Canna indica L.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 40-41

Canna indica L.

Names.

Myanmar: budatharana, ar-do, adalut. English: canna, Indian shot, Queesland arrowroot.

Range.

Tropical America. Found growing throughout Myanmar; also cultivated.

Uses.

Sap: Aids in regulating bowels and healing sores. Rhizome: Employed as a diaphoretic, demulcent, and to treat fever and dropsy. Thinly sliced, dried, made into a preserve with jaggery (sugar made from juice of the toddy palm, Borassus flabellifer , inflorescence), and stored in a glass jar after adding the powder of five kinds of spices (names not specified in Agricultural Corporation 1980); then ball the size of a betel ( Piper betle ) nut eaten every morning and evening to treat male and female disorders, imbalance in the blood, diarrhea, menopause symptoms, insufficient blood circulation, hemorrhoids, impotence, poor complexion, loss of strength, backache, general aches and pains, and jaundice. About half a cup of the liquid in which the rhizome has been boiled together with raw sugar, taken once in the morning and one at night, used to treat menstrual disorders, stiffness in the ligaments and tendons, bloated stomach, and urinary tract disease. Flower and Fruit: Young flowers and fruits, lightly boiled in water and eaten with a dip or in a salad, used to treat too little urine and difficulty in passing urine; also to treat a fever. Eating a curry into which liquid from boiling the flowers has been added during cooking is used to treat a stiff neck, stiffness in the fingers and toes, and backache, as well as mucus in the stool, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. Root: Taking about a quarter cup of the liquid in which the roots have been boiled after adding some roasted salt, used to treat fever, sore throat, and mucus in the respiratory system; about a half cup of liquid in which the roots have been boiled together with jaggery, used to treat edema, body aches, and sharp spasmodic pain in the bowels.

Note.

Medicinal uses of this species in China are discussed in Duke and Ayensu (1985).

References.

Nordal (1963), Agricultural Corporation (1980).