Table 5.
The uses of selected indigenous tropical fruits as food and folk medicine.
| Number | Fruit | As food | Folk medicine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Averrhoa bilimbi [84] | Freshly eaten as salad or pickle, and used in cooking dishes (whole ripe fruit) | Ripe fruits combined with pepper for inducing sweating; pickled bilimbi is smeared all over the body to hasten recovery after a fever; fruit conserves for treatment of coughs, beriberi, and biliousness; fruit syrup for reducing fever and inflammation and to alleviate internal hemorrhoids |
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| 2 | Baccaurea macrocarpa | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 3 | Baccaurea motleyana [84] | Freshly eaten and made into jam (ripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 4 | Bouea macrophylla [84] | Freshly eaten as salad or pickle, and used in cooking dishes (whole ripe fruit) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 5 | Canarium odontophyllum [84] | Freshly eaten and as salad, made into jam, and used in cooking dishes (ripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 6 | Cynometra cauliflora | Freshly eaten as salad and used in cooking dishes (ripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 7 | Durio kutejensis [84] | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 8 | Garcinia hombroniana | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 9 | Garcinia parvifolia | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh), as pickle and used in cooking dishes (unripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 10 | Mangifera foetida [84] | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh), as pickle and used in cooking dishes (unripe flesh) | Seeds used against trichophytosis, scabies, and eczema |
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| 11 | Mangifera pajang [84] | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh), as pickle and used in cooking dishes (unripe flesh) | No report on usage as folk medicine |
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| 12 | Phyllanthus emblica [85] | Freshly eaten (ripe flesh), as pickle and used in cooking dishes (unripe flesh) | Fruit for treating cough and asthma, and several other health complications |
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| 13 | Syzygium jambos [86] | Freshly eaten, made into jam and served as dessert (whole ripe fruit) | Ripe fruit is used as a tonic for brain and liver and as a diuretic; seeds for treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, and catarrh |
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| 14 | Syzygium malaccense [86] | Freshly eaten (whole ripe fruit), as pickle and used in cooking dishes (unripe fruit) | Fruit decoction as a febrifuge |
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| 15 | Ziziphus mauritiana [86, 87] | Freshly eaten as salad or pickle, and used in cooking dishes (whole ripe fruit) | Ripen fruit for treatment of sore throat and cough; seed for treatment of diarrhea and weakness of stomach |