Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (= Eugenia jambolana Lam.)

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 127-128

Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (= Eugenia jambolana Lam.)

Names.

Myanmar: tame, thabye-kyet-chi, thabye-phyu, wa-passan. English: black plum, jambolan plum, jambu, Java plum.

Range.

India and Sri Lanka, east to Malay Archipelago. Cultivated in tropical regions. In Myanmar, found in Bago, Kachin, Magway, Mandalay, and Yangon.

Uses.

Bark: Astringent and sweet with binding properties, easily digestible. Used in the compounding of medicines to treat conditions with white vaginal discharge or discharge due to venereal disease. A paste of the bark made with milk is mixed with some honey and a tablespoon is taken to cure severe diarrhea. Bark, Leaf, Fruit and/or Seed: Used to treat diarrhea and dysentery. Bark and Seed: Used in treating diabetes. Shoot: Has cooling, drying, and binding properties; used for indigestion and bloating. Leaf: A decoction is used for sore eyes. Fresh tender leaves are crushed with water and held in the mouth to cure gum boils and other mouth sores; crushed and taken with milk to treat bleeding hemorrhoids; and crushed with water and taken to neutralize the effects of opium. Juice from the leaves is applied to scorpion stings. Fruit: Sweet and astringent, it diminishes indigestion. Juice of crushed fruit can be taken, once in the morning and once at night, for inflammation of the spleen. Juice of ripe fruit is squeezed, strained, and fermented, then taken as a treatment for gas. Eating the ripe fruit is used as a treatment for diabetes. Seed: Made into a powder and taken with cooled boiled water to treat (mild) diabetes mellitus; paste made from the dried seeds applied 2-3 times a day to sores associated with venereal disease; and paste, also made with water, applied to sores that are difficult to heal. Together with mango seeds and krazu ( Terminalia citrina ) seeds can be mixed in equal amounts, roasted and made into a powder taken to cure diarrhea.

Notes.

The medicinal uses of this species in India are discussed in Jain and DeFilipps (1991). Perry (1980) discusses the medicinal uses of the species in India, Myanmar, Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines.

Reported constituents include gallic acid, tannin, volatile oil, fat, antimellin, jambuol, olein, linolein, palmitin, sterarin, phytosterin, myricyl alcohol, and hentriacontane ( Perry 1980). It is thought that ellagic and gallic acid, and tannin "may be responsible for the medicinal value of the seeds"; also, the leaves have been found to have a slightly antibiotic action against Staphylococcus ( Perry 1980).

References.

Agricultural Corporation (1980), Perry (1980).