Folk Tapioca.
Action Staple food for poorer section of the population in many tropical countries. The starch is used for the manufacture of dextose, liquid glucose. The bitter variety is used for treating scabies and weeping skin.
The tuber is a good source of pro- vitamin A carotenoids. It contains

0.1—3.0 mg/kg (fresh weight) of beta- carotene and 0.05—00.6 mg/kg (fresh weight) of lutein. The bitterness of the tuber is related to the cyanoglucoside content which ranges from 320 to 1,100 mcg cyanide/g in very bitter tubers and from 27.5 to 77.5 mcg is non-bitter tubers. Boiling, crushing and sun-drying reduce bitterness and also cyanoglucoside content. The tannin equivalent content in the clones varies from 0.31 to 0.34% and saponin equivalent varies from 0.18 to 0.29%.
Feeding tapioca significantly reduced the plasma cholesterol profile experimentally in cats and rats.
Manilkara kauki (L.) Dubard. Synonym Minusops Kauki L. Family Sapotaceae.
Habitat A native of Malaya; occasionally grown in gardens, especially in North India, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

English Kauki.

Ayurvedic Khirni.

Siddha Palai.

Action Root and bark—astringent. Given in infantile diarrhoea. Seed— febrifuge, anthelmintic, antileprotic. Leaf—used as poultice for tumours.
Seeds contain about 16% of fatty oil and 1% saponin.
Manilkara hexandra (Roxb.) Dubard, synonym Mimusops hexandra Roxb., found in central India and Deccan Peninsula, and cultivated throughout the greater part of India, is also equated with Khirni.

    

 

 

Manilkara kauki (L.) Dubard. 397

one, taraxerol, friedelin, lupeol and beta- sitosterol. Leaves contain several sugars, free malic and citric acids and amino acids. Some esters of benzophenone C-glucosides and kinic and shikmic acids have also been reported. Mangiferin is present predominantly in the leaves and twigs.
The bark contains phenolic compounds (gallocatechin, protocatechuic acid), xanthones (homomangiferin), several triterpenoids and sterols.

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