Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels (= P. distichus (L.) Muell . Arg.)

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 134

Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels (= P. distichus (L.) Muell. Arg.)

Names.

Myanmar: mak-hkam-sang-paw, thinbaw-zibyu. English: gooseberry tree, Otaheite gooseberry, star gooseberry.

Range.

Southern Asia. Naturalized in the West Indies and southern Florida. Reported from Myanmar.

Uses.

Sap: Milky; used as an emetic and purgative. Fruit: An aperient (its vitamin C content approaches in quantity the amount in lemon and grapefruit).

Notes.

In India the leaf is used as an antidote to viper poison; the fruit is an astringent; the seed cathartic; and the root cathartic and an antidote to viper poison ( Jain and DeFilipps 1991). Perry (1980) notes that the various plant parts have different medicinal uses in different countries. In the Philippines the leaves are applied to urticaria at the same time the astringent fruit is eaten, also a decoction of the bark is used to treat bronchial catarrh; in Indo-China the leaves are used to treat an illness resembling smallpox if accompanied by a cough; in Indonesia the leaves are used as poultices to treat lumbago and sciatica, and the bark heated with coconut oil is spread on eruptions on fingers and hands; and on the Malay Peninsula the root (which is somewhat poisonous) is boiled and the steam inhaled as a remedy for cough, and is also used to treat psoriasis of on the soles of the feet ( Perry 1980).

References.

Perry (1980), Forest Department (1999).