead cells. The hair should be brushed daily to improve the circulation and remove any flakiness. The most effective way to brush the hair is to bend forward from the waist with the head down towards the ground and brush from the nape of the neck towards the top of the head. The scalp should also be thoroughly massaged everyday, using one-finger tips and working systematically over the head. This should be done just before or after brushing the hair. Like brushing, this stimulates the circulation, dislodges dirt and dandruff and encourages hair growth. Exposure of the head to the rays of the sun is also a useful measure in the treatment of dandruff. Use any herbal shampoo for clean the hair. Also a herbal hair pack can be prepared and used by mixing henna powder, curd, ritha power together and apply on the head keep it for ½ an hour and wash with water, after this you wash your head with a herbal lime based shampoo for dandruff. Lime is good for dandruff as well as conditioner.

Yoga Remedy : Cobra (Bhujanga Asana) and Vajrasana

How to do Cobra (Bhujanga Asana)
1. Lie down with your legs together and your hands palms down under your shoulders. Rest your forehead on the floor.
2.Inhaling, bring your head up, brushing first your nose, then your chin against the floor Now lift’up your hands and use your back muscles to raise your chest as high as possible. Hold for a few deep breaths then, exhaling; slowly return to position 1, keeping your chin up until last.
3.Inhaling, come up as before, but this time use your hands to push the trunk up. Continue up until you are bending from the middle of the spine. Hold for two or three deep breaths, then exhale and come slowly down.
4.Inhaling, raise the trunk as before, but this time continue up and back until you can feel your back bending all the way down from the neck to the base of the spine. Breathe normally.
5.To complete the asana., walk your hands in toward your body, straighten the arms, and lift the pelvis slightly. Separate the legs, bend the knees and, pushing out the chest, drop the head back and touch the feet to the head. Breathe normally, then slowly come down, as before.

How to do Vajrasana

1. Sit on your knees keeping them together.

2. Draw both toes together, and with heels apart, sit on them.
Keep your hands straight on the respective knees.

3. Breathe normally with your spine straight. Relax your hands
and release the legs

4. Now lie on your back or stretch your legs in front with hands
at the back and relax.

5. Take rest for 10 counts and repeat.

6. Do this two times.
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose.
Help taken from:Allayurveda.com

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