INTRODUCTION

Ancient Traditional Siddha System of Medicine last for several thousand of years. In those days palm leaves are used as a writing material ancient saint’s mentioned a lot of remedies in Palm leaf manuscripts (Olaichuvai), used for communication purposes and it was an eco friendly. This system coordinates both body and mind of the human being. Treatment modalities are different with different type of medicines to maintain the normalcy of the body. Siddha material medica deals with numerous plants where their distributions, types, actions, therapeutic usage in various forms. Palmyra plant is one of the largest tree which is seen in tropical regions in sandy areas and in coastal areas of river bank sides. Medicinal value of the palm beverage is higher it is used in various preparation of medicines, for purification of, as an ingredient, anubana etc. Root is a simple food material and gives as a natural strength to the body. Palm kernel water is used for some skin infections like prickly. Leaves are used as a building material, food utensils, hand fan. Scary palmyra tree is rich in phytoconstituents. It also has the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic activity. Standardization of the parts and usage of the palmyra plant is very important.

Taxonomical Hierarchy:

Kingdom : Plantae

Sub-Kingdom: Tracheobionta

Superdivision: Spermatophyta

Division : Magnoliophyta

Class : Liliopsida

Subclass : Arecidae

Order : Arecales

Family : Arecaceae

Genus : Borassus L.

Species : Borassus flabellifer L.⁽¹⁾

Synonyms : Borassus flabelliformis L.

Borassus flabelliformis Roxb.

Borassus sundaicus Becc.

Borassus tunicatus Lour.

Old names :

Lontarus domestica Gaertn. nom. illeg.

Pholidocarpus tunicatus (Lour.) H.Wendl. ,

Thrinax tunicata (Lour.) Rollisso⁽²⁾

Vernacular names

Hindi : Taad

English : Toddy palm, Palmyra palm

Tamil : Talam

Telugu : Tatichettu

Malayalam : Karimpana, ampana

Bengali : Taala

Kannada : Olegari, tatinimgu

Sanskrit : Taalah ⁽¹⁾

Assames : tal

Urudu : taad

Marati : taada

Konkani : eroal

Gujarati :taad ⁽³⁾

Geographical Distribution: ⁽⁴⁾

Figure 1. Geographical distribution of Palm trees.

Palms are distributed in India to Japan in Asian countries. Also seen in Australia, Pacific ocean, America, Indian ocean. It is a more prominent tree in the landscape area^.
(5)

Phyto Chemical Constituents:

Fresh pulp is rich in vitamin A and C, whereas the sap contains n-Hexadecanoic acid, Pentanoic acid, 10-undecenyl ester, Octadecanoic acid , Phenol, 3,4,5-trimethoxy-, Phenol, 5-(1,5-dimethyl-4-hexenyl)-2-methyl-,

(R)-, Pyran-4-one, 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-, Resorcinol, Phenol, 2,6-dimethoxy-,6H-Purin-6-one, 2-amino- 1,7-dihydro-,6H-Purin-6-one, 2-amino-1,7-dihydro-, 1,4-Benzenediol, 2-methoxy-, Phenol, 3,4-dimethoxy-, Benzene,

1-(1,5-dimethyl-4-hexenyl)-4-methyl-, Phenol, 4-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-, 1-Butanol, 2-amino-3- Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoic acid.(6)

Major chemical constituents of sap of B.flabellifer(7)

Figure 2: a. Borassosides

Figure 2. b.Dioscin

Ecology: ⁽⁸⁾

Palms are limited in topical and sub tropical countries of America and Asia. Prefer wet lands, withstand freezing temperature, hardest palm (needle palm), regenerative ability, terminal crown with fan shaped leaves, unbranched, eco friendly, whole tree is destroyed by the destruction of apical meristems. Palm life time is 70 years.

Botanical Description:

Leaf: Midrib used as a broom . Leaf used as a building material. it is identified by its fan shaped leaves with 90-120cm length of fibrous petiole.^(9,10)

Inflorescence: it is produces once in 15-20 years. It is also helpful in determining the sex of the tree. Male flowers are the type of catckin inflorescence less than 1cm and semi circular clusters which lie beneath the bracts and scaly in nature.

Female flowers are bigger in sized and compared with goal ball. It is situated in the surface and solitary in the axis of the inflorescence^{. (10,11)}

Fruit: as a food. Very moist in nature, short shelf life, edible to eat, rich in carotenoid, yellowish orange color. Fruit measures about 8-15 cm in diameter. Pericarp is used to differentiate the matured ones as violet in color and younger one appears in green color. Period of maturation of fruits is within September to October. ^(11,12)

Stem: Long cylindrical wood is used as a fire wood. It is a straight unbranched black tree with the height of 20-30m. it appears hard scary due to the fallen branched leaves. ^(10,11)

Sap: traditionally toddy is collected with earthen pots by tapping the shoots, collected morning called Kallu in tamil. It tastes sour, natural alcoholic beverage. ⁽¹¹⁾

Root: used for medicinal purpose, starchy, club shape, tender material food material for poor peoples. 100-150 seeds are present in 4 layers. ⁽¹¹⁾

Actions: ⁽¹³⁾

Parts used	Actions
Leaf, Bark	Astringent Aphrodisiac
Nungu	Diuretic’ Demulcent, Nutrient.
Madhu	Diuretic, Refrigerant
Kall	Stimulant, Antiphlogistic

Experimental Studies:

1. Antioxidant activity:

Pramod et al, evaluated the antioxidant activity of fruit Borassus flabellifer by DPPH and ABTS spectrophotometric methods radical cation decolourisation assay. The highest radical scavenging activity is higher in DPPH inhibition aqueous extract (81.34µg/ml) and ABTS inhibition aqueous extract (74.12µg/ml) in different concentration. The activity is higher with the higher concentration. This study concludes with the herbs with saponins are rich in antioxidant activity. ⁽¹⁴⁾

2. Antibacterial activity:

Prasad et al, studied the antimicrobial activity of dry powdered leaves of Borassus flabellifer by the methanol extract and acetone fraction. By agar well diffusion method B.flabellifer is treated against the species of B.subtilis, S.aureus, P.vulgaris, E. coli, K.pneumonia and P.aeruginosa. inhibitory zone diameter of the species shows better antibacterial activity against the antibiotics Amoxicillin and Ciprofloxacin. Concluded with B.flabellifer is rich in antibacterial activity. ⁽¹⁵⁾

3. Antifungal activity:

Prasad et al, evaluated the antifungal activity of leaves of Borassus flabellifer by methanol extract and acetone fraction for fungus. B.flabellifer is treated against A.flavus, M.canis, A.fumigates, S.cervisiae, V.myditis, C.blanki, A.niger with th standard antibiotic Ciprofloxacin. The zone of inhibition against pathogenic fungus showed a better result. Hence it has an antifungal activity. ⁽¹⁵⁾

4. Anti-arthritic activity:

Gummadi et al, refered the Anti-arthritic activity of B.flabellifer. Male flowers of Borassus flabellifer is subjected to ethanolic extract. Freund’s Complete Adjuvant (FCA) are used to induce polyarthritis to check the anti-arthritic activity. In right hind paw FCA are injected of 0.1ml measured by Plethysmometer and testd with few rats for 12 consecutive days. Their tissues were isolated and subjected to assay hydroxyproline, hexosamine and total protein. By this study B.flabellifer leaves are effective in treating arthritis. ⁽¹⁾

5. Cytotoxic effect:

Gummadi et al, refered the cytotoxic effect of seed coat of B.flabellifer. by MTT assay growth of HeLa cells are inhibited by the concentration ranging between 32µg/ml to 750µg/ml. B.flabellifer are selected in various concentration and identified their cytotoxic effect with growth inhibition. ⁽¹⁾

6. Anti-asthmatic property:

Rajgopal et al, studied the herbal management of asthma in Kannur district in Kerla. B.flabelifer is rich in carbohydrates, glycosides, fats, albuminoids, saponins, gums, vitamin A,B and C. fruit works as an anti-asthmatic drug. (Sudhakar Kommu et al,2011). ⁽¹⁶⁾

THE LIST OF PREPARATION IN WHICH PALM PRODUCTS ARE USED IN TRADITIONAL SIDDHA SYSTEM:

●Panai karpam: ⁽¹⁷⁾

Root of palmyra tree is cut into smaller pieces, add 2 parts of water and the mixture is to dry under sunlight (Suriya pudam) and decoction is prepared by boiling (Deepakni) as metioned in literary text. Given three times in a day for Pterygium, Jaundice, Alopecia and UTI (Pitha vaayu).

●Palm toddy used as a testing factor: ⁽¹⁸⁾ Prepared egg parpam is taken in sesame seed size. Mixed with either of palm toddy, coconut toddy, date toddy consistency of toddy is changed to a dilute form. This method is used to check the completion of parpam in a definite form.

Table 1: Represent palm products used as an anubanam

Medicine name	Dosage	Anubanam	Mode of medicine	Uses	Reference
Eggu parpam	¼ kadalai alavu	Panangal	Internal	Pitha sanni vidam	⁽¹⁸⁾
Karuvanga parpam	¼ thuvarai alavu	Panangal	Internal	Vatha disorders	^{(18 )}
Naga parpam	1 part of avarai vithai	Panangal + coconut oil	Internal	Vatha lalitha viranam	^{(18 )}
Rasa mezhugu	Sundai alavu	Panai vellam	Internal	Megha vellai Rheumatoid arthritis	⁽¹⁹⁾
Kumatti mezhugu	Vazhalai kaai alavu	Panai vellam	Internal	Vatha disorders	⁽¹⁹⁾
Nandhi mai	Thetran alavu	Panai vellam	Internal	Gastric ulcers eczema	⁽¹⁹⁾
Vaan mezhugu	Ulunthalavu	Panai vellam	Internal	Kaba vatha sanni tuberculosis	⁽¹⁹⁾

●young blossoms ⁽²²⁾ of the palm are crushed are their drops are left into the eyes of persons eyes affected with chicken pox.

●Usage of palm hand fan in fever cases:^(20,21)

Vatha, pitha, kabha, kabavatha, pithakaba, pithavatha, vatapitha conditions.

● Palm tree blossom used for bleeding piles.

● Inflorescence – Rheumatic dyspepsia, tooth diseases, chronic fever.

●Water of kernel of young palmyra fruits used for prickley.

●Fruit kernel ⁽²²⁾ eaten with skin cures dysentery.

● Fruit used for treating eczema, scabies, constipation, UTI.

●Toddy is used for aphrodisiac action, thirst, purifying arsenic compounds.

●Root cures syphilis, refrigerant action, gives beauty to skin.

● Toddy with lime stone applied on the pot, a sweet dink is collected called patha neer. Drink continuously for 40 days it cures venereal diseases.

Table 2: Represents list of medicine preparation in which palm jaggrey used as ingredient

Name of medicine	Dosage	Uses	Mode of medicine	Reference
Gunma kudori mezhugu	Sundai alavu	Gastric Ulcer Pitha vayu	Internal	⁽¹⁹⁾
Kowsikar kuzhambu	2 varagan	Eczema leucorrhoea	Internal	⁽¹⁹⁾
Pancha deepakni legiyam	Paakalavu	Vatha disorder Loss of apppetite	Internal	⁽¹⁹⁾
Karisalai legiyam	Punnai alavu	Tiredness Burning sensation	Internal	⁽¹⁹⁾
Inji legiyam	Paakalavu	Gastric ulcers Soolai	Internal	⁽¹⁹⁾
Rasa ganthi mezhugu		Scabies Leprosy Cervical adenitis	Internal	⁽¹⁹⁾

● Intake of root as a food gives strength to the body.

● Panan Kizangu kudineer: ⁽¹⁷⁾ (A decoction prepared from the root of B.flabellifer)

Roots of palm are cut into pieces and 2 parts of water is added and kept under sunlight (suriya pudam) then boiled prepared as a decoction. Thrice a day cures Pitha disorders.

CONCLUSION:

This paper deals with the older traditional system of medicine with the wide usage of palm. The experimental studies made with this plant are very important to know about their medicinal values. Significant of this plant is well understood with these data collection. Therapeutic value of the drug are higher to lead the life in a better way. Easily available with a wide usage and hence it prevent the body from any infections with its medicinal properties.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special acknowledge to my friends and parents for their motivation to carry over this work.

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