RED SILK COTTON TREE - HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES

RED SILK COTTON TREE, BOMBAX CEIBA/ BOMBAX MALABARICA

This is a truly spectacular tree seen in spring when the branches are bare of leaves but full of waxy red flowers, the young buds of which, like those of the kachnar tree are edible. There is a tree near our house which has an eagle’s nest perched safely in a fork of the tree and it can be clearly seen as there are, as yet no leaves. It is one of the tallest trees on the Indian subcontinent and is used in traditional medicine for a plethora of purposes, including as an aphrodisiac.

  It is also known as the Indian Kapok tree as it has fine silky kapok like fibres growing around its seeds. These are said to be inferior to kapok, which comes from Ceiba pentandra but nonetheless are used for stuffing and to put on burns to prevent blistering and help prevent scarring. The name Bombax means silk worm and malabarica = from Malabar. The tree is a member of the Bombacaceae family of plants, so is related to the durian and the baobab tree..

  The tree also yields a gum which is sometimes used as a substitute for gum tragacanth and which is used in bookbinding, cosmetics and to thicken ice cream and medicine. It is said to be an aphrodisiac when taken with gur and cow’s milk. The gum is known as Mochras in India. It is said to have astringent properties and be good for diarrhea and dysentery, for female problems including irregular periods, to ease the pain of piles and to purify the blood among other remedies.

  The young one or two year old roots are thought to be useful as a sex tonic and aphrodisiac. They are called Semul (the local name of the tree) Musli and like other Muslis such as Safed Musli, they are used to stimulate the male libido. In some area the local healers or hakims prefer to gather the roots on Mondays, but why this should be so is not apparent. In traditional medicine in Myanmar the roots are given to cure impotency and to increase the sperm count. The bark of the tree is thought (in Myanmar) to help in cases of heart disease and spermatorrhoea. In India the bark is given with gur and milk for the same purposes.

  The flowers are given with honey to stop internal bleeding, and are fried as a vegetable in ghee. Flowers are boiled slowly overnight and given with mustard seeds to reduce the size of enlarged spleens. The juice of the fresh bark is supposed to stop diarrhoea. The fruit, which can be seen under the flower, is also used as an aphrodisiac, and as an expectorant. The bark is also used for wound healing, and can be made into a paste for skin problems, with the leaves also used for these. The flowers are also said to be good for the skin and complexion, and for piles. Young fruit is used for chronic inflammation associated with arthritis and rheumatism, and for bladder and kidney problems as well as to treat gonorrhea and chronic cystitis.

  The wood of the tree is used to make matchsticks, coffins and crates and is useful in water, so well-linings and dugout canoes are made from the tree. The bark is used in rope-making.

  Modern medical research has shown that extracts from the stem of the tree contain lupeol which has antiangiogenic¹ properties in vitro, and it also has potent hypotensive activity, so can be extremely useful. However the research is still in its early stages. It also contains the flavanol shamimicin which is also under investigation.

 

Antiangogenic agents inhibit the growth of new blood cells. Such growths play crucial roles in many diseases including some that cause blindness arthritis and cancer. They are found naturally in certain plants and can be manufactured in labs.

TOOTHACHE TREE - INFORMATION : HEALTH BENEFITS AND HOW TO USE TOOTHACHE TREE

TOOTHACHE TREE, WINGED PRICKLY ASH, ZANTHOXYLUM ALATUM ROXB. ZANTHOZYLUM ARMATUM DC

Zanthozylum alatum or Z. armatum, is known as the Toothache tree or Yellow Wood (a translation of Zantho=yellow and zylum=wood) or the Winged Prickly Ash, (the tree has thorns) although it is no relation to the ash tree being a member of the Rutaceae family so a relative of the lemon tree and rue. It also has many other names and in Pakistan its fruits are known as timbar, tajphal, kabab khandan among other names. The dried fruits are a substitute for pepper and it is said to be one of the ingredients in Chinese Five Spice Powder. However some people have mistakenly called it the Szechwan pepper, which it isn’t; that being a relative, however. The fruit is easy to harvest as it grows in clusters. It grows in the Himalayan region and is native to Pakistan, India and Bhutan. It also grows in North America.

  It is called the Toothache tree as one of its uses in traditional medicine is to alleviate toothache. It is also used in traditional medicine to relieve mouth pain caused by food and to cure gingivitis or bleeding gums. The seeds of the fruit (each fruit comes with a hard outer skin and has a single seed in the middle) are ground with a pinch of black salt, a little fresh chilli, and ordinary salt, and given as a cure for stomach disorders. The seeds combined with the bark are combined to make an aromatic tonic and given when someone has a fever or cholera. Modern research has shown that an extract from the fruit may help with mouth irritation. The root of the tree is used for toothache, stomach ache, fever, boils and rheumatism and in Ayurvedic medicine, apart from these uses it is used to expel internal worms and heal piles and stop anorexia. It is used externally for various skin diseases and local people use a decoction or infusion of different parts of the tree to cure the common colds, coughs, fevers (as parts of the tree have diaphoretic properties, that is they promote sweating) and common stomach upsets. An infusion can be made with 1-2 tsps of tree bark to one cup of boiling water and should be allowed to steep for 15 minutes before straining and drinking three times a day.

  The fruit is also used to purify water, and the trees have religious significance and are reputed to have magical properties by some. The branches are often used as toothbrushes like walnut tree and Viburnum grandiflorum bark.

   The essential oil from the leaves is high in linalool and also has a significant amount of limonene, and is used as an insect repellant. However the oil quality varies depending on the altitudes the trees grow at according to one research study. This volatile oil may have anti-fungal properties, but research is still being carried out on this tree as two new flavonoids were reported from it in June 2010.

  The wood from the tree is close-grained and durable and used for making walking sticks among other items. The beauty industry is currently selling day cream which contains extracts from the Toothache tree; one such product also contains iris milk and chamomile.

  The bark contains the coumarins, xanthyletin, zanthoxyletin and alloxanthyletin, resin, tannin, volatile oil, and various alkaloids including laurifoline, g-fagarine and b-fagarine.

HIMALAYAN WILD PEAR ( PYRUS PASHIA) - INFORMATION , USES AND MEDICINAL BENEFITS

HIMALAYAN WILD PEAR, PYRUS PASHIA, PUNJABI PEAR

The Himalayan wild pear is also known as the Punjabi pear and the Indian Pear, and has the Latin synonyms, Pyrus kumaoni and Pyrus variolosa. Locally it’s known by many names such as shegal and kainth but is rarely found in bazaars as the fruit doesn’t travel well. It looks a little like the russet apple, and has an astringent but sweet taste when ripe. It is apparently best to eat when it is decaying slightly, and has a grittier texture than the cultivated pears. This means that it helps reduce the risks of colon cancer and can prevent the growth of polyps.

  The astringent juice is used medicinally to stop diarrhoea, but little else seems to be known about the ways locals use the fruit. Most of the vitamin C content is in the skin of the fruit, which is not eaten as it decays first, but the pear contains minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, calcium and iron.

   The wild pear tree grows commonly at altitudes of between 700 and 2000 metres and because the tree has thorns, farmers use it as a live fence to keep livestock in or out of their fields. It is also used for firewood and for items such as walking sticks and small agricultural and household implements. The tree is also used as rootstock for other pears and it is hoped that this will not cause them to die out.

   Their range extends from Pakistan to Viet Nam and from southern China to northern India and Bhutan. The trees flower from late February to mid-March and the pears begin to ripen during the first week of November and are over by the last week of December. Unfortunately they do not travel well so never reach the bazaar here, and locals who have the pears can’t benefit by selling them as they can from selling the kachnar buds and the wild fig. The wild pears can be dried and used, but it seems that people do not do this as a matter of course during the fruit season, so everyone loses out on a wild food source.

  Little research has been done into this wild pear, so its medical properties are so far unknown.

GREENGAGE, CALLED ALOOCHA IN URDU - HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS: GREENGAGE - VANILLA JAM RECIPE

GREENGAGES, ALOOCHA, PRUNUS DOMESTICA ITALICA

Greengages are basically wild green plums that have been domesticated over the centuries. They have a difficult to research past, and seem to have re-emerged in Britain in the 18^th Century having been introduced from France by the gage family who resided at Hengrave Hall, outside Bury St. Edmonds.

  It is believed that the Romans first introduced the green plum into Britain, but all the material I have read says that these trees mysteriously disappeared after the Fall of the Roman Empire, so that must have been sometime in the 5^th century as Rome was captured by the Germanic general Odacer or Odovacar in 476 AD. After this period Europe fell into the Dark Ages as the early Middle Ages were called. However no one has linked (as far as I can tell) the “Cataclysm” of 535 AD with the disappearance of these wild plum trees from the British Isles. It is known that there was a period of climate change from 535 to 565 or 575 due it is thought to a comet or meteorite impact or more likely the eruption of the Super Volcano Krakatoa which caused a similar weather phenomenon in the 1880s.

  Certainly the climate became colder at this time as scientists have found from examining tree rings around the world. This could have caused the death of the wild plum trees, or they might have been affected by disease which might also have been brought about by a volcanic eruption.

  The wild green plums continued to be grown in Italy and were known in Britain in the early 17^th century although they were called Verdoch, undoubtedly from the Italian name for them, Verdocchio. John Parkinson, (1567-1650) was the apothecary to James I of England (James VI of Scotland) refers to these plums as Verdoch, so they were known in Britain before they were reintroduced from France in the 18^th century.

  On her marriage to Francis I of France, (1499-1524) Queen Claude took trees of green plums with her from Italy to France. There they became known as Reine Claude (Queen Claude) after her. These are still grown in France with the best said to come from Moissac.

  There are several stories as to how greengages arrived in Britain in the 18^th century, but all of them relate to the Gage family. A John Gage, an English Catholic priest, was studying in Paris in 1724 and sent some trees to his brother at Hengrave Hall. In transit the fruit trees lost their labels and the gardener planted them as green Gage in honour of his employer. British horticulturists developed these fruits until they became the green gages we have today. William Coxe (1747-1836), an English historian said of them, they are ‘universally acknowledged to be the finest plumb of this or any other country.” Other eminent men have also commented on the sweetness of this “exquisite” fruit.

  Greengages are a type of plum and related to other trees in the rose family such as the apricot and almond. They have similar health benefits to other plums being rich in vitamin C and the mineral potassium.

  In Pakistan there is a wild green plum aloocha, which is from the genus Prunus aloocha, which may be a close relative of the Italian variety. It is generally believed that greengages came from Armenia, although clearly the wild green plum that grows in Pakistan is a native species, or has become naturalized, perhaps having the same Persian origins as the aloo Bukhara or Persian plum.

  Greengages are best eaten as a fruit and do not take well to being pickled or made into chutney. They are good in jam (see recipe below), pies, tarts, fools and sorbets and the jam goes well with vanilla ice cream or spooned into custard.

GREENGAGE -VANILLA JAM

Ingredients

1½ kilos greengages

1½ kilos sugar

2 vanilla pods

15 gr unsalted butter

Method

Wash the fruit and pick out any blemished fruit or over ripe squishy ones. Slightly under ripe ones are OK.

Put them whole in a pan with 250 ml water and the 2 pods of vanilla. Simmer the mixture gently for about ½ an hour until the fruit is extremely soft.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar, stirring constantly until it dissolves.

Return the pan to the heat and add the butter. Stir and bring back to the boil.

Allow it to boil for about 10 minutes, and by then the stones from the fruit should have risen to the top so that they can easily be scooped out with a slotted spoon.

Continue boiling until setting point has been reached. (When you drip a small amount from the back of a metal spoon onto a cold saucer and it gels, it is set.)

Skim off any scum from the top of the mixture and ladle into hot sterilized jars.

Remove the vanilla pods, rinse and dry them then put in a jar of sugar and bury them in it. This will give you vanilla sugar to be used for desserts in future. You can also reuse the vanilla pods in another dessert after they have been in the sugar.

This has Taste and is a Treat.