Sitafal: The Sugar Apple

Annona squamosa belongs to family Annonaceae and it is known as Sugar apple or Custard apple in English. A shrub or small tree up to 6 m high, Custard apple is edible fruit with white pulp that contains many black shiny seeds in it. It is commonly found in deciduous forests and also cultivated in many parts of India. Pulp of the fruit is eaten fresh or converted into juice or shake. Fruits are normally eaten fresh. It is known for various medicinal properties too.

The roots of this plant are purgative in nature. Bark is a powerful astringent. Fruits are considered as a good tonic in Ayurveda. It enriches blood and it is used as expectorant. It is known to increases muscular strength. Seeds are cooling and it lessens burning sensation too. It relieves vomiting sensations. Patalkot herbal healers dry the unripe fruit and they prepare powder of it. This powder is mixed with gram-flour to kill intestinal worms. The seed powder is applied on head to kill lice in hair. Tribal ladies apply the seed powder on their scalp for hairwash. Leaves are known to heal ulcers and wounds. Fresh trodden leaves are inhaled to conquer hysteria. Decoction obtained from the leaves is said to be effective in cases of dysentery or severe diarrhea. The bark decoction is also good to stop diarrhea. According to Bhumkas (Local healers) in Patalkot, 500 gm leaves are boiled in water for 5 mins and if taken bath, it cures rheumatoid arthritis. Leaves are good to cure diabetes. Bhagats (Local healers) in Dang district of Gujarat state in India prescribe Sitafal leaves for the arthritis problems. Bark of the plant is crushed and made into powder form. One teaspoon of this powder is thus very effective in stomach problems. There are many other medicinal uses of this plant. Healers claim to cure almost 15 common ailments by fixing Sitafal in their formulations.

Tribal farmers in Patalkot prepare a wonderful pesticide from the leaves of Sweet Apple. For this, they crush 500gm leaves of the plant and mix it with cow urine and Tobacco powder and boil it with 10 liter water for 45 mins. The decoction obtained is the concentrated pesticide. 50 ml of this concentrate solution is thus mixed with 15 ltrs of water and sprayed on the insect infested soil.

The above article is published for information purposes. No herbal medication should be applied in home without any consent from the respective family doctors. Author aims to provide information on medicinal and other important uses of this plant. This article is written for awareness purposes.