Traditional medicinal benefits of Caryota urens: A review article

De Silva G.N., Diddeniya J.I.D., Dahanayake J.*, Perera P.K.

Abstract

Caryota urens which belongs to the Palmae family is used as a food, beverage, fiber, timber and for ornamental purposes in Sri Lanka. Jaggery and treacle made out from Caryota. urens is very abundantly used in the Sri Lankan communities since a long ago. Even though its usage as a food article has been broadly described in many instances, its medicinal usage has not been mentioned clearly with regard to Traditional Medicinal aspects of Sri Lanka. The aim of this paper was to review the relevant literature from authentic texts in Traditional Medicine such as Ayurveda pharmacopoeia, “Deshiya chikitsa samgrahaya” and “Osuthuru wisithuru” as well as published research articles in the data bases such as Science direct, PubMed and Google scholar to provide a summary on potential medicinal benefits of Caryota urens. The results revealed that the used parts of this plant are leaves, bark, root bark, flowers as well as toddy and starch. It gives beneficial health effects such as anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, anti-cancer and analgesic properties. The most common herbal preparations made out from this plant were herbal gruel and “Basna” (A nutritional preparation specific to Sri Lankan traditional medicine). Apart from that, the use of Caryota. urens in diseases such as diarrhea, parasitic infestations, anemia, jaundice, burning sensation was also identified through this review. It can be concluded that Caryota. urens is a functional herbal food and herbal ingredient which has many favorable health effects and further studies will be needed to determine these effects thoroughly.