4. Plant description Tree is medium to large (10-40 m in height), evergreen with symmetrical, rounded canopy ranging from low and dense to upright and open. Bark is usually dark grey-brown to black, rather smooth, superficially cracked or inconspicuously fissured, peeling off in irregular, rather thick pieces. The tree forms a long unbranched long tap root (up to 6-8 m and more) plus a dense mass of superficial feeder roots. Effective root system of an 18- year old mango tree may observe a 1.2 m depth with lateral spread as far as 7.5m. The leaves are simple alternately arranged, 15-45 cm in length. The petiole varies in length from 1 to 12 cm, always swollen at the base. Leaves are variable in shapes like oval-lanceolate, lanceolate, oblong, linear-oblong, ovate, obovate-lanceolate or roundishoblong. The upper surface is shining and dark green while the lower is glabrous light green. Hermaphrodite and male flowers are produced in the same panicle, usually with a larger number of the later. The size of both male and hermaphrodite flowers varies from 6 to 8 mm in diameter. They are subsessile, rarely pedicellate, and have a sweet smell. The pollen grains are of variable shapes, with the size varying from 20 to 35 micron. The fruit is more or less compressed, fleshy drupe, varies considerably in size, shape, colour, presence of fibre, flavour, taste and several other characters. 5. Ethnomedicinal uses Various parts of mango are used for more than thousands of years as wide variety of ethnomedicinal use. ? Roots and Bark: Used as astringent, acrid, refrigerant, styptic, anti-syphilitic, vulnerary, anti-emetic, antiinflammatory and constipating. They are useful in vitiated conditions of pitta, metrorrhagia, calonorrhagia, pneumorrhagia, lecorrhoea, syphilis, uteritis, wounds, ulcers and vomiting. The juice of fresh bark has a marked action on mucous membranes, in menorrhoea, leucorrhoca, bleeding piles and diarrhoea. ? Leaves: Used as astringent, refrigerant styptic, vulnerary and constipating. They are also useful in vitiated conditions of cough, hiccup, hyperdipsia, burning sensation, hemorrhages, haemoptysis, haemorrhoids, wounds, ulcers, diarrhoea, dysentery, pharyngopathy, scorpion string and stomachopathy. The ash of burnt leaves are useful in burns and scalds. The smoke from burning leaves is inhaled for relief of throat diseases. ? Flowers: Used as astringent, refrigerant, styptic, vulnerary, constipating and haematinic. The dried flowers are useful in vitiated conditions of pitta, haemorrhages, haemoptysis, wounds, ulcers, anorexia, dyspepsia, uroedema gleet, catarrh of bladder, diarrhoea, chronic dysentery and anemia. ? Fruits: The unripe fruits are acidic, acrid, antiscorbutic, refrigerant, digestive and carminative. They are useful in dysentery ophthalmia, eruptions, urethrorrhoea and vaginopathy. The ripe fruits are refrigerant, sweet, emollient, laxative, cardiotonic, haemostatic, aphrodisiac, and tonic. They are also used in vitiated conditions vata and pitta, anorexia, dyspepsia, cardiopathy, haemoptysis, haemorrhages from uterus, lungs and intestine, emaciation, and anemia. ? Stone: The seed kernel in rich source of protein (8.5%) and gallic acid. It is sweet, acrid, astringent, refrigerant, anthelmintic, constipating, haemostatic, vulnerary and uterine tonic. It is useful in vitiated conditions of pitta and cough, helminthiasis, chronic diarrhea, dysentery, haemorrhages, haemoptysis, haemorrhoids, ulcers, bruises, leucorrhoea, menorrhagia, diabetes, heat burn and vomiting. 7. Pharmacological uses 7.1. Anticancer: Noratto et al., (2010) compared the anticancer properties of polyphenolic extracts from several mango varieties in cancer lines, including Molt-4 leukemia, A549 lung, MDA-MB-231 breast, LnCap prostate, SW-480 colon cancer cells and non-cancer colon cell line CCD-18Co. Ali et al., (2012) and Timsina et al., (2015) determined that ethanol extract had significant cytotoxicity to HeLa cells and the bioactive fraction from the crude extract had antiproliferative effects with an IC50 value of<10μg/ml. The significant cytotoxic activities of mango are also found against the breast cancer cell lines MCF 7, MDA-MB-435, MDA-N; colon cancer cell line (SW-620); renal cancer cell line (786-0) and K562 leukemia cells. Percival S et al., (2010) found whole mango juice and juice extracts has anticancer activity and saw that incubation of HL-60 cells with whole mango juice and mango juice fractions resulted in an inhibition of the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase. Research also indicates that mangiferin may have impaired or interfered with the assembly or functioning of microtubule filaments or cellular matrix components, thus disrupting the cells’ adhesion/ attachment ability. The other possible mechanisms of mangiferin included inhibition of the telomerase and the gene, and the enhancement of the cellular apoptosis. The anti-proliferative activities of mango peels and flesh were also investigated by Kim et al., 2012.