NATURAL HERBS USED IN NORMAL COUGH AND COLD CONDITIONS

Natural herb Ajwain, Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the highly valued medicinally important family, Apiaceae; the essential oil from the fruits are the phenols, mainly thymol, and some carvacrol. The Indian Pharmacopoeia requires Ajowan oil to contain not less than 40 percent thymol. The remainder of the oil is called ‘thymene’. Thymene, which constitutes c. 45 percent of the oil, has the following composition: p-cymene, 50-55; gterpinene, 30-35; a- and ß-pinenes, 4-5; and dipentene, 4-6%. Presence of minute ‘amounts of camphene, myrcene, and D3-carene is also reported. Kapoor is a tree of many faces as it is a giant, stately forest tree native of the wet forests of tropical and subtropical regions of Asia. The species Camphora refer to camphor, an important chemical constituent present in the oil found in tree tissues. The botanical name is derived from the Greek language. It is derived from the word ‘kinnamomon’ which means spice. This herb is recorded in Sanskrit also. This is also used by Egyptians as early 1485 BC for embalming purposes. Camphor tree is native to China, India, Mongolia, Japan, and Taiwan, and a variety of this fragrant evergreen tree is grown in the Southern United States; especially in Florida Menthol, Thymol, Phenol, Salicylic acid and Naphthol are amongst the fragrant chemical constituents obtained from this plant. Campher, Campherol, Cineol, Camphene, dipentene, terpineol, candinene, safrole, camphorace, laurolitsine, reticuline, etc. Menthol is a naturally occurring monoterpene alcohol that is extracted from the oil of peppermint, corn mint, or other mint plants. It is known for its minty, cooling odor, and taste ,Various constituents of peppermint oil are limonene (1.0-5.0%), cineole (3.5-14.0%), menthone (14.0-32.0%), menthofuran (1.0 -9.0%), isomenthone (1.510.0%), menthyl acetate (2.8-10.0%), isopulegol (0.2%), menthol (55.0%), pulegone (4.0%) and carvone (max. 1.0%). All three herbs gives relief from cough and cold, throat irritation, and treating bronchitis.