Zea mays L.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 143

Zea mays L.

Names.

Myanmar: pyaung-bu. English: corn, maize.

Range.

New World, probably Mexico. Cultivated in Myanmar.

Use.

Flower: A fermented preparation from the style of the plant is said to have a strong hypoglycemic effect.

Notes.

In India the grain is used in the diet of consumptive patients, for treating relaxed bowels, as an astringent, and as a resolvent ( Jain and DeFilipps 1991). In China a decoction of the leaf and roots is used for dysuria. Corn silks are used as a diuretic in dropsy, to treat diabetes mellitus, and decocted with banana and watermelon peel for hypertension. A cob decoction is used for epistaxis and meorrhagia. The seed is widely used for cancers, tumors, and warts. A decoction of the root is used for blenorrhea and dyusuria ( Duke and Ayensu 1985).

In Haiti an infusion of the styles is used as a diuretic and for kidney problems; a decoction or maceration of the styles is used for inflammations and edema; the ground grains are used in a warm compress on traumatized areas and swellings; a cataplasm of the ground grains is applied to fractures; and, split ears of corn are made into an infusion as an antihypertensive ( Neptune-Rouzier 1997). Among Afro-Cuban religions, in the Ocha Rule (also called Santeria), this species is a sacred plant belonging to all the orishas ( “saints”); "It is considered a sign of good luck when maize grains spontaneously sprout around a house" ( Fuentes 1992). The medicinal uses of this plant in the Caribbean region, as well as its chemistry, biological activity, toxicity and dosages, are discussed by Germosén-Robineau (1997). Details of the active chemical compounds, effects, herbal usage and pharmacological literature of this plant are given in Fleming (2000).

Reference.

Mya Bwin and Sein Gwan (1967).