Ethnobotany and Pharmacology of Dioscorea species

Sanjeet Kumar
Ravenshaw University
Cuttack, India
sanjeet.biotech@gmail.com

Botanical name	Plant parts	Ethno-botanical / Pharmacological values	Supporting literature
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Used in piles, dysentery, syphilis and ulcers	Namarata et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Used in contraceptive	Swarnkar & Katewa, 2008
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Used against abdominal pain after delivery.	Swarnkar & Katewa, 2008
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Cough, Leprosy, diabetic, spermoitic, aphrodisiac and antihelmintic	Prasant Kumar et al., 2010
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Against rheumatism	Sahu et al., 2010
D. hispida	Tuber	An antidote against arrow poison	Edison et al., 2006
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Swelling, scorpion and Snake bites	Edison et al., 2006
D. wallichi	Tuber	Jaundice	Edison et al., 2006
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Antidiabetic activity	Ghosh et al., 2012
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Antioxidant activity	Suriyavathana & Indupriya, 2011
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Anti-ulcer activity	Rani et al., 2010
D. hispida	Tuber	Anti-inflammatory , analgesic activities	Murthy et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Anti-hyperglycemic activity of aqueous extract	Ahmed et al., 2009
D. hispida	Leaves	Antihelmintic activity	Suresh et al., 2011
Dioscorea spp.	Tuber	Used in gastritis	Perez et al., 2005
D. hamiltonii	Tuber	Used as body refrigerant and in diarrhea	Lila, 2009
D. hispida	Tuber	Against peeling of skin of feet	Lila, 2009
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Tuberculosis	Lila, 2009
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Diphtheria in cattle	Lila, 2009
D. esculenta	Tuber	Anti-inflammatory activity	Olayemi & Ajaiyeoba, 2007
D. alata	Tuber	Anti-clastogenic effect of aqueous extract	Wang et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Bulbils	Analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties	Mbiantcha et al., 2011
D. hispida	Tuber	Antioxidant activity	Theersin & baker 2009
D. bulbifera	tuber	contraceptive and birth control	R.C Misra et al. 2012
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Leprosy	Murray, 1984
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Pig cysticerosis	Komori , 1997
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Sore throat and Struma	Teponno, 1997
D. bulbifera	Bulbils	Cuts, sores, abscesses, boils, wound infection	Cogne, 2002
D. bulbifera	Bulbil	Piles, dysentery, syphilis, ulcers, pain and inflammation	Gupta & Singh, 1989
D. bulbifera	Bulbil	Analgesic and anti-inflammatory	Mbiantcha 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Antinociceptic activity	Gene et al., 1998
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Antinociceptic activity	Collier et al., 1968
Dioscorea spp	Tuber	Piles, skin infections, intestinal worms, obesity, diabetes, herbal tonic, poor appetite	Foster and duke, 2000 Natraj et al., 2009 Uadia, 2003
D. wallichii	Tuber	Against stomach pain	Rout & Panda, 2010
D. bulbifera	Tuber	To cure piles	Behera, 2006
D. bulbifera	Tuber	To cure muscular pain	Sahu et al., 2010
D. puber	Tuber	To cure weakness	Kumar & Satpathy, 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	To cure hernia and against Scorpian bite wound	Nayak et al., 2004
Dioscorea species	Tuber	As stimulant, tonic, carminative and expectorant	Mishra et al., 2008
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Tuber is boiled with D. uniflorus and is given to women one time a day for nearly a month after delivery to revive their strength.	Mishra et al., 2008
D. glabra	tuber	Considered a general tonic	Mishra et al., 2008
D. hamiltonii	Tuber	Used to get relief from piles	Mishra et al., 2008
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Enhance appetite	Mishra et al., 2008
Dioscore spp	Tuber	Arrow poison , for birth control	Uadia 2003 Crabbe 1979
Dioscorea spp	Tuber	Anti-fungal and anti-bacterial activity	Sautour et al., 2004 Li et al., 2001 Quan et al., 2006
Dioscorea spp	Tuber	Antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity	Araghinikanam et al., 1996 Sonibare & Abegunde 2012 Panduranga et al., 2011 Liu et al., 2006
D. hispida	Leaves	Anti-inflammatory activity	Panduranga et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Anti-tumor activity	Gao et al., 2007
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Anti-microbial activity	Parkash & Hosetti, 2012
D. hispida	Leaf	Analgesic activity	Panduranga et al., 2011
D. alata	Tuber	Antidiabetic activity	Maithili et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Antidiabetic activity	Ghosh et al., 2012
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Tubers are applied on swelling of joints and also used as tonic to improve body immunity.	Edison et al., 2006
D. esculenta	Tuber	Tubers are used for treatment of chest pain, nervous disorders and swellings.	Edison et al., 2006
D. hamiltonii	Tuber	Treatment of stomach ache	Edison et al., 2006
D. deltoidea	Tuber	For production of natural medicine for birth control	Edison et al., 2006
D. Kumaonensis	Tuber	Tubers used in the treatment of arthiritis and rheumatism	Edison et al., 2006
D. dumetorum	Tuber	Tuber juice is used to make arrow poison	Maundu et al., 1999
D. wallichii	Tuber	Stomach pain	Rout & Panda, 2010
Dioscorea spp.	Tuber	Good for intestinal colic, relieve dysmenorrhoea, allay uterine and ovarine pain, against rheumatoid arthritis, to relieve intense inflammation in the acute phase, in spasmodic asthma, good to women for menopausal problems, good for labour pain and the prevention of early miscarriage, relieve the pain of childbirth, inducing vomiting and increasing urine flow.	Krochmal, 1973 Lust , 1986 Anthony C Dweck, 2002
D. bulbifera-	Tuber	Paste is applied on the infected skin	Tiwari & Pande, 2006
D. bulbifera	Leaf	Juice is used against skin infections	Girach et al., 1994
D. hamiltonii	Tuber	Eaten for poor appetite	Brahmam et al., 1990
D. walichii	Tuber	Roasted and eaten in flatulence	Brahmam et al., 1990
Dioscorea spp.	Tuber	Tuber edible in the district Mayurbhanj	Behera et al., 2008
D. dumetorum	Tuber	Used against Jaundice	Sonibare & Abegunde, 2012
D. hirtiflora	Tuber	used against Gonorrhoea	Sonibare & Abegunde, 2012
D. polygonoides	Tuber	Hypoglycemic	Omoruyi , 2008
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Bulbils are used to reduce throat pain	Mark, 2003
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Boiled tuber are taken orally to reduce body heat	Singh et al., 2009
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Oral administration of tuber powder mixed with honey and uses it for increasing sperm.	Neelima  et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Used against boils and dysentery	Singh 2012
D. deltoidea	Tuber	Oral contraceptive	Singh et al., 2009
D. wallichii	Tuber	De-appetizer	Radha et al., 2012
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Increase sperm number	Radha et al., 2012
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Increase sexual vigour	Radha et al., 2012
D. alata	Tuber	wormicide	Arun et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Wormicide	Arun et al., 2011
D. deltoidea	Tuber	Wormicide	Arun et al., 2011
D. prazeri	Tuber	Wormicide	Arun et al., 2011
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Fracture	Padal et al., 2010
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Fracture	Padal et al., 2010
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Fracture	Padal et al., 2010
D. bellophylla	Tuber	Jaundice	Pant et al., 2010
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Bone fracture	Pant et al., 2010
D. alata	Tuber	Tuber powder used is useful in piles	Jadhav et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Tuber powder mix with butter is given to check diarrhea	Jadhav et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Asthma	Choudhary et al., 2008
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Stomach pain	Choudhary et al., 2008
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Used by tribal ladies as contraceptive	Choudhary et al., 2008
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Used in digestive tract problems	Choudhary et al., 2008
D. hispida	Tuber	It decrease the blood glucose	Sunarish et al., 2007
D. hispida	Tendrils	De-Worming	Sunarish et al., 2007
D. hispida	Tuber	Water of soaked tuber is used as medicine for eyes	Sunarish et al., 2007
D. hispida	Tuber	Used as fish poison	Sunarish et al., 2007
D. esculenta	Tuber	Tuber and bulbils are edible and used for culinary purposes as vegetables or main meal	Sunarish et al., 2007
D. hamiltonii	Tuber	Crushed tubers are given as body refrigerant during summer seasons and good in diarrhea.	Sharma et al., 2009
D. hispida	Tuber	Sap of tuber is pasted around the affected parts and covered with clothes for about one night to treat peeling of skin of feet.	Sharma et al., 2009
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Is used as anthilmintic.	Sharma et al., 2009
D. deltoidea	Tuber	Paste of tuber is also used to kill body lice.	Sharma et al., 2009
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Used as refrigerant to reduce body heat during summer.	Sharma et al., 2009
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Crushed mass of tuber is given to cattle when they become sick by eating green leaves of maize.	Sharma et al., 2009
D. puber	Bulbil	Bulbils are cooked and taken to cure colic pain.	Sheikh et al., 2013
D. oppositifolia	Leaf	Leaves paste is used as antiseptic for ulcers.	Sheikh et al., 2013
D. deltoidea	Tuber	Tubers are crushed and paste is taken orally to cure intestinal worms	Abbasi et al., 2013
D. bulbifera	Tuber	In skin infection	Tiwari et al., 2006
D. vexans	Tuber	Tubers are known to have anti-fertility activity.	Das et al., 2006
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Against bronchial cough and used as Antiseptic	Bhatt et al., 2006
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Useful in acidity and ulcers	Parle et al., 2006
D. bulbifera	Stem	Tender shoots and twigs are crushed and rubbed on the wet hairs to remove dandruff	Mehta et al., 2007
D. oppositifolia	Tuber	Powered root mixed with cow urine is applied on Scorpion bite	Ratanam et al., 2008
D. hirsute	Tuber	Tubers are used against dandruff	Ganeshan et al., 2009
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Root paste mixed with cow milk is taken orally for the treatment of cough and asthma.	Ray et al., 2011
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Against typhoid with Curcuma aromatic	Jain et al., 2008
D. bellophylla	Tuber	Tubers with hot water are given in fever, malaria, headache and dysentery	Srivastava et al., 2010
D. hispida	Tuber	Tubers are roasted, pounded and its paste is applied on wounds and injuries	Kamble et al., 2010
D. bulbifera	Tuber	Tubers is used in ulcer, piles, syphilis, dysentery and powder used to kill the hair lices.	Mahanta et al., 2009
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Tuber is used as tonic and to cure stomach troubles, rheumatic swellings	Mahanta et al., 2009
D. esculenta	Tuber	Tuber paste is used to relieve pain and to treat boils, dysentery and swellings	Mahanta et al., 2009
D. hispida	Tuber	Tuber is used to treat vomiting, indigestion, possesses narcotic properties and fresh tuber taken as purgative	Mahanta et al., 2009
D. pentaphylla	Tuber	Used as medicine	Begum & Hynniewta, 2009
D. bulbifera	Tuber	About 10 gm of powder is given once a day for 5-6 days after menses as contraceptive
D. hispida	Tuber	Tubers are roasted, pounded and its paste is applied on wounds and injuries.