Name: BHADRAKSHA

The meaning of the name  Bhadraksha  is 'Whose eyes reflect auspiciousness'.

 It is a soft wooded shrub or small tree  which  grows up to 8 meters in height.The  leaves  are simple, closely alternate, crowded at stem tips; blades thick, shiny green, wider near tips, to 21 cm (8.3 in) long, glabrous to hairy on both sides, margins revolute, light green becoming yellow with age; leaf axils with tufts of pale hairs. Flowers white to pale lilac, several in short cluster at leaf axils; Fruit a fleshy, sub spherical drupe, green then white, 8-12 mm (0.3-0.5 in) long, with sepal lobes persistent at tip.

DESCRIPTION

Botanical name : Scavola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb. (Scaevola sericea)

Family : Goodeniaceae 

SANSKRIT SYNONYMS

Bhadraksha

AYURVEDIC PROPERTIES 

Rasa    : Madhura, Kashaya, Tikta

Guna   : Guru, Snigdha

Virya   : Seeta

Vipaka: Madhura

PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

English     : Beach naupaka, Hawaiian half-flower, hailstones 

Hindi        : Bhadraksh

Malayalam    : Bhadraksham, Katturudraksham 

Distribution – Growing naturally in semi evergreen and dry forests in India .Also cultivated. 

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES 

Plant cures  vata,pitta, conjunctivitis (Fruit juice) Low back pain, Abdominal ache, Over menstruation, warts (ash) and mental diseases. 

Useful part    :    Fruits, Seed kernel.

RUDRAKSHA AND BHADRAKSHA(DIFFERENCE): 

 * Rudraksha and Bhadraksha are  almost same in the appearance.Bhadraksha  is  flatten             whereas    Rudraksha is bit pointed near the head.If a dealer presents a crescent, or flatter      shaped bead, the seed is a bhadraksha (a variety of rudraksha) seed.

  * Bhadraksha is  light in weight and floats in the water.

 *If one  holdshe bhadraksha beads in  right palm and close  hand,incase  any vibration is not felt    then it is Bhadraksha. Real Rudraksha gives that vibrating feelings like hearing heart beat.

  *All rudrakshas are whorled like a human brain and spiked like a walnut. Bhadrakshas have less prominent spikes, whereas rudrakshas are more horned and rough.

   *Bhadraksha seeds do not have a natural hole.