MEDICINAL PLANT

MUSA PARADIASCA

BY,
S. PADMAPRIYALAKSHMI,
II- M.SC BIOCHEMISTRY,
ADHIPARASAKTHI COLLEGE OF ARTS AND
SCIENCE.
MEDICINAL PLANTS
• Medicinal plants, also known as medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional
medicine practices since prehistoric times.
• The term “ Medicinal plants” for world wide trade specifies the plant having medicinal value
• It can be defined as the plants that possess therapeutic properties or exert beneficial
pharmacological effect on the human or animal body.
• This plants synthesize hundreds of chemicals compounds for various functions, including
defence and protection against insects, fungi, diseases.
• A medicinal plant is any plant which, in one or more of its organs, contains substances that can
be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors for the synthesis of useful drugs.
INTRODUCTION
• Musa paradisiaca is commonly referred to as a banana which is a member of the Musaceae
group.

• Musa paradisiaca is a popular Indian medicinal plant belonging to the Musaceae family. This
plant commonly known as plantain or banana is highly eating nutritious fruit over the world.

• Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they
produce. It is one of the oldest cultivated plants.

• Banana is an important fruit crop.

• It is grown in many parts of India. It is suited to a variety of climates, soil types, etc.
• Musa paradisiaca has numerous phytochemicals and has a substantial pharmacological activity
that can help to boost different health issues.
• Eve was said to have used banana leaves to covers his modesty in the garden
of paradise.
• Banana is thus called “Apple of paradise”.
• Musa Paradisiaca is an evergreen, flowering, erect, herbaceous, perennial tree wit a singe
vertical fleshy, succulent pseudo stem consisting of overlapping leaf sheaths
• This is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.
• It is considered as a symbol of prosperity.
BOTANICAL NAMES

• Musa paradiasca
• Musa cavendish
• Musa sapientum

VERNACULAR NAMES

• Sanskrit : Kadali
• English : Plantain or Banana
• Hindi : Kela
• Urdu : Bonana
• Marathi : kela
• Kannada : Baala
• Gujarati : Keda
• Telugu : Kadalamu, Ariti
• Tamil : Vazhai
• Malayali : Vazha
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
 KINGDOM : PLANTAE
 DIVISION : MAGNOLIOPHYTA
 CLASS : LILIOPSIDA
 ORDER : ZINGIBERALES
 FAMILY : MUSACEAE
 GENUS : MUSA
 SPECIES : MUSA PARADIASCA
HISTORY
• In 1753, Linnaeus published the first edition of Species Plantarum. It included the first banana
named using the binomial terminology: Musa paradisiaca, Musaceae greenhouse banana.
• Musa paradisica was discovered by Linneaus in a glasshouse from Holland. Even though wild
bananas came from Asia and had been domesticated over a thousand year ago. However, when
Linneaus named a banana for the first time, he had only access to the bananas he saw in
Europe. Not long afterwards, Linnaeus found out a second banana. He named it Musa
sapientum.
• Both of these bananas were cultivated plants named after the system for wild plants. And here
lies the complexity in the correct naming of our current banana species. Since Linnaeus did not
know the species from which Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca came from, he did not
classify them as varieties.
DISTRIBUTION
 It is a perennial herb growing 10-40 feet in height (look like tree) commonly found in the
tropical and subtropical area.

 It occurs in all tropical areas native to India and Burma. In India, it is mostly found in
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and
Gujarat.

 It is also distributed in New Guinea, America, Australia and tropical Africa. Cultivation
is limited to Florida, The Canary Islands, Egypt, Southern Japan, South Brazil.
MORPHOLOGY
• A large tree-like herb with thick rhizome, pseudo stem fleshy, succulent formed by the
imbricate leaf sheaths.

• Leaves are large, oblong, petioles long channeled, bright glossy green.

• Inflorescence is spadix.

• Flowers are placed on recurved large, spadix drooping. Lower flowers all female, the upper
all male, clustered and enclosed in the axils of large, reddish-purple caduceus, boat-shaped
spathes or bracts.. Stamens are 5 in number, filaments long stout, and anthers linear, 2-celled.
Style long, stigma lobulate.

• Fruits are berry, fleshy, narrow at both ends, seeds rarely present in cultivated variety.

• Flowering and fruiting time is throughout the year. The fruits are edible uncooked.
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS

• The whole plant as well as specific parts (Flowers, banana bracts, ripe, unripe fruits, leaves and
stems) of plant extract and its active constituents have been used for the treatment of large number
of human ailments.
• Flower consists of tannins, saponins, reducing and non reducing sugars, sterols and triterpenes.
• Fruit consists of carbohydrates, amino acids, sugar and starch.
• The skin of the fruit is rich in cellulose (10%), hemicelluloses (7%).
• The pulp protein was rich in arginine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, methionine and tryptophan.
• Peeled fruits consist of two new acyl steryl glycoside Sitoindoside-III and Sitosterol myo-
inosityl beta-D- glucoside.
• Fruit pulp consists of three forms of α glucan phosphorylase.
• Leaves having two forms of starch phosphorylase were found in the mature banana leaf.

PHYTOCHEMICALS:

• The major active phytocompounds present in the banana are alkaloids, flavanoids, tannins,
phenols, saponins, phytates, oxalates.
• Among these phytochemicals, polyphenols, fatty acids, and phytosterols are
abundant in banana. Catechin, epicatechin, gallic acid, cinnamic acid, chlorogenic
acid, and protocatechuic acid are examples of major polyphenolics found in
banana, while phytosterols such as stigmasterol.
TRADITIONAL USES
• All parts of the Banana plant have medicinal uses. The flowers are used in treating

bronchitis, dysentery, menorrhagia and ulcers.

• Cooked flowers are used to treat diabetes. The astringent plant sap is given in cases of

hysteria, epilepsy, leprosy, fevers, hemorrhages, dysentery and diarrhea, and it is

applied on hemorrhoids, insect and other stings and bites.

• Young leaves are placed as poultices on burns and other skin afflictions.

• The astringent ashes of the unripe peel and of the leaves are taken in dysentery and

diarrhea and are also used for treating malignant ulcers.

• The roots are administered in digestive disorders, dysentery and other ailments. It also

has anthelmintic property.

• Antifungal and antibiotic properties are found in the peel and pulp of fully ripe Bananas. The
plant is also used in inflammation, pain and snakebite.

• The fruit has mild laxative property, helps to maintain cardiovascular health, protection against
strokes, protection from ulcers; it also helps to reduce water retention, also preferred for anemic
patients as it is highly rich in iron.
• Banana possesses antioxidant,
T antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, and antiulcerogenic
properties. It is also rich in vitamins, as well as minerals and it also well-known edible fruit and
foodstuff.
CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF BANANA
TREE
NUTRITIONAL VALUE
• Bananas are an excellent source of potassium.
• A single banana provides you with 23% of the potassium that you need on a daily basis.
Potassium benefits the muscles as it helps maintain their proper working and prevents muscle
spasms. In addition, recent studies are showing that potassium can help to decrease blood
pressure in individual who are potassium deficient. Potassium also reduces the risk of stroke.
Bananas are also an excellent source of vitamins, including:
• 1. A - aids in healthy teeth, bones, soft tissue, and more
• 2. B6 - aids the body's immune system, promotes brain health, heart health.
• 3. C - aids in healing, growth of tissue, ligaments.
• 4. D - helps the body to absorb calcium
PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITY

• The main pharmacological activities of this plant are antilithiatic, antioxidant,

antibacterial, antidiabetic, antiulcer, anti diarrhoeal, hypocholesterolaemia,
hepatoprotective, anti snake venom, wound healing, hair growth promoting, antifungal
and antimenorrhagia activity.

• ANTILITHIATIC ACTIVITY

• Many Indian plants have been quoted to be useful as antilithiatic agents. They are effective
and inexpensive.
• One such plant is Musa paradisiaca. This stem kernel juice in experimental urolithiatic rats.
The extract was administered through oral route at a dosage of 1.5 ml/ rat/day. Stone
forming rats exhibited a significant elevation in the activities of two oxalate synthesizing
enzymes - Glycolic acid oxidase and Lactate dehydrogenase.
• Deposition and excretion of stone forming constituents in kidney and urine were also
increased in these rats.

• The enzyme activities and the level of crystalline components were lowered with the
extract after treatment. The extract also reduced the activities of urinary alkaline
phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, r-glutamyl transferase, inorganic pyrophosphatase and β-
glucuronidase in calculogenic rats. No appreciable changes were noticed with leucine amino
peptidase activity in treated rats. The core of the pseudo stem of Musa Paradisiaca is used in the
treatment of urinary stone. A significant segment of them passed out after consuming the drug for
two weeks. Recurrence of stone formation was also prevented by the treatment. Results suggested
that the plant material is quite effective in curing urolithiasis, especially the calcium oxalate stones.
• ANTIDIARRHOEAL ACTIVITY

• The banana pectin (a soluble polymer) can help normalize bowel movement and stop constipation.
• However, intake of banana may benefit people suffered from diarrhea .

• HYPOCHOLESTEROLEAMIC ACTIVITY

• Freeze-dried banana pulp showed a marked cholesterol-lowering effect.

• Flavonoids isolated from unripe fruits showed hypolipidemic activity evidenced by decrease
in cholesterol, triglycerides, free fatty acids and phospholipids levels in serum, liver, kidney
and brain of rats.
• The cholesterol lowering effect was attributed to a higher degradation rate of cholesterol than
synthesis.
• ANTI-SNAKE VENOM ACTIVITY

Plantain juice is used as an antidote for snake bite. The roots can arrest hemoptysis and possess
strongly astringent and anthelmintic properties.

• ANTIMENORRHAGIC ACTIVITY

• Consuming one cooked banana flower with one cup of curd or yogurt is one of the most
efficient ways of treating excessive bleeding during menstruation. The cooked banana flower
and curd combination increases.
• The level of progesterone in the body and thereby reduces bleeding associated with
menorrhagia. The flowers are also taken as an infusion in normal doses for painful
menstruation.
• ANTIULCER ACTIVITY

Bananas have long been recognized for their antacid effects that protect against stomach ulcers
and ulcer damage. A flavonoid in the banana, leucocyanidin, has been found to significantly
increase the thickness of the mucous membrane layer of the stomach. Since bananas help to
neutralize acidity, they are also a great way to get rid of heartburn.

• ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY

Methanol extracts of banana flowers possess antioxidant properties and thereby

stabilize the free radicals formed as a result of various metabolic processes in the
body.
Health Benefits of Eating Bananas

• Healthy bowels
• Cardiovascular health
• Protection from strokes
• Protection from ulcers
• Improve blood pressure
• Reduce depression
• Boost energy
• Help reduce water retention