amra :
Mangifera indica, commonly used herb in ayurvedic medicine. Various studies conducted indicate mango possesses antidiabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, cardiotonic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory properties. Various effects like antibacterial, anti fungal, anthelmintic, anti parasitic, anti tumor, anti HIV, antibone resorption, antispasmodic, antipyretic, antidiarrhoeal, antiallergic, immunomodulation, hypolipidemic, anti microbial, hepatoprotective, gastroprotective have also been studied. These studies proved very beneficialHISTORICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL REVIEW:
Historical References: Mango (Mangifera indica) trees are mentioned more than once in the Ramayana - in the Kishkindha Kanda Sarga 1 of the Ramayana, as located on the banks of the Pampa lake; in the Aranya Kanda Sarga 15 as present in the Panchavati; and, in the Aranya Kanda Sarga 73 as growing near the Matanga hermitage. This species is also mentioned in the nusasana Parva of the Mahabharata as located in King Kusikas country. This fruit is believed to have been tasted by Alexander (3rd century BCE) and Chinese pilgrim, Hieun Tsang (7th century CE). It is mentioned in the songs of 4th century CE Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa; and, in the 16th century Mughal Emperor, Akbar is known to have planted 100,000 mango trees in Darbhanga, Bihar at a place now known as Lakhi Bagh. Similarly, the Marathas and the Gonds planted mangoes and other useful trees along their marching routes and halting places, some of which are still surviving. Symbology: In Hinduism, the perfectly ripe mango is often held by Lord Ganesha as a symbol of attainment, representing the potential perfection of devotees. It is also said to be a form of Prajapati, an epithet, which in the vedas, was originally applied to Savitri, Soma, Tvashtri, Hiranya-garbha, Indra, and Agni, but afterwards the name of a separate god presiding over procreation. The tree provides one of the pancha-pallava or aggregate of five sprigs used in Hindu ceremonial, and its flowers are used in Shiva worship on the Shivaratri. Mango blossoms are used in the worship of Goddess Saraswati.Mango leaves are used to decorate archways and doors in Indian houses and during weddings and celebrations like Ganesh Chaturthi. Mango motifs are widely used in different Indian embroidery styles and are found in Kashmiri shawls, Kanchipuram silk sarees etc. Poetry and Myth: Mangoes are mentioned in the works of many Indian poets. The flower is invoked in the 6th act of Sakuntala as one of the five arrows of Kamadeva. A grove of mangoes (Amravana) is mentioned in the travels of the Buddhist pilgrims, Fah-hian and Sung-yun (translated by Beal). This grove was presented by Amradarika to Buddha as a place that he could use for repose. In some accounts, Amradarika is described as the daughter of the mango tree. In the Indian story of Surya Bai, the daughter of the sun who is married to a King, assumes the form of a golden Lotus to escape an evil sorceress. Her husband, the King falls in love with the flower, which is then burnt by the sorceress. From the ashes of the burnt flower, grows a mango tree. The King falls in love first with its flower, and then with its only fruit. When ripe, the fruit falls to the ground and from it emerges the daughter of the sun (Surya Bai), who is recognized by the King to be his lost wife. Long accounts of the virtues of the mango in its ripe and unripe state (kéri) may be found in Hindu and Mahometan works on Materia Medica. One such detailed description of the mango and its uses can also be found in the writings of the Turkoman poet, Amir Khusru, who lived in Delhi in the time of Muhammad Tughlak Shah, who writes: " The mango is the pride of the garden, the choicest fruit of Hindustan; other fruits we are content to eat when ripe, but the mango is good in all stages of its growth/ Medicine, Trade and other Records: According to the author of the Makhzan, the Hindus make a confection of the baked pulp of the unripe fruit mixed with sugar, which in time of plague or cholera they take internally and. rub all over the body ; it is also stated in the same work that the midribs of the leaves calcined are used to remove warts on the eyelids. Mangoes appear to have been known to the Arabs from an early date as a pickle. They were carried to Arabian ports by Indian mariners. Ibn Batuta, who visited India A.D. 1332, notices their use for this purpose. The medicinal properties of mangoes were first brought to the notice of European physicians by Dr. Linguist (Practitioner, 1882, 220), who recommends it for its extraordinary action in cases of haemorrhage from the uterus, lungs, or intestines.Taxonomical Classification
Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order: Solanales
Family: Anacardiaceae
Genus: Mangifera
Species: Indica
VERNACULAR NAMES
Sanskrit: amraEnglish: mango, spring tree, cupids favorite
Hindi: aam
Urdu: aam
Telugu: mamidi
Bengali: aama
Marathi: amba
Konkani: ambo
Gujarathi: aambo
Tamil: mambhazham
Malayalam: mamabhazham
Kannada: mavinahaanu
Punjabi: amb
Sindhi: aam
Arabic: manga
Spanish: mango manga
Assamese: aam
Ceylon: amba
French: mangue
German: mangobaum
Burma: thar-yetthi
Nepal: mango
Mentions / Gana
AdhobhagaharaSynonyms
Synonyms in Ayurveda: amra, kamashar, madhavdruma, bhringubhishta, sidhurasa, vasantduta, atisaurabha, madirasav, kokilabandhuk, shukapriya, kharanasaRasa: Kashaya Madhura
Guna: Ruksha
Veerya: Sheetha
Vipaka: Katu
Prabhava: Medhya
Karma: Amavaathagna Krimighna
Cultivation:
The mango seedling (or seedlings in the case of polyembryonic seeds) emerges in 2 weeks and grows rhythmically from the start: a flush brings out the new shoot which extends in about 1 month time, after which the buds remain quiescent for shorter or longer periods. In a mature tree many twigs produce no extension growth for a year or longer, but in saplings most twigs flush up to 4 times per year if there is enough moisture. Flushes occur more or less synchronously depending upon the climate; during a long wet season the synchronization is gradually weakened. Leaves can remain functional for several years. The tree roots to a considerable depth, enabling it to find the moisture necessary for flowering/flushing during the dry season.
Normally only the buds at the compressed shoot tip partake in extension growth and flowering. Vigour finds expression in shoots of larger size and in the leafing out of more - often up to 5 - lateral buds at the shoot tip. A seedling mango comes into bearing after 5-7 years, some terminal buds producing an inflorescence whereas other terminals extend a flush of shoots. With the onset of bearing, the number of flushes is reduced to 2 or 3, including the dry-season flush which coincides with flowering.
Studies of several mango cultivars have revealed biennial flowering at the twig level, which means that shoots emerging from twigs which have flowered are unlikely to flower in their turn, even where flowering did not result in fruiting. Also, shoots of the last flush before flowering are less likely to break into bloom than twigs of previous flushes which have gone through much longer quiescent periods. In many Indian cultivars these tendencies are so strong that prolific bloom or late flushing necessarily lead to failure of the following bloom, thus leading to biennial bearing. It remains to be shown whether or not similar extremes occur in South-East Asian cultivars.
The inflorescence can reach full bloom from the time of flower initiation in as little as 25-30 days. Considering that each flower is a transformed shoot, an inflorescence is essentially as complex as a sizeable tree; hence the rate of organogenesis leading to bloom is astounding. Presumably the preceding quiescent period somehow paves the way for this explosive floral development. The fruits also grow fast: they ripen after 3-4 months, some late cultivars after 5 months.
Pollination is largely effected by insects (flies, bees); wind pollination is not very effective. Stigmas remain receptive for a short period only, mainly during the night and morning. Cross-pollination is recommended but polyembryonic cultivars in particular are often planted without pollinators. Fruit set is rather poor and variable, and losses due to premature drop occur right up to the harvest. Hence only about 1 out of 1000 perfect flowers can be expected to yield a fruit.
Propogation:
Polyembryonic cultivars used to be propagated mainly from seed, but budding and grafting are now becoming the rule, as was already the case for monoembryonic cultivars. Rooting of cuttings and layers is possible but not done on a commercial scale.
To obtain uniform rootstocks, seedlings are raised from polyembryonic cultivars, e.g. "Madu" in Indonesia, "Kaew" in Thailand, and "Kensington" in Australia. Research programmes to identify suitable dwarfing rootstocks are showing promising results in India. Seeds lose their viability in a matter of weeks and are pre-germinated as soon as possible after extraction. They are placed on their sides, the dorsal (most prominently curved) edge upwards, to produce a straight stem and root. Germination can be hastened by removing the tough endocarp before sowing.
Grafting can be done at any rootstock age, the earliest moment being when the thinnest possible graftwood matches the girth of the rootstock (in about 8 weeks from sowing). The rootstock stem should be sufficiently woody and thick (pencil size) to support cuts for budding. There is no consensus about the best method: in Thailand inarching of bagged rootstocks in mother trees is preferred, in the Philippines wedge grafting, elsewhere often side veneer grafting or patch budding. High temperature (25-30°C), actively growing rootstocks and hardened scion wood are important ingredients for success.
Nursery work takes 1-2 years; trees are preferably planted early in the rainy season. In Thailand the recommended spacing ranges from 12-8 m × 12-8 m, that is 69-156 trees/ha. The closest spacing is on raised ridges in the Central Province where a high water table limits rooting depth and tree size.
Harvesting:
The fruit is picked by hand, either by climbing the tree or by using a picking bag with a cutting edge mounted on a bamboo pole. It is difficult to assess maturity from the appearance of the fruit. Mature-green fruit should have attained full size, the "cheeks" should be well-developed and the endocarp should have hardened. There are more objective standards for major cultivars based on degrees Brix, specific gravity and firmness, but the simplest guide is number of days from full bloom or fruit set as established under an ASEAN research project.STANDARDIZATION:
Phytochemistry:
Tannins – Pyrogallotannins.Parts used for medicinal purpose
Whole plant, ,Commercial value:
Morphology:
The mango tree is an evergreen tree of varying size and shape. It has a deep taproot and profuse surface roots a stout trunk (90 cm in diameter) and an umbrella-shaped crown that may reach 20-40 m high . The leaves are simple, alternate, borne on 1-12.5 cm long petioles. Leaves are 16-30 cm long x 3-7 cm broad on flowering branches and up to 50 cm long on sterile branches. Young leaves are orange-red and turn shiny dark green on the upper surface when they mature. The edges of the leaves are somewhat wavy. Mango tree flowers are fragrant, pentameric, greenish-white or pinkish, very small (3-5 mm long x 1-1.5 mm broad) and densely borne on 30 cm long, pyramidal panicles . The fruit is a large fleshy drupe of very variable size, shape, colour and taste, with a woody endocarp (the pit), a resinous edible mesocarp and a thick exocarp, the peel. The fruits bear a characteristic beak at the proximal end of the fruit . Green when unripe, the fruit turns orange-reddish as it ripens. The fruit takes between 3 and 6 months to ripen. The seed can be found within the pit.Geographical distribution:
The mango supposedly originated in the Indo-Burma region, that is in the margin of the area of distribution of the genus, and in fact in the subtropicsThe mango thrives both in the subtropics and the tropics. In the subtropics the cold months ensure excellent floral induction, but late frosts are a major risk: tender parts of the tree are killed by frost. In the tropics the mango grows almost anywhere up to 1200 m elevation, but for fruit production a prominent dry season lasting more than 3 months is necessary. A flowering flush is produced during the dry season, but - contrary to the subtropics - flowering is erratic and a yield-limiting factor. At elevations above 600 m in the tropics the climate becomes too cool for the commercial cultivars, the optimum temperature being around 24-27 °C. Rainfall ranges from 750 to 2500 mm per year in tropical centres of production.
Mangoes grow in a wide range of soils and moisture regimes. The trees are drought-tolerant, and on the other hand do not seem to suffer from occasional flooding. A deep (rooting depth 2.5 m) but rather poor soil is preferred; easy access to water and nutrients tends to stimulate growth at the expense of flowering. A high pH is less detrimental than acid soils, the preferred range being 5.5-7.
ECOLOGICAL ASPECT:
Terrestrial habitat. Grows from sea level to 1200 m (3950 ft) in tropical latitudes; however, most commercial varieties are grown below 600 m (1950 ft); rainfall 400–3600 mm (16–140 in), fruits best with a well defined winter dry period. Vegetation: Grows with a wide range of cultivated species. Soils: Tolerates a range of soils; thrive in well-drained soils. Optimal pH 5.5–7.5, fairly tolerant of alkalinity. For good growth, they need a deep soil to accommodate the extensive root system. Mean annual temperature: 19-35 deg. C. Mean annual rainfall: 500-2500 mm.Pantropical distribution. Native to India and Burma. Wild populations can be found in Assam, India and Myanmar, especially the Assam-Chittagong Hills. Introduced to Bangladesh; China (Fujian, Hainan, Yunnan); Indonesia (Kalimantan); Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah); Myanmar; Philippines; Sri Lanka;Thailand; Viet Nam in South Asia; eastern Asia and eastern Africa; Exotic to Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Cote dIvoire, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, French Guiana, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Sao Tome et Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Surinam, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (US), Zanzibar
Plant conservation:
General Use:
Mango is one of the most popular of all tropical fruits. Mangiferin, being a polyphenolic antioxidant and a glucosyl xanthone, it has strong antioxidant, anti lipid peroxidation, immunomodulation, cardiotonic, hypotensive, wound healing, antidegenerative and antidiabetic activities.
Various parts of plant are used as a dentrifrice, antiseptic, astringent, diaphoretic, stomachic, vermifuge, tonic, laxative and diuretic and to treat diarrhea, dysentery, anaemia, asthma, bronchitis, cough, hypertension, insomnia, rheumatism, toothache, leucorrhoea, haemorrhage and piles. All parts are used to treat abscesses, broken horn, rabid dog or jackal bite, tumour, snakebite, stings, datura poisoning, heat stroke, miscarriage, anthrax, blisters, wounds in the mouth, tympanitis, colic, diarrhea, glossitis, indigestion, bacillosis, bloody dysentery, liver disorders, excessive urination, tetanus and asthma.
Ripe mango fruit is considered to be invigorating and freshening. The juice is restorative tonic and used in heat stroke. The seeds are used in asthma and as an astringent. Fumes from the burning leaves are inhaled for relief from hiccups and affections of the throat. The bark is astringent, it is used in diphtheria and rheumatism, and it is believed to possess a tonic action on mucus membrane. The gum is used in dressings for cracked feet and for scabies. It is also considered anti-syphilitic. The kernels are converted into flour after soaking in water and eliminating the astringent principles. Most parts of the tree are used medicinally and the bark also contains tannins, which are used for the purpose of dyeing.
Therapeutic Uses:
Clinical trials:
Toxicity studies:
Mango leaf ethanolic extracts (62% mangiferin) at 18.4g/kg twice daily over two weeks does not appear to be associated with any overt or histological signs of toxicity while chronic supplementation of 100-900mg/kg of this extract (17.2-155.2 times the clinical effective dose of 5.8mg/kg) over three months in mice showed alterations in blood cells and lipids that were deemed to not be overly clinically relevantUse in other system of medicine:
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