MEDICINAL VALUE OF [Morus alba] MULBERRY PLANT

Man's dependence on plants for his existence dates back to the beginning of the human race. In the early days, he had only limited needs like food, shelter and clothing but with the advancement of civilization, his requirements also grew. The present day man depends heavily on a very large numbers of plants and animal produced to meet his daily needs. Traditional medicines are used by about 60% of the worlds population theses are not only used for primary health cure not just in rural areas in developing countries, but also in developed countries as well as where modern medicines are predominantly used. Chattisgarh is a remarkable place, not only because of the tribal population and dense forest, but also having a lot of rare and useful natural resources including some rare species of medicinal plants which are used for curing different kinds of diseases. Mulberry is a deep-rooted perennial plant with highly branching root and shoot systems Mulberry belongs to the family moraceae,. In Japan, more than 1000varieties are stored and in India at the CSTRI Mysore, there are about 400 mul-berry varieties of which 85 are indigenous, 114 are exotic origin. Some of the important medicinal values of mulberry plants are it contains different chemical of medicinal value in leaf fruit stem and root portions. Mulberry can grow both in the tropics and in the temperate regions. It can be cultivated in different soil types. It can be raised both in rain-fed and irrigated conditions. It is comparatively resistant to environmental fluctuations and is relatively free from pests and diseases. The quality and quantity of leaves harvested from mulberry plantation for silkworm feeding depends upon the availability of soil water. The nutritive value of leaf changes according to the pho-tosynthetic and respiratory activities of the leaf. Mulberry cultivation and sericulture have been practiced for a very long time. But in the past mulberry was cultivated more for its medicinal use than for rearing of silkworms alone. Medicinal value of mulberry leaf-The leaves are simple alternate, stipule and petiolate. Leaf may be glossy or scabrous in texture leaf apex nay be long tailed acute or double acute in some countries, mul-berry leaves are directly used in preparing the tea or these together with the mulberry roots and stem are boiled to prepare a both which is effective in lowering down the blood pressure. In Cambodia, mulberry leaves are used …