Crateva religiosa G.Forst.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 42

Crateva religiosa G.Forst.

Names.

Myanmar: lè-seik-shin. English: sacred garlic pear.

Range.

India to Indo-China and the Ryukyus, south through Moluccas and New Guinea, east to Polynesia. Reported from Myanmar.

Use.

Bark: A paste from grinding the bark together with paranawar ( Boerhavia diffusa ) root is taken to cure chronic sores and boils. Leaf: Crushed, mixed with water and warmed, is applied to areas with aches and pain. The juice from the crushed leaves can be mixed in equal amounts with crushed betel ( Piper betle ) leaves and butter and the mixture is taken to cure inflammation of the joints. The leaves can be pickled and eaten with a fish paste or fish sauce dip or as a salad to cure gas and digestion problems. Flower: Pickled and eaten as a stomachic. Root: Boiled in water until reduced to one fourth, and taken to treat diabetes and kidney stones. If cane sugar is added to this liquid and drunk, it can cure inflammation of the bladder and kidney stones. Also used to treat high fevers.

Notes.

In China the leaf is used as a tonic, stomachic, resolvent; also used for dysentery, headache, and stomachache ( Duke and Ayensu 1985). In Taiwan a decoction of the stem and leaves is used to treat dysentery, headache, and stomachache; in China the leaves are considered to be stomachic; in Indo-China the leaves are used as a tonic and resolutive; in the Soloman Islands the liquid from the bark macerated with water is used to treat constipation and heated leaves are applied as a remedy for earache ( Perry 1980).

Reported constituents of the bark include lupeol (a triterpene) and beta-sitosterol. ( Perry 1980, Duke and Ayensu 1985). The leaves contain calcium, phosphorus, iron, beta-carotene equivalent, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid ( Duke and Ayensu 1985).

References.

Agricultural Corporation (1980), Perry (1980).