Medicinal herbs

A list of all the herbs and items that the people of Central America use for medicinal purposes would fill hundreds of pages. Maximino Martnez's outdated, fragmentary, but still much-used Las Plantas Medicinales de Mxico is 659 pages long. Surely important natural cures are being forgotten every day as old traditions die away. The few medicinal herbs mentioned below can only hint at what might be found by anyone browsing among mercado herb stalls.

Many of the herbs in Fronteras herb stalls have been introduced from other continents. This reminds us that more than local-mercado herb stalls being museum like vestiges of the past, they are serious "people's pharmacies" where people go for traditional cures, either because they believe in the cures, or because that's all they can afford.

When you study local herbal remedies, notice how often the Doctrine of Signatures is in evidence. This is the principle that a plant indicates its use for human beings by its shape, behavior, odor, or some other natural feature. Thus an infusion of doradilla, the little resurrection plant growing on rocks and perhaps giving the impression that is breaking up the rock, is used traditionally by Mexicans to break up kidney and gall stones. Hierba de la golondrina, a euphorbia with milky-white latex oozing from any breaks inflicted on its skin, is used to cure eye diseases of the sort characterized by a milky opaqueness spreading across the lens. This same eye problem is also treated with the honey (Meil) of the Maya Bee.

There is no question that Shaman's know incredible amounts of cures utilizing plants and well as spiritual beliefs, but it should not limit your quest by seeking a Shaman to learn about local cures. The Primary health care here is still more expensive than most can afford. For generations, people have relied on the natural plants and animals as cures for everyday health care and much can be learned from the common folks here as well. I will provide one example later on this page.

Finally, please heed this warning: Do not experiment with these. Very often an herb that is medicinal in one dosage is poisonous in others. Some of these herbs are extremely potent!

Aguacate: (avocado, Persea americana): for intestinal worms, grate 8 to 10 grams of fresh avocado-pit rind into a glass of water, and the next day sweeten it, drink, and eat nothing; Altea: (plantain, Plantago spp.): for dysentery, cook the root in rice; Ail: (indigo, Indigofera suffruticosa): for children's headaches, boil leaves until soft, then apply the leaves like a bandage to the forehead
: Arnica: (golden aster, Heterotheca inuloides): for bruises, boil the flower heads into a mass, and apply
: Borraja: (borage, Borago officinalis): for bronchitis and fevers, boil 10 grams of flowers and young leaves in a liter of water, and drink the tea
: Cedrn: (lemon verbena, Aloysia triphylla): tea from the boiled leaves, taken while fasting, regularizes the menstrual flow, and expels worms
: Chicalote: (prickly poppy, Argemone ochroleuca): for stomach pain, mash 4 grams of seeds in 200 cc of water, take two or three times a day
: Clavellina: (ceiba, Bombax palmeri): for skin wounds, roast and grind the bark, and apply
: Codo de fraile: (oleander, Thevetia thevetioides): for hemorrhoids, mash seeds, mix in lard, and apply
: Cola de caballo: (horsetail, Equisetum spp.): brewed teas of the stems are diuretic, and have been used against dysentery and gonorrhea; Culantrillo: (maidenhair fern, Adiantum capillus): to "thin the blood," for constipation, liver problems, and kidney stones, boil about 5 grams in half a liter of water, and take a small cup every day; Damiana: (turnera, Turnera diffusa): for nervousness and weakness, take a tea made by boiling the macerated leaves; Doradilla: (resurrection plant, Selaginella lepidophylla an infusion has salutary effects on the kidneys and liver, and breaks up gallstones.; Encino: (oak, Quercus spp.): for diarrhea, drink tea made from boiling the tree's bark; Gordolobo: (cudweed Gnaphalium spp.): a handful of this weedy herb brewed in a pot of water is very much used against coughs and sore throats.; Guamchil: (Manila tamarind, Pithecellobium dulce): for diarrhea, bloody and otherwise, boil bark from the root and drink; Hierba de la golondrina: (spurge, Euphorbia spp): white latex from the plant is famed for curing "spots on the eye"; Lantn: (plantain, Plantago spp.): for burns, bruises, and mouth sores, boil 100 grams of leaves in 500 ml of water, and wash the affected area; Magnolia: (magnolia, Talauma mexicana): a tea from the bark serves as a general tonic, but too much causes the heart to beat irregularly; Maguey: (maguey, Agave atrovirens): for bruises and pains resulting from hard blows to the body, squeeze juice from a roasted leaf, boil it down, sweeten, and drink; Muicle: (jacobinia, Jacobinia spicigera): a tea from the leaves combats dysentery; Nanche: (golden spoon, Byrsonima crassifolia): to improve digestion and appetite, and generally improve one's feeling, cook the bark and drink the tea; Naranjo agrio: (sour orange, Citrus aurantium): a tea from the leaves is used as a general tonic, calming agent, for heart palpitations, and epilepsy; Nogal: (walnut, Juglans regia): wash skin sores and cure thrush in infants with a tea made from boiled leaves; Ortiga: (jatropa, Jatropha spp.): several different plants are called ortiga, but the roots of this one are used against venereal diseases; Palo dulce: (eysenhardtia, Eysenhardtia polystachya): for kidney problems, place wood chips into water, and when the water turns blue, then red or amber, drink; Pata de len: (wild geranium, Geranium spp.): an infusion of this herb is added to the bath water of babies to rid them of the rash; the brew is also good for washing wounds.; Pingica: (manzanita, Arctostaphylos pungens): for kidney problems, drink a tea made from boiled leaves and fruits; Romero: (rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis): to improve the digestion, drink a tea made of the boiled leaves; Ruda:, (rue, Ruta graveolens): highly regarded for its abilities to induce menstruation, and to abort fetuses; in too high concentrations, it is exceedingly poisonous.
: Sauco: (elderberry, Sambucus mexicana): for the cough, make a tea from the boiled flowers
: Tejocote: (hawthorn, Crataegus mexicana): to "flush out the kidneys," boil the root in water and drink the tea
: Tepopote: (Mormon tea, Ephedra antisyphilitica): a tea from the boiled stems is used against venereal diseases and kidney problems
: Tilia: (linden or basswood, Tilia spp.): for coughs, a tea brewed from the boiled flowers is drunk
: Ua de gato: (pisonia, Pisonia aculeata): several plants go by this name, but for this one, a member of the four o'clock family, drink tea from boiled leaves and bark to ease arthritic pain in joints
: Zacate limn: (lemon-grass, or citronella, Cymbopogon nardus): the lemony brewed tea is a good anti-flatulent and soothes the intestines in general

ajo -- a braided hand of garlic One medicinal plant deserves special mention. Anyone seeing the number of stalls a good-size mercado devotes to

ajo:, or garlic, will be impressed by how important Mexicans seem to regard this bulb. Most garlic of course is destined for culinary use, but the traditional Mexican pharmacopoeia also grants garlic an eminent place.

Garlic juice is applied to scorpion stings and spider bites. Garlic taken internally is regarded by many as a stimulant to the body in general, and traditionally has been used to control hypertension and arteriosclerosis. For these latter purposes several cloves are mashed, the paste is placed in a glass, and just enough drinking alcohol is added to cover it. Every day for a week the glass's contents is stirred. Finally it is strained, and then after every meal five drops are taken. The next week the dosage is doubled, and every week this doubling is continued, until arriving at twenty drops per dosage. After a week of twenty drops, the dosage is diminished to fifteen drops for a week, and then ten and five drops on subsequent weeks. At the end of the second five-drop week, the treatment is ended.

One cure that you will not find in the herb stands that I would not have believed if I had not seen it with my own eyes was a neighbor came to me last night with a painful stye in his eye. Since my Spanish is still poor, I had to look up the word for tail and they had come to see my cat. With great skepticism, I picked up my cat and he thouroughly rubbed my cats tail over his eye as if to cleanse it. I just looked and he said in the morning it would be gone. While sitting here and working on this website at 5:00 am this morning, he came back to me to show me that the swelling HAD indeed gone down and the redness as well.

You may be interested in this book from Amazon.Com: Plantas Medicinales De Mexico/Medical Plants of Mexico