Names:

• General: Plantain.
• Hausa: Agade
• Ibibio: Ukom
• Igbo: Jioko, Abirika
• Yoruba: Ogede agbagba

Description:

Plantain is an herbaceous perennial, monocotyledonous plant belonging to the genus Musa in the family Musacaceae. It can grow to a height between 3 m and 15 m with a robust treelike pseudostem, a crown of large elongated oval deep-green leaves (up to 365 cm in length and 61 cm in width), with a prominent midrib and submerged rhizome for roots. Each plant produces a single inflorescence like drooping spike. The fruits are oblong, fleshy, 8-13cm long. It is possibly one of the oldest cultivated plants. Plantain can serve multiple purposes, including of dietary/nutritional and therapeutic ones.

Cultivation/Propagation

• It is extensively grown and cultivated as a fruit plant in Nigeria as it grows almost everywhere in the country. The suckers from the roots are planted.

Medicinal Benefits

• All parts of the banana plant have medicinal applications. The plant extracts and preparations are known to posses the following properties:
  • Hypocholesterolaemic.
  • Anti atherosclerosis.
  • Anti-snake venom.
  • Antihypertensive.
  • Wound healing.
  • Antidiarrhoeal.
  • Hypoglycemic.
  • Antiulcerative.
  • Antimicrobial.
  • Anti-allergic.
  • Antimalarial.
  • Antioxidant.
  • Anticancer.
  • Diuretic.

Other Benefits:

• A fungicide in the peel and pulp of green fruits is active against a fungus disease of tomato and other vegetable plants.
  • The fruits serve as food either when ripe or unripe.
  • The leaves serve as livestock feed and compost

How it is used:

• The sap from the pseudostem stops bleeding from lacerations; it is used to manage hysteria, epilepsy, leprosy, fevers, hemorrhages, acute dysentery and diarrhea, and it is applied on hemorrhoids, insect and other stings and bites.
• The sap from the roots is administered in digestive disorders, dysentery and diarrheal diseases. It is also used as antihelmintic, blood purifier and for treating venereal diseases.
• The unripe fruit is used for treating diarrhoea, dysentery, intestinal lesions in ulcerative colitis, diabetes, sprue, uremia, nephritis, gout, hypertension, and cardiac diseases.
• Aqueous extracts of raw, boiled, roasted, and elastic paste derived from green, unripe plantain and further processed into flours have antioxidant effects.
• The astringent ashes of the unripe peel and of the leaves are taken in dysentery and diarrhea and used for treating malignant ulcers.
• The florescent when boiled serve for the treatment of bronchitis; dysentery; intestinal ulcers; menorrhagia; and for managing diabetes.
• The unripe pulp extracts and extracts from the fluorescent are used for managing diabetes and diabetic disease
• The leaves (ashes) are used for treating eczematous lessons, and as cool dressings for blister and burns.
• The sap of the roots is very beneficial for the management of prostate diseases.
• The young leaves are placed as poultices on burns and other skin afflictions.

Reported Side Effects/Caution:

• There are no documented side effects observed from the intake of the various edible parts of Plantain or extract however, caution should be applied when using the fermented extracts because of the alterations that occur in the fermentation process.

References:

• http://japsonline.com/admin/php/uploads/78_pdf.pdf
• https://bnrc.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42269-021-00549-3