ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Malabar Nut. Leaves and twigs commonly used in Sri Lanka as green manure for field crops, and elsewhere in rice fields. Leaves, on boiling in water, give durable yellow dye used for coarse cloth and skins; in combination with indigo, cloth takes a greenish-blue to dark green color. Plants are used in folk remedies for glandular tumors in India. Leaf used for asthma, bronchitis, consumption, cough, fever, jaundice, and tuberculosis; smoked for asthma; prescribed as a mucolytic, antitussive, antispasmodic, expectorant. As plants are quite common, often abundant, and gregarious in regions of adaptation and where people use the plant, the plant is cultivated mainly in areas of habitation, as hedges, wind-breaks, and for reclaiming soil. An important plant for reclaiming waste land in areas of adaptation, as in India and Sri Lanka.
