Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 49

Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb.

Names.

Myanmar: hroirwk, mai-hen, mai-mahen, mai-naw, makalaw, tawitho, thiag-riang, thit-seint. English: belleric, myrobalan.

Range.

India to Indo-China south through Indonesia. In Myanmar found in Bago, Magway, and Mandalay.

Uses.

The flowers, bark, fruit, and seed kernel are used in medications to relieve constipation, treat heart disease, cure eye infections, strengthen hair, protect the voice from deterioration, and clear blood irregularities, as well as to relieve sore throat and coughing. However, ingesting too much is known to cause vomiting and dizziness. Flower: Liquid from boiling the flowers is taken for spleen enlargement, excessive bowel movements, and chest pains. Bark: Made into a paste, it is applied topically as a remedy for vitiligo and taken orally for anemia. Liquid from boiling the bark is held in the mouth to relieve toothaches and gum inflammation. Fruit: Dried and used to treat cough and eye diseases. Applied topically to circles under the eyes, the fruit paste is used to relieve aching. A mixture of honey and the paste made from the fruit skin is licked to cure asthma and coughs. Powdered fruit mixed with cane sugar is taken daily for impotence. The fruit itself is eaten as a tonic to give strength and as a remedy for hemorrhoids, edema, leprosy, diarrhea, shooting stomach pain, and headaches. Seed: A paste made from the seed kernel mixed with alcohol is taken to relieve pain from urination and from kidney stones. The warmed kernel paste is applied topically to reduce swelling and to relieve aches and pains caused by injuries.

Notes.

In India the bark is used as a diuretic; also for high fever, cold dysuria, sunstroke, cholera (with the bark of two other species), snakebite (with the bark of one other species); the resin is used for cramps; the gum is a demulcent, purgative, and soothes itches. The fruit is used as an astringent, brain tonic, for measles (with plant parts from two other species), cough, asthma, stomach and liver disorders, piles, leprosy, dropsy, fever; also, half-ripe fruit is purgative, but ripe fruit has the opposite property. The oil is used on rheumatic pain; fruit pulp (with honey) is used on opthalmia; and the seeds are used for gastric problems ( Jain and DeFilipps 1991). In Indo-China the species is used as an astringent and tonic, as a purgative when green, and as a narcotic (in large doses). In Indonesia the ripe fruit, with seed removed, is roasted and powdered, then used to protect the navel after the umbilical cord has fallen off, also part of a complicated medicine to treat women’s illnesses ( Perry 1980).

The fresh fruit yields glucose, tannin, and three glycosidal fractions ( Perry 1980).

References.

Agricultural Corporation (1980), Perry (1980).