 Botany
The palmira palm grows to a height of
20 meters, with a straight trunk, ringed with leaf scars. It is the
primary source of toddy, which is used as a beverage in tropical Asia.
Parts used
Roots, leaves, and flowering
stalks.
Medicinal
properties
Restorative, anthelminthic,
and diuretic.
Uses
Folkloric
• Decoction used for
gonorrhea and respiratory ailments.
• Leaf juice used for hiccups, gastric ailments.
• Bloom on base of leaves used as styptic for external wounds.
» Juice from flowering stalks used for diabetes.
• Used with rice as a poultice, fermented, and used for gangrenous
and indolent ulcers and abscesses.
• In Indonesia, the sap is taken
as laxative.
Others
• Toddy, the sugary sap
is obtained from young inflorescences which can be fermented to make
an arrack beverage or
a concentrated crude sugar called jaggery.
Studies
• Antiinflammatory:
Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of ethanolic extract of Borassus
flabellifer L. male flowers (inflorescences) in experimental animals: Extract showed dose-dependent
antiinflammatory activity and supports it folkloric use as an antiinflammatory
agent.
• Diabetes: New Spirostane-Type Steroid
Saponins with Antidiabetogenic Activity from Borassus flabellifer: Methanolic
extract studied yielded 6 new steroid saponins: borassosides A-F. Results
showed inhibition of increase of serum glucose in sucrose-loaded rats.
• Neurotoxic Effect: Study on the neurotoxic effect of palmyrah shoot flour on Wistar rats showed a neurotoxic effect that appears to be a tissue non-specific damage reflected at a subclinical level. Neurotoxic effect was eliminated by heating detoxicification. The nutritional status of the diet influenced the manifestation of the toxic effect.
Commercial
availability
Wildcrafted. |
