Botany
Small tree growing
to a height of 6 meters or less. Leaves are pinnate, about 15 cm long.
Leaflets are smooth, pairs and ovate to ovate-lanceolate. Pannicles
are small, axillary and bell-shaped, 5-6 mm long. Calyx is reddish purple.
Petals are purple, often margined with white. Fruit is fleshy green
to greenish yellow, about 6 cm long, with 5 longitudinal, sharp and
angular lobes. Seeds are arillate.
Medical properties and constituents
Vermifuge, laxative,
refrigerant, antiscorbutic, febrifuge, sialogogue, antiphlogistic, stimulant,
emmenagogue, anodyne, emetic.
Studies indicate the presence of saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids and
tannins.
Distribution
Planted in cultivated
and semi-cultivated areas.
Parts
used
Leaves, flowers, seeds,
fruit.
.
Uses
Nutritional
Edible fruit is a source
of iron (low in calcium) and vitamins B and C, oxalate and potassium.
Folkloric
Tea of boiled leaves used
for aphthous stomatitis.
Crushed shoots or leaves used externally for headaches and ringworm.
Boiled flowers used to expel worms: 50 gms to a pint of boiling water;
drunk in normal doses.
Fruit is laxative.
Decoction of fruit, 50 gms to a pint of boiling water, 4-5 glasses a
day for bleeding piles.
Juice of fresh fruit for affections of the eyes.
Seed is used for asthma and colic: Powdered seeds, 10 gms to a cup of
warm water, drunk 4 times daily.
In India, the ripe fruit
is used to stop hemorrhages and relieve hemorrhoidal bleeding.
The dried fruit or juice used for fevers.
Others
The acid type carambola dissolves tarnish and rust, occasionally
used for cleaning and polishing metal.
Fruit juice is used to remove stains.
Contains potassium oxalate which is used for dyeing.
Studies
• Negative inotropic and chronotropic
effects on the guinea pig atrium of extracts obtained from Averrhoa
carambola L. leaves: The study showed that the A. carambola
extract is an agent that strongly depresses the heart rate and the myocardial
contractile force. Although the active compound has not been identified,
its action on the L-type Ca2+ channels is important to explain the mechanism
of action of this plant on the mammalian atrial myocardium.
• Fatal outcome after ingestion
of star fruit (Averrhoa carambola) in uremic patients:
The study warns that patients with renal failure who ingest star fruit
may develop neurological symptoms and run the risk of death in severe
cases.
• Neurotoxicity:
Report of study on 32 uraemic patients who ingested star
fruit. Most common presenting symptoms were persistent hiccups, vomiting,
mental confusion, psychomotor agitation, insomnia, paresthesias and
seizures. Ideal treatment was daily hemodialysis.
• Antioxidant:
Research reports the residues from star fruit juicing process
is a rich and excellent source of extractable phenolic antioxidants.
Caution
!
Report of toxicity and
death in fruit consumption by patients with renal failure.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Limited backyard cultivation.
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