| PlantID | 0005 |
| Botanical Name | Withania somnifera |
| Common Name | Ashwagandha |
| Classification | | Kingdom: | Plantae | | Subkingdom: | Tracheobionta | | Division: | Magnoliophyta | | Class: | Magnoliopsida | | Subclass: | Asteridae | | Order: | Solanales | | Family: | Solanaceae | | Genus: | Withania | | Species: | somnifera |
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| Part used | Root, leaves, fruits & seeds |
| Medicinal Properties | Fruits & seeds: Diuratic; Leaves: antipyretic, anthelmintic and bitter; root: adaptogenic, alterative, aphrodisiac, debostruent. |
| Medicinal Use | Leaves and root: emphysematous dyspnea; bruised leaves and ground root locally applied carbuncles, scabbies, painful swellings and ulcers; root: useful in cough, dropsy, hiccup, leucorrhoea and menstrual troubles, restores loss of memmory, nervous exhaustion, spermatorrhoea and senile debility, powder with equal parts of ghee and honey beneficial in impotency or seminal debility, decoction boiled with milk and ghee promotes nutrition.
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| Chemistry | All aerial parts: proteins and amino acids; Leaves: erggostane which include withanone; alkaloids, fatty acids, beta-sitesterol, polyphenols, phytosterols, withaferia, withanolide C, D, E.
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| Cultivation | It is cultivated in many of the drier regions of Rajasthan. |
| Regional Habitat | Aravali hill of Rajasthan |
| Description | An erect, evergreen, tonentose shrub about 0.5 to 2 m high. Leaves: simple, ovate, glabrous. Flower: inconspicuous, greenish or lurid-yellow, inaxillary, umbellete cymes. Fruits: The berries are globose, orange-red when mature, enclosed in the persistent calyx. Seed: yellow, reniform. Flowers and fruits during November-February.
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