|
Botany
A large tree, with
a dense and spreading crown. Leaves are oblong to oblong-lanceolate,
10-30 cm long. The flowers are yellow, small, 3-4 mm long, borne
on erect and hairy panicles, as long as the leaves. The fruit
is yellow, fleshy, oblong-ovoid, and slightly compressed.
It is a widely cultivated
tree for its fruit. It has several varieties in cultivation,
the most popular are the "carabao" and "piko,"
and the former the preferred export variety. The fruits are of
varying shades of yellow, elliptical and somewhat flatterned,
thin-skinned, with a large flattened seed in the center, surrounded
by the edible yellow pulp.
Distribution
Widely cultivated
for its delicious fruit.
Chemical constituents and properties
Mangiferin; mangin;
piuri-yellow dye; benzoic acid; citric acid; tannin, 10%.
The leaves contain 43-46 percent euxanthin acid and some euxanthon.
Seed contains a fixed oil, oleostearin.
The bark exudate yields a resin, gun, ash, and tannin.
Properties
Root, diuretic;
bark, astringent; seeds, astringent and mifuge; leaves, pectoral.
Insert
Young unripe mangos.
Parts used and preparation
Leaves, kernel,
bark and fruit.
Uses:
Nutritional
Good source of iron (deficient in calcium); excellent source
of vitamins A, B, and C. Fruit contains citric, tartaric and
mallic acids.
Food: As fruit or mango-ade.
Folkloric
Decoction of root is
considered diuretic.
Bark and seeds are astringent.
Resin is used for aphthous stomatitis.
Cough: Drink infusion of young leaves as needed.
Diarrhea: Take decoction of bark or kernel as tea.
Hot lotion from bark used for rheumatism.
Gum resin from bark, mixed with coconut oil, used for scabies
and other parasitic skin diseases.
Juice of leaves used for dysentery.
Tea of leaves with a little honey used for hoarseness and aphonia,
4 glasses daily.
Powdered dried leaves, 1 tbsp to a cup of warm water, 4 times
daily, used for diabetes.
Ashes of burned leaves used for scalds and burns.
Infusion of young leaves used in asthma and cough.
Tea of powdered dried flowers, 4 times daily for diarrhea, urethritis.
Juice of peel of unripe mangoes used for skin diseases.
Seed is vermifuge and astringent.
Infusion of powdered dried seeds used fir asthma, diarrhea, dysentery,
menorrhagia, bleeding piles, round worms.
Availability
Small and large-scale
planting for fruit production.
|