A flower to which the whole world is obsessed with, a flower that captivates many people from any nation or religion into its smell, petals and colours. You may be passing by the streets and smell fresh Rose’s scent from a nearby flower shop or public park with several Rose shrubs and stop to either buy one strand of Rose to get mesmerized and feel how beautiful the flower itself is with a soothing scent and if you are in Pakistan you may come across Gajra (Rose flower bangles) venders when you stop at the red light on traffic signal , you get the intuitions to buy it for no reason rather due to the fact that the Rose flower itself is so beautiful to just touch ,watch and smell it indeed.
But do you know any medical-related benefits of the Rose flower?
If YES than well and good but if NO than you must be aware of some unbelievable benefits of this flower that can treat your mild illnesses for sure!
The flower that is known as “GUL” in Turkish language, “GULAB” in Urdu, “WARDA” in Arabic and “ROSA” in Spanish and in Swedish “RESTESIG” is the most prettiest flower in the entire world and is of great importance in medical field. As the Rose has a family name “Rosacea” in which there are many species including one of the most important specie ‘ Rosa damascena’ which not only has culinary and historical significance but also has medicinal significance.
The ‘Rosa damascena’ a specie of Rose flower commonly known as ‘Rose of castile’ or ‘Damask Rose’ originally grown in Iran, Turkey and Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Brazil has a very strong soothing smell that might last forever.
The Rosa damascena also known as “GULE MOHAMMADI” is commonly harvested in Madinah Saudi Arabia to extract rose water and rose oil and dry petals which are quite important in pharmacology as it can help treat many ailments.
From the ancient times queen of Egypt CLEOPATRA Rosa damascena or Damask Rose was used in her beauty regime from bathing in Rose water or using Rose oil as a body scent and Romans were the first to classify and document the healing power of this specie of Rose for treating more than 30 ailments. Even in this modern era many million women are influenced by the Rose for their beauty routine.
Besides it’s uses in cosmetics, perfumery and food industry the Rosa damascena can act as Anti-HIV, Anti-Diabetic, Anti-Bacterial, Anti-oxidant, Anti-tussive, Hypnotic, treat Digestive conditions, Skin conditions and Eye conditions.
Rosa damascena can help treat Acne, skin irritations, Rosacea, Eczema and act as an anti-oxidant and anti-aging in the field of dermatology.
The soothing scent of Rosa damascena can produce neuropharmacological effects as it can reduce Depression, stress, anxiety and can produce hypnotic effect as a normal sedative and according to research oral intake or nasal intake of Rosa damascena can reduce up to 50% of pain such that only half of the actual amount of anesthesia is required during surgery, its administration before surgery has tremendous affects in reducing pain and it also reduces headaches and migranes.
It also has anti-bacterial properties which are effective on 13 different species of bacteria, thus rose water is applied on wounds and scars and as an anti-diabetic it lower blood glucose and maintain normal blood glucose within no time on its oral intake.
It can help breathing by relaxing tracheal muscle to some extent and act as an anti-tussive which means it can treat cough conditions.
In Iran the people eat Rose petal of this species with yogurt to treat digestive conditions. It is also used to treat Eye conditions such as conjunctivitis, dry eye (conjunctival xerosis), catracts in ophthalmology.
Interestingly our lord ALLAH kept a lot of benefits in this flower that can fit in your palm and it not only please you with its beautiful smell and sight but also medicinal properties that are a blessing.
It is complete package of blessings for FOUR of our senses ie touch, sight, smell, taste.
The writer is a medical student at the University of Lahore, Islamabad campus. She can be reached at [email protected]