Genus Myrica is a large group comprising more than 97 species in the Myricaceae family. This family contains woody plants native to the subtropical and temperate zones of the earth [1]. Plant species of this genus are distributed in China, Taiwan, Japan, Western Highland of Cameroon, North America, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nepal, and India [2,3,4,5]. Specifically, Myrica esculenta Buch.-Ham. ex. D. Don named ‘Hairy Bayberry’ and widely known as Kaiphal or Kataphala in the Indian subcontinent, is broadly used in Ayurveda (traditional Indian system of medicine) [6,7,8]. But this plant also has other synonyms, such as Myrica sapida Wall. and Myrica farqhariana Wall. [5,9,10]. Myrica plants grow well in nitrogen-depleted soils, mixed forests, agricultural and marginal lands [1,11]. Morella esculenta (Buch.-Ham. ex. D. Don) I.M. Turner is the newly accepted name for Myrica esculenta Buch.-Ham. ex.D. Don, and the later name is treated as a basionym of Morella esculenta. Taxonomical classification of Myrica esculenta is Kingdom: Plantae; Phylum: Tracheophyta; Class: Magnoliopsida; Order: Fagales; Family: Myricaceae; Genus: Morella [12].

M. esculenta is known for its edible fruits and other by-products. Indeed, its fruits have been a potential income generating source for the local tribes of the Meghalaya and sub-Himalayan region [13,14]. It is likewise known by a variety of names, such as “Katphal” in Sanskrit, “Kaiphal” in Urdu, “Nagatenga” in Assam, ‘Soh-phi’ in Khasi and ‘Box myrtle’ in English [1,15,16,17]. All the parts of the M. esculenta plant have huge nutritional and therapeutic importance. Fruits are used for syrups, jams, pickles, and preparation for refreshing drinks [14]. Traditionally, its bark, roots, and leaves are used for the treatment of various ailments and disorders [3,5]. Besides its traditional uses, bark is also used for making paper and ropes [18]. In addition, M. esculenta fruits and roots are used as an active botanical ingredient in numerous ayurvedic formulations (Table 1).

More recently, its numerous ethnomedicinal uses led researchers to explore M. esculenta phytochemistry further. For instance, tannins extracted from its bark are used as a dyeing agent [6]. Indeed, the presence of distinct bioactive compounds, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, terpenoids, saponins, and volatile oils [8,21], has been increasingly reported as related to its pharmacological effects. For example, crude extracts and isolated compounds from M. esculenta exhibit both in vivo and in vitro pharmacological activities. Local tribes use the tree for timber, fuel, fodder, wood, likewise as used for tanning and getting yellow colored dye [22,23,24,25]. In spite of being a useful tree, the cultivation of the plant is incredibly restricted, and most of the traditional and commercial uses of M. esculenta rely solely on collections from the wild sources by endemic people [26]. Thus, wild sources of the species are underneath impending danger of extinction due to the increase in urbanization, overharvesting, negligence of sustainable use, and over-exploitation of forests and wastelands for industrial uses [27]. Due to the over-exploitation of the natural habitat, limited geographical prevalence and the unresolved problems inherent in seed vitality and germination, alternative propagation and conservation approaches are desperately needed to avoid the possible extinction of this vital species [8]. This species is fundamentally the same as M. rubra, which is ordinarily found in China and Japan. However, M. esculenta contains fruits smaller than about 4–5 mm compared to the M. rubra fruits (12–15 mm) [28]. Although information on phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the fruit extract, juice, jam and marc of M. rubra [19,20,29,30,31,32] is available, this information is lacking for M. esculenta. Previous reviews have suggested that myricetin is obtained mainly by members of the Myricaceae family [33,34] and is a key ingredient in many foods, besides to be used as a food additive due to its antioxidant activity and ability to protect lipids from oxidative damage [35]. It is one of the key ingredients of various foods and beverages. The compound has a wide range of potentialities that include strong antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects, and can protect a wide variety of cells from in-vitro and in vivo lesions [36]. It was first isolated in the late eighteenth century from the bark of Myrica nagi Thunb. (Myricaceae), harvested in India, as light-yellow crystals [37].

2. Ethnomedicinal Uses