BROOKLIME OR WATER PIMPERNEL - EDIBLE WOUND-HEALER: HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF BROOKLIME

BROOKLIME, WATER PIMPERNEL, VERONICA BECCABUNGA 

This plant is semi-aquatic as it can grow in ponds and along river banks and in streams, where it grows with watercress. It is a relative of the common speedwell (Veronica officinalis), and as a member of the Scrophulariacea family, it is related to great mullein, (Verbascum thapsus), foxgloves, snapdragons or antirrhinum, buddleia the butterfly bush and  toadflax. As the family name suggests it was once used for skin diseases and scurvy (lack of vitamin C).

  This plant is native to Europe including the whole of the British Isles, from Scandinavia down through to North Africa and across temperate Asia to Japan and the Himalayas. It is thought that the genus name beccabunga (wonderful isn’t it?) came from the Flemish words, bech and punge, which mean mouth-smart an allusion to the fact that the edible leaves can do that. They may be eaten with other pungent green leaves such as watercress in salads and can be cooked (steamed) with other leafy green vegetables such as spinach.

  In Britain the plant flowers between May and September and is sometimes cultivated in garden ponds. At one time its sap was an ingredient of “spring juice” a tonic made with this, the juice of Seville or bitter oranges and scurvy-grass  to combat scurvy after the winter months when there was little in the way of vitamin C to be had.

 Apart from using the plant for scurvy, the leaves were bruised and placed on burns, sores and ulcers and used to heal wounds, although Self-heal and All-heal have a much better wound-healing action. They have diuretic activity too and were used for urinary tract infections, as well as to promote sweating in fevers and to stimulate the menstrual flow.

  Nicholas Culpeper has this to say about the herb:-

“Government and virtues. It is a hot and biting martial plant: brooklime and water-cresses are generally used together in diet-drinks, with other things serving to purge the blood and body from ill-humours that would destroy health, and are helpful for the scurvy: they do also provoke urine, and help to break the stone, and pass it away; they provoke women's courses, and expel the dead child. Being fried with butter and vinegar, and applied warm, it helpeth all manner of tumours, swellings, and inflammations.

Such drinks ought to be made of sundry herbs according to the malady offending.”

  It is not recommended to eat this plant’s leaves as a vegetable as they are said to have purgative effect, and they should not be used by pregnant or breast-feeding women.

BORNEO OR PACIFIC TEAK TREE- FALSE TEAK TREE WITH MEDICINAL USES: HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF BORNEO TEAK

BORNEO OR PACIFIC TEAK TREE, INTSIA BIJUGA 

This false teak tree is a member of the Fabaceae or Leguminoseae family, making it a relative of dhak, the pongam tree, ashoka (Saraca indica),the monkey pod tree, jhand, lentils, indigo, the butterfly pea, chickpeas, soya beans, the Indian Coral tree and lupins (to name but a few of its relatives). It has a native range which spreads from Tanzania and Madagascar through south-east Asia and the Pacific islands, where it is much prized for its valuable timber.

  This tree is known by a number of names including Afzelia bijuga, Albizia bijuga, Eperua decandro, Intsia amboilensis and Intsia retusa. It has a number of English names too, which includes that of Moluccan Ironwood, and it is known as Ipil in the Philippines.

  This tree is not widely cultivated and is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It naturally grows in coastal areas and lowland rainforests. It is used for coastal protection as it grows, typically to heights of between 23 and 82 feet, (although it can grow much higher) providing shade and protecting the soil from erosion; it is also a nitrogen fixer so can help make poor soil more fertile. It is a good living fence, and its timber has many uses as railway sleepers, house post beams, and it is used in boat building and bridge building, as well as to make smaller items such as walking sticks, carved items and canoes.

  In Fiji it was once held to be a sacred tree, and traditionally the drinking bowl for yagona (a traditional drink) is made from the wood of the Moluccan Ironwood tree.  A decoction of the leaves of the tree is used to remove evil spirits which take over someone’s body.

  In traditional medicine systems a decoction of the bark, which contains tannin, is used as a remedy for diarrhoea and dysentery, and the fruit of the tree is a remedy for constipation. A decoction of the bark is used to cure dark urine which is caused by evil spells or spirits. It is also employed for rheumatism, chills and stiff, aching muscles and an infusion of it is given to a new mother after childbirth, perhaps to keep evil spirits away, this is a little unclear.

  The seeds are edible but only after careful preparation which entails them being steeped in water for three to four days and then thoroughly boiled. Oil from the seeds repels pests rather as does neem (Azadirachta indica) so it can be used in linen to stop moths and insects eating the cloth. The seed pod is pear-shaped and leathery, containing from 1 to 9 seeds.

  Sap from the inner bark of this false teak is squeezed into coconut water for asthma, and this sap or the juice from the fresh leaves is squeezed into salt water, for diabetes.

  Few studies have been carried out on this tree’s medicinal properties as yet.

FINGERROOT OR CHINESE GINGER - USED FOR MEDICINAL AND CULINARY PURPOSES: HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF FINGERROOT

FINGERROOT, KRA CHAI, BOESENBERGIA ROTUNDA

Fingerroot is used in China only for its medicinal properties, whereas in Thailand it is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes. It is a member of the Zingiberaceae family so is related to ginger, zedoary (kachur) or white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria), turmeric, and kulanjan (Alpinia galangal). It is also known as Chinese ginger, or Chinese keys, as the rhizome resembles keys on a key ring, with a globe at the top of the key-like roots or fingers which extrude from it.

  It is also known as Curcuma rotunda, Gastrochilus rotundus and Boesenbergia pandurata. It has a spicy flavour and is eaten in Thailand as a vegetable and used as a spice. The plant can grow to 60 centimetres high and is located in its wild state in dense forests. However it is cultivated throughout south-east Asia and has naturalized in many countries. The leaves are edible as is the root and rhizome, and medicinally it has been employed for many purposes in traditional medicine systems in India, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries. Its leaves are used with those of the teak tree (Tectona grandis) to wrap tempeh in. (Tempeh is the traditional fermented soya bean cake which is eaten in Indonesia.)

  In the West this plant is grown as an ornamental as it has attractive pink flowers and is aromatic. The finger-like roots are bright yellow and their aroma comes from the camphor, methyl cinnamate, d-borneol and 1-8 cineol mainly although there are also other aromatic substances in them.

  The crushed roots and rhizomes are applied to painful parts of the body to ease rheumatic pains, and they are used internally to dispel flatulence, improve the appetite and digestion, as a remedy for dry mouths, coughs and ulcers. After giving birth a post-partum tonic is prepared from them and a paste may also be made from the roots and applied externally to the body after childbirth. The paste is also applied to piles and a lotion made from them is used for rheumatism, and muscle pains. They are also used for diarrhoea and dysentery.

  In Thailand they are used to increase male libido and are touted as being able to increase sperm and improve its quality. Tests carried out in vivo on male rats did not bear out these uses, but the rats’ testicles did increase in weight and size.

  Scientific evidence suggests that the roots may have anticancer properties, and research is still underway on these properties. They are also believed to have analgesic (mild pain relieving) properties, as well as antibacterial, antifungal, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic and insecticidal properties.

  There have been investigations which suggest that the flavonoids in the roots can prevent an occurrence of dengue fever (Biorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters Vol. 16 (12) June 2006 pp.3337-40).

  Its anti-ulcerogenic properties have also been tested and found to be supported (“The methanolic extract of Boesenbergia rotunda (L) Mansf. and its major compound pinostrobin induces anti-ulcerogenic property in vivo: Possible involvement of indirect antioxidant action”, Siddiq I. Abdelwahab et al. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, July 2011).

  Its anti-cancer properties were documented in a study by Chandra Kirana et al in the Journal of Natural Medicine Vol. 61 (2007) pp. 131-137 “Anticancer properties of panduratin A isolated from Boesenbergia pandurata (Zingiberaceae)” which concluded with the statement that this “may have a protective effect against colon cancer” but it needed further investigation for this claim and to ascertain if it was effective against other types of cancer cells particularly those of breast cancer.

  In 2011 Shiau-Chuen Cheah et al showed that the tests were valid in an article “Panduratin A Inhibits the Growth of A 549 Cells through Induction of Apoptosis and Inhibition of NF-KappaB Translocation” published in Molecules, 2011 Vol.16 pp.2583-2598.

  Research is still continuing into this Chinese medicinal herb.

WHITE DEAD NETTLES- ONE OF THE OLD ARCHANGELS: HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF WHITE DEAD NETTLES

WHITE DEAD NETTLES, LAMIUM ALBUM 

White dead nettles are so-called because although they resemble the stinging nettle very closely, they don’t sting. They are not true nettles in the Uriotica genus, but a separate genus in the Lamiaceae or Labiatae family. This makes them relatives of mint, clown's woundwort, marjoram, basil, Holy basil, oregano, savory, thyme, lavender, lemon balm, as well as bugle, motherwort, self-heal, catnip, the chaste tree, ground ivy, Jupiter’s sage, wall germander, Fragrant premna and hyssop. In Nicholas Culpeper’s time (17^th century) they were classes as one of the Archangels along with the purple and the yellow deadnettle.

   This white dead nettle is also called the Bee Nettle because bees love it. Their stems are hollow and square, unlike those of the stinging nettle, and were called Archangels because they thought they flowered on Archangel Michael’s day which was May 8^th in the Julian calendar but would be April 28^th now. “Laimos” is an ancient Greek word meaning throat, which refers to the shape of the flowers – take a close look at the pictures to see the resemblance. The plant has astringent properties and edible leaves and flowers. The leaves can be eaten raw in salads or cooked like spinach. They can also be used to flavour soups and stews. You can make a tisane with the flowering tops which is said to be an excellent tonic (containing vitamin A) and which acts as a blood purifier and to help with menstrual problems.

  The leaves and flowers are used in a hot compress for piles and varicose veins, while the distilled water of the flowers has been used traditionally as an eye lotion. The flowering tops have been used for bladder and kidney problems too. The herb is best harvested in summer when it is flowering and it does so between May to December, although may come into bloom earlier, depending on where you live.

  It has been used to induce sleep, and the flowers boiled in water were used for bronchial problems while the roots, boiled in wine were used to disperse kidney stones. They are currently used for benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and leucorrhoea as well as for gastro-intestinal problems.

  The English herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper, has this to say of the Archangels:

“Virtues and use. The archangels are somewhat hot and drier than the stinging nettles, and used with better success for the stopping and hardness of the spleen than they, by using the decoction of the herb in wine, and afterwards applying the herb hot into the region of the spleen as a plaister, or the decoction with spunges. Flowers of the white archangel are preserved or conserved to be used to stay the whites, and the flowers of the red to stay the reds in women. It makes the head merry, drives away melancholy, quickens the spirits, is good against quartan agues, stancheth bleeding at mouth and nose, if it be stamped and applied to the nape of the neck; the herb also bruised, and with some salt and vinegar, and hog-grease, laid upon an hard tumour or swelling, or that vulgarly called the king's evil, do help to dissolve or discuss them; and being in like manner applied, doth much allay the pains, and give ease to the gout, sciatica, and other pains of the joints and sinews. It is also very effectual to heal green wounds, and old ulcers; also to stay their fretting, gnawing and spreading. It draweth forth splinters, and such like things gotten into the flesh, and is very good against bruises and burnings. But the yellow archangel is most commended for old, filthy, corrupt sores and ulcers, yea, although they grow to be hollow, and to dissolve tumours.”

  It has been found that the aqueous extract of the flowering tops and the lamiridosins of the white dead nettle is effective against the Hepatitis C virus, and there are ongoing studies into its possible other medicinal benefits.