Jamaican plants and herbs...

[mountaingal]

Elina an im mumma go a grung
Elina start halla fi him belly
Go home, Elina
Go home, Elina
Go bwile cerassee fe you belly...
- Jamaican song

Cerassee, Momordica charantia, is known throughout the world as an important medicinal plant. Used in Jamaica and elsewhere as a cure for stomach aches, this very bitter-tasting plant is also used to treat diabetes (it helps lower blood sugar) and most recently, HIV!!

it's also used to treat pain, fevers, colds, coughs, headaches, malaria, skin complaints, menstrual disorders, aches and pains, hypertension, infections, and as an aid in childbirth. (on the flip side, cerassee has been known to cause abortions in lab animals.)

As a pickney, I used to suck the red stuff off the seeds when the pod burst open. I now learn that much of this stuff is toxic - but only if eaten in large quantities.

Here's a pic of a cerassee vine growing in a tree, with it's open seed pod:

[Suesumba]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Please: Some information on bissi (cola? nut). I heard that it is the flavouring used in coca cola - true?

(nice topic)

[churchgirl]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Originally posted by mountaingal:
[qb]As a pickney, I used to suck the red stuff off the seeds when the pod burst open. I now learn that much of this stuff is toxic - but only if eaten in large quantities.[/qb]

Oh my gosh, yuh memba dat MG. Mi did love it yuhsi.

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Yes, churchie, me used to love that. There's a bigger version of the cerassee called bitter melon that the Chinese cook the fruit when it's green.

Sue, i'll look into bissy and get back to you.

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Before I go any further, I want to big up my fellow members of the Natural History Society of Jamaica who, through our newsgroup, have generously provided me the scientific names of these plants (including that of callalloo) and some of the birds from the Birds of Jamaica thread.

Thanks, guys!

[Ebony_Ize]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

I never drank that stuff ... I tasted it once - and it was lethal - so I refused to drink it after that.

MP - do you know where in Canada I can get some cerassee ... cause bwoy - mi have some ah dem ailments weh mi wah cerassee fi help.

[Queen]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

From Old World to New World

http://educate.si.edu/migrations/zoofood/cnut.html

From a traditional gift comes the cola drink

Cola Nut
Cola nitida

Heritage
Cola nut trees have been important in Africa for centuries. Africans used the pods to ease labor pains; seeds to relieve diarrhea, nausea, and hangover; bark to heal wounds; and wood to build houses, boats, and images. They chewed the nuts as a stimulant and used the roots to clean teeth and sweeten breath. Friends send nuts as invitations or congratulations.

Present Use
Cola nuts are an essential ingredient of cola drinks, a multi-million dollar industry. Traditional uses for the tree continue in Africa. In some cultures, a host who fails to give cola nuts to departing guests commits a serious social blunder.

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Originally posted by Ebony_Ize:
[qb]I never drank that stuff ... I tasted it once - and it was lethal - so I refused to drink it after that.

MP - do you know where in Canada I can get some cerassee ... cause bwoy - mi have some ah dem ailments weh mi wah cerassee fi help.[/qb]

Ebony, almost every West Indian store carries a brand called "Tops" that makes a bunch of Jamaican teas, including cerassie. I have a pack of cerassie here and tell the truth have only had one tea bag out of it, that thing is so bitter! but i think i'll have a cup today, as my stomach has been out of sorts for the past couple days.

[Suesumba]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

What about

goat bush
goadie
chew stick
bitta wood
search mi heart

mi would love fi hear bout dem.... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

From the Claude McKay thread, started by Ackee over a year ago, comes this ode:

LOVELY dainty Spanish needle
With your yellow flower and white,
Dew bedecked and softly sleeping,
Do you think of me to-night?

Shadowed by the spreading mango,
Nodding o'er the rippling stream,
Tell me, dear plant of my childhood,
Do you of the exile dream?

Do you see me by the brook's side
Catching crayfish 'neath the stone,
As you did the day you whispered:
Leave the harmless dears alone?

Do you see me in the meadow
Coming from the woodland spring
With a bamboo on my shoulder
And a pail slung from a string?

Do you see me all expectant
Lying in an orange grove,
While the swee-swees sing above me,
Waiting for my elf-eyed love?

Lovely dainty Spanish needle,
Source to me of sweet delight,
In your far-off sunny southland
Do you dream of me to-night?

See the thread, from Best of Jamaicans.com, here:

Great Jamaicans: Claude McKay

and see the Spanish needle, Bidens Pilosa, here:



why is it called spanish needle? most likely from its seeds, which are actually little burrs.
When we were kids, we used to bruise spanish needle and put it on our cuts to help them heal. It was a treat for goats, so we always tied them in spots where there was lots of spanish needle.

This plant is known as a weed in the States and Europe, but in many other places is valued for its medicinal properties. It's eaten in parts of Africa. It's a tallawah plant, known to be herbicide resistant!!

[bandido1]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Gwaan deh MG! Mi did deh ya a wanda wen yuh agoh weel an cum back wid sump'm! Yuh have any cerassie cyaan sen mu sum? Mi belly a hat mi. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Originally posted by Queen:
[qb]From Old World to New World

http://educate.si.edu/migrations/zoofood/cnut.html

From a traditional gift comes the cola drink

Cola Nut
Cola nitida

Heritage
Cola nut trees have been important in Africa for centuries. Africans used the pods to ease labor pains; seeds to relieve diarrhea, nausea, and hangover; bark to heal wounds; and wood to build houses, boats, and images. They chewed the nuts as a stimulant and used the roots to clean teeth and sweeten breath. Friends send nuts as invitations or congratulations.

Present Use
Cola nuts are an essential ingredient of cola drinks, a multi-million dollar industry. Traditional uses for the tree continue in Africa. In some cultures, a host who fails to give cola nuts to departing guests commits a serious social blunder.[/qb]

Thanks, Queen!!

here's a pic of a cola nitida (bissy) seed pod on the tree:


each pod has about 8 seeds inside. here are the seeds when dried:


the caffeine in the seeds pack a real punch, I imagine. I met a man in Nigeria who would chew on these all day - the way some ppl would smoke.

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

Originally posted by bandido1:
[qb]Gwaan deh MG! Mi did deh ya a wanda wen yuh agoh weel an cum back wid sump'm! Yuh have any cerassie cyaan sen mu sum? Mi belly a hat mi. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [/qb]

thanks, bandi! wish me coulda help you wid de bellyache. sometime me tink cerassie work by takin you mind off the bellyache, all you can tink bout is how bitta de tea is, you not even memba de bellypain, lol!

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

i never used to know the name of this plant, all i knew was that the berries were sweet when they were ripe (black). some people used to think the berries were poisonous, but they weren't.

i've since found out that this plant is called Lantana camara (common lantana) - anybody used to call it anything? here's a picture of the wild lantana berries.


Surprise, or maybe not a surprise, this plant also has medicinal qualities, though the leaves smell unpleasant.

Spanish colonists used the "camaras," as they called them, to make infusions to be taken as medicine and used in baths. In some places such infusions are still used medicinally. The plant is poisonous to cattle and sheep, though usually not browsed by them. A decoction of the leaves has been used in Mexico...as a tonic for the stomach. In Sinaloa, the plant is a favorite remedy for snake bites. A strong decoction of the leaves is taken internally and a poultice of crushed leaves is applied to the wound.

[bandido1]

Re: Jamaican plants and herbs...

It look like wanna de sage (sedge?) dem. White sage ar black sage! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]