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Family Graminaceae
Mais
Zea mays
CORN

Pao mi

Scientifica names  Common names 
Zea mays Gahilang (Ig.) 
  Igi (Bon.) 
  Mait (It.) 
  Maize (Engl.) 
  Mañgi (Ibn.) 
  Tibi, (Bon.) 
  Tigi (Bon.) 
  Corn (Engl.) 
  Pao mi (Chin.)
   

Botany
Mais is a very coarse, erect, tall grass, 1.5 to 2 meters high. Stem is solid, with a soft and spongy center. Leaves are numerous and close together, 30 to 100 cm long and 2 to 10 cm wide, linear lanceolate. Male inflorescence is erect and terminal; the female inflorescence on the axils of the leaves, cylindric and large. The individual fruit is is roundish or reniform, compressed, smooth, shiny, white, reddish or even purplish-black.

Distribution
Extensively cultivated in the Philippines.
In some places replacing rice as the diet staple.

Constituents

- Constituents: Flavonoids, chlorogenic acid, saponins, volatile alkaloid, allantoin, tannins, resin.
- Corn silk yields maizeric acid, 2%; fixed oil; resin; sugar; mucilage and salts.

Properties
Considered anodyne, antilithic, antiseptic, cholaggogue, demulcent, diuretic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, lithotriptic, tonic, vasodilator.

Parts used
Hairs and cobs.

Uses
Nutritional
Edible parts: Pollen, seed (raw or cooked), stem.
• Good source of carbohydrates, B vitamins (riboflavin and thiamine), vitamin A and C, potassium and zinc; rich in protein.
• Corn syrup is used in the manufacture of jams, jellies and other sweets.
• Corn starch is well known for its many uses.

• Edible oil is obtained from the seed, used for salads or cooking.
• Roasted seed use as a coffee substitute.

Folkloric
• Diuretic: Take decoction of hairs or cobs as tea.
• Decoction of pith of cob as tea is used for stomach complaints.
• Decoction of roots, leaves, and corn silk used for dysuria, bladder complaints, and bedwetting.
• The water in which unhusked corn is boiled is a pleasant tasting remedy
for urinary tract infection. The corn silk decoction is also thought to be diuretic.
• Poultice used for ulcers, rheumatic pains and swellings.
• Decoction of parched corn (buned or roasted) taken as tea for nausea and vomiting.
• Infusion of parched corn allays the nausea and vomiting of many diseases.
• Kidney stones: Infusion of corn hair in hot water, 3x daily.
• Poultice of corn silk for wounds and sores.
• In Europe, corn silk used for genitourinary diseases.
• In China, corn silk is used for fluid retention and jaundice.
Others
• The embryo is rich in oild and used widely for cooking, manufacture of soaps.
• Sticky gum containing dextrin used for sealing envelops and gummed labels.
• Corn syrup is used in the manufacture of jams, jellies and other sweets.
• Corn starch is well known for its many uses.
• Glue made from the start in the seed.
• Used for making alcohol.
• Cobs used to supply potash and by distillation can yield acetic acid and acetone. By controlled fermentaion, may also yieled nitro-cellulose lacquers.
• Starch used in cosmetics.
• Stem fiber used in making paper.
• Corn spathe used for making straw hats and baskets.
Preparation
• Corn silk infusion, fresh or dried: cystitis, 1 cup 3x daily.
• As tincture: 3 cc (50 drops) 3x daily for cystitis.


Studies
Diuretic / Histopathological Studies:
Three indigenous medicinal plants were studied: C citratus, R sativus, and Zea mays. No morphometrical or histological changes were noted in the liver and kidney of rats. Study concludes that the common use of these indigenous diuretic plants is safe.
Diuretic / anti-lithiasis effect: The influence of Zea mays on urinary risk factors for kidney stones in rats: The study suggests the possible antilithiasic effect of ZM infusion is probably through some diuretic activity.
No Diuretic Effect: In a study of four traditional Vietnamese herbal remedies (Z mays, I cylindrica, Plantago major, O stamineus) claiming to increase diuresis, no diuretic effect was seen in a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover model.
Anti-Diabetic: The Favorable Effect of Style of Zea mays L. on Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Nephropathy: Study indicates the WE of ZM suppressed the progression of diabetic glomerular sclerosis in ST-induced diabetic rat.
Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor: Interfering with leukocyte adhesion is important in the treatment of bacterial sepsis and inflammatory diseases. Study of the crude methanolic extract of Zea mays exhibited significant TNF antagonistic activity and concludes that corn silk has potential for TNF- and LPS-mediated leukocyte adhesion and trafficking.
Renal Effects: In water-loaded conscious rats (2.5 cc/100 body wt), corn silk aqueous extract was found to be diuretic at 500 mg KBW and kaliuretic at 300 and 500 mg KBW. At 5.0 cc/100 g BW, CSAE is kaliuretic at 500 mg KBW but glomerular filtration and filter load decreased without affecting proximal tubular function, sodium or uric acid excretion.
Antibacterial Activity: Zea mays alcoholic extract showed activity against Klebsiella pneumonia, E coli, Salmonella paratyphi A, Salmonella typhi and B. subtilis.

Availability
Commercial cultivation.
Corn silk, tea extracts in the cybermarkets.

Last Update April 2011

Photo © Godofredo Stuart / StuartXchange

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Corn / Zea mays
(2)
Zea Mays / Sweet Corn / Plants for a Future
(2)
Histopathological Studies of Some Indigenous Diuretic Medicinal Plants in Rats
(3)
Aqueous, Alcoholic Treated and Proximate Analysis of Maydis stigma (Zea mays Hairs)
(4)
The influence of Zea mays on urinary risk factors for kidney stones in rats / F Grases et al / Phytotherapy Research • Volume 7 Issue 2, Pages 146 - 149 / DOI 10.1002/ptr.2650070210
(5)
The Favorable Effect of Style of Zea mays L. on Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Nephropathy

(6)
Extract of corn silk (stigma of Zea mays) inhibits the tumour necrosis factor-alpha- and b / S Habtemariam / Planta Med (1998) 64: 314-8.
(7)
Studies on the individual and combined diuretic effects of four Vietnamese traditional herbal remedies (Zea mays, Imperata cylindrica, Plantago major and Orthosiphon stamineus) / Doan Du Dat, Nguyen Ngoc Ham et al / Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 36, Issue 3, June 1992, Pages 225-231 / doi:10.1016/0378-8741(92)90048-V
(8)
Zea mays L. extracts modify glomerular function and potassium urinary excretion in conscious rats / Velasquez, DVO et al / International Journal of Phytotherapy & Phytopharmacology, May 2005
(9)
STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TUMOR SUPPRESSOR PROTEINS IN BREAST CANCER / Rukhsan Khurshid / Thesis 2002 / Pakistan Research Repository


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