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written by Rob Arnhem
photographed by SYED FASIUDDIN

“In common with many traditionally favoured cures,
its bitterness must make it more potent –
the more bitter the pill, the more effective it is”

It’s a wonder that Muscat hasn’t yet been dubbed ‘Garden City of the Gulf.’ Madinat al Bustan? And why not? Of all the Gulf cities, its lush parks and gardens and roadside displays of colour must make it a close contender for the title, if not the clear winner. And what clinches the stakes must be the kilometres of trees lining the streets and highways: native sidr and ghaf, stately tamarinds, regiments of date and coconut palms, wild figs, flaming flamboyants and golden cassia, all providing a welcome cooling green or splash of bright colour to relieve the eye. But probably the most common tree planted for its shade in the sultanate is the Indian neem. It’s a fast grower,
a windbreak, resistant to insects and needs little water. It’s also tolerant of saline soils and enjoys a long life. Although it’s deciduous, losing its leaves annually, it doesn’t do so all at once. Instead, it allows an attractive glow of gold to affect some of its leaves, but it tends to renew its foliage gradually at the onset of summer rather than autumn. The leaves are small and serrated, and set at an angle from each other on a central stalk, forming attractive clusters, while the unobtrusive tiny flowers have their own pleasant smell. All these advantages in a generally hot and arid country gave the neem the edge over its competitors when a shortlist of trees suitable for municipal beautification in Oman was drawn up. In the older suburbs such as Madinat as Sultan Qaboos, there are now established leafy lanes as witness to the wisdom of this far-sighted plan. Unfortunately, though, recent urban expansion and development is seeing many venerable trees bulldozed, but the fast-growing neem is at least replacing many of those lost.

The neem is Azidarachta indica in scientific parlance, and is also popularly known as the Indian Lilac, paradise tree, margosa or shireesh. In Urdu, it’s shajar-e-mubarak, ‘the blessed tree.’ The crown is round and casts a deep shade of three to four metres. Experiments have shown that the temperature under a neem tree on a scorching day can be up to eight degrees lower, a property which alone makes the tree so valuable. Scientists are investigating claims that it’s an air purifier as well, acting as a more effective ‘carbon sink’ than other trees by filtering atmospheric pollutants and breathing
out more pure oxygen in return. In some parts of rural India, people believe even twigs hung outside a house will protect it from disease. Thanks to the foresight of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who had the tree planted in the palace gardens in the early 1970s to test its conservation credentials, the neem passed with flying colours. It’s worth noting that the great and wise Indian emperor Ashoka, as far back as the 3rd century BC, decreed that the royal roads be lined with neem trees to shade the traveller.

The name ‘neem’ has an ancient lineage. Its Sanskrit name nimba means ‘health-giving.’ It’s relied on as a home-grown village pharmacy throughout the Indian subcontinent, and has been revered since the earliest known civilisations of Mohenjo-Daro and other cities of the Indus Valley. Very few village courtyards are without a shady neem for instant access to relieve a multitude of ills, and protective shade too from a blistering sun. The great sages and doctors Charaka and Susruta first described its uses, and ayurvedic medicine still trumpets its healing virtues. Much of traditional Indian belief in the efficacy of medicines and diet is based on a system shared by the ancient Greeks and practised by the Muslim world and the West, whose doctors followed it until its influence waned with the revolution of modern medical discoveries. Medicines are believed to be ‘cooling’ or ‘heating,’ and to control body metabolism according to the theory of the four ‘humours,’ or liquids, whose balanced relationship is supposed to affect the body. It’s believed to cleanse and purify the digestive, respiratory, circulatory and urinary systems, which has helped spread the rash of expensive ‘detoxification’ centres that have become so popular. Neem’s curative properties have been the subject of an international court case as to who owns the patent to traditional medicines. In 1995, Indians fiercely defended Indian ownership in what became something of a test case against bio-piracy as the nation rallied against one pharmaceutical multinational marketing an anti-fungal product derived from the neem.

While much of this is folk medicine, there have been enough scientific studies made isolating a formidable array of an incredible 135 chemical compounds with specific properties. Azidarachtin is anti-hormonal and a repellent; nimbin is anti-inflammatory and an anti-histamine; nimbidin is anti-bacterial and a painkiller; nimbidol fights tuberculosis; gedunin is an anti-fungal and anti-malarial drug; sodium nimbinate is a spermicide, a diuretic and relieves arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, and there are battalions more. One popular little booklet, entitled Improve your Health! With Neem, with that exclamation mark, lists an impressive 73 uses for this wonder tree. The leaves contain protein, calcium, iron, sulphur (a natural antibiotic) and Vitamin A. In common with many traditionally favoured cures, its bitterness must make it more potent – the more bitter the pill, the more effective it has to be to combat nasty ailments. Think of quinine, extracted from the bitter bark of the cinchona tree, as a cure for malaria. In many African languages, the word for ‘tree’ and ‘medicine’ are the same. We have extracted drugs from bark, roots and leaves for millennia. Even modern pharmaceutical generics, although synthesised in labs, are based on the active agents from natural sources. Salicyclic acid, better known as Aspirin, that wonder drug, first came from the bark of the humble willow tree. You name it, neem can claim to cure it. Most often, the leaves are boiled and the decoction drunk, or the oil from the tiny knobbly fruit, pure concentrated bitterness, is applied externally together with other herbal extracts. To allay the bitterness, you take it with honey or salt or mustard oil. Worms flee at the mention of its bark, which also calms fevers, especially malaria, and settles diarrhoea. The leaves make poultices, relieve skin disorders from eczema and ringworm to pimples and burns, disinfect and heal wounds and scars. They feature in eye washes to treat conjunctivitis, as a general hair tonic, wash lice right out of your hair and are said to delay greying and balding. An extract from the leaves reduces swelling and high blood pressure and is taken after childbirth to stop bleeding. The handy presence of a neem is a comfort for people far from doctors and hospitals, to deal with everyday hazards like snakebite and insect stings, ‘nerves’ and night-blindness. It’s a gargle for a sore throat, soothes a body inflamed with ‘flu or chicken pox or ulcers, controls flatulence, dissolves kidney stones, treats diabetes, gout, jaundice, malaria, even cholera and leprosy – it’s a regular panacea. With a Sanskrit pedigree as sarva rova nivarini, ‘curer of all ills,’ it has an unequalled reputation. Mahatma Gandhi was never without his neem leaf chutney to help his digestive tract along and keep it functioning effectively. A twig is an antiseptic toothbrush, and there are neem soaps and shampoos too. Moths and termites don’t like it either, and your cat and dog might have less fleas if you put a few sprays of neem leaves in their baskets. Farmers use it extensively as a natural pesticide to protect their crops from fungus, insects and disease. Cakes of neem leaves make a good mulch for roses and are a natural insecticide.