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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.
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