Myrica ESCULENTA Buch.-Ham


Synonym : M. nagi Thunb.
M. integrifolia Roxb.
M. sapida Wall.
Bangla Name : Kaiphal, Kayapul, Satsarila.
English Name : Box Myrtle.
Family : Myricaeae
Disease : Astringent, tonic, carminative, antiseptic, stimulant, fever, catarrh, cough, asthma, headache and cholera.
Description : A small tree. Leaves crowded towards the end of the branches, 5-15 cm long, lanceolate, oblanceolate or obovate, nearly entire or sharply sinous serrate, obtuse or acute. Flowers in simple, rarely compound, bracteate spikes, male spike 7.5 mm long, female spike 1.3-2.5 cm long. Fruit a drupe, 1-2.5 cm long, ellipsoid.
Distribution : Sylhet.
Chemical Constituents : Bark contains tannin, a new pro-anthocyanidin, a phenolic rotenoid, myriconol, a glycoside, myricitrin, taraxerol, myricadiol, ?-sitosterol and saccharine substances. It also contain triterpenes, including taraxerol, tarexerone and myriadiol, flavonoids,
Uses : Decoction of the bark is astringent, tonic, carminative, antiseptic and uterine stimulant, useful in fever, catarrh, cough and asthma. Powdered bark is used as snuff in catarrh with headache, mixed with ginger used as a rubefacient application in cholera.
Habit : Tree