Eat drumstick curries and lead a healthy life! The drumstick tree or horseradish tree (Moringa oleifera) is one of the commonest trees in India. It is distributed in the wild in the sub-Himalayan tract and cultivated widely throughout India.

It is a small to medium sized elegant tree. The bark is thick, soft, corky and deeply fissured. The leaves, tri-pinnated with elliptical leaflets, are fern-like. Its flowers are white and fragrant and appear in large panicles while the fruits are triangular, ribbed pods with winged seeds. Some varieties found in south India grow pods longer than one metre! The root of the Indian horseradish resembles that of grated horseradish of Europe in odour and appearance and is said to be a perfect substitute for it.

The drumstick is valued mainly for its tender pods, which are relished as vegetable but all its parts - bark, root, fruit, flowers, leaves, seeds and even gum - are of medicinal value. They are used in the treatment of ascites, rheumatism and venomous bites as antiseptic and as cardiac and circulatory stimulants.

Fresh root of the young tree (as also the root bark) is used as rubefacient and vesicant. Internally, it is a stimulant, diuretic and antithetic. Externally, it is applied as a plaster or poultice to inflammatory swellings. The root, in prescribed doses, is given in intermittent fevers, paralytic affections, epilepsy and hysteria and externally in palsy, chronic rheumatism, enlargement of spleen, dyspepsia and also in bites by rabid animals.

A compound spirit made of the roots and orange peel with a little bruised nutmeg is useful in fainting fits, giddiness, nervous debility, spasmodic affections of the bowels, hysteria and flatulence. A decoction or infusion of the root with the addition of bruised mustard seeds is used in ascites caused by diseases of the liver and spleen. This decoction or infusion is also useful as a gargle in soreness of mouth and throat, and pain in the gums due to dental caries. Freshly extracted juice of the root bark is used to relieve otalgia by pouring it into the ears and also into the hollow of the tooth in cases of dental caries.

Its seeds are acrid and stimulant. The oil of the seeds is applied in gout and rheumatism. The leaves are rich in vitamins A and C and are considered useful in catarrhal affections. The juice of the leaves is dropped into the eyes in fainting fits caused by nervous debility, spasmodic affections of the bowel, hysteria and flatulence. The juice is mixed with honey and applied to the eyelids in cases of eye diseases. A paste of the leaves is used as an external application for wounds. Poultice of the leaves is useful in reducing glandular swellings.

Its flowers are used as stimulant, tonic, diuretic and cholagogue. They are useful in increasing the flow of bile. Its gum, mixed with sesamum oil, is dropped into the ears in otalgia. The gum, rubbed with milk and made into a paste, can also be applied to the temples in headache. It is also applied to buboes and to painful bones in syphilis.

The pods made into a soup are prescribed as a diet in sub-acute cases of enlarged liver and spleen, articular pains, tetanus, debility of nerves, paralysis, pustules, patches and leprosy. A curry made from the unripe pods acts as a preventive against intestinal worms.

Homeopathic clinical trials in mother-tincture of all its parts have revealed the drumstick tree to be useful in curing inflammatory and infectious conditions in the whole body due to the presence of pterygospermin.

Drumstick’s use in the day-to-day life of an Indian is even wider. Its leaves, flowers, unripe pods and roots are used as vegetables in curries. The pods are also pickled. The seeds are eaten after frying. The roots are used as a condiment. The oil of its seeds, known as Ben or Behen oil, is used for edible purposes, illumination and in the preparation of cosmetics. Drumstick has so much that it can go around beating its drum.

(Author’s Note: Caraka-samhita (1000 B.C.) says, "Proper use makes a good remedy even out of poison while a good medicinal plant acts as a poison if used improperly." The author advises that readers may use medicinal plants only under the direction of a qualified practitioner of any of the Indian traditional systems of medicine.)

The author, an expert on wildlife, also specializes in medicinal plants.