Zanemvula Herbal Health : Medicinal Plants

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Recording the emotions of healing plants

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The plants each have emotions and to match the emotions with what the patient feels and needs is the secret of treatment. The first step is recognizing each plant. This is best done by being introduced to the plants by someone who knows the plants. We organize recognition walks in Kirstenbosch and in the wild. Then you have to experience the emotion of each plant. In the Xhosa tradition the names for the plants describe what they do, not what they look like. Finally you have to experience the emotions of the patient by sympathizing with the patient.

Alepidae amatymbica - iquili (Xhosa), ikhatazo (Zulu)

Ikhatazo is about worrying too much. This root gives relief from worry.

This plant is found high up in the hills and mountains of the Eastern Cape below the cliffs of the hilltops. It grows in the drip line of the cliffs. It seems to need the cold wet climate where the wild pigs can not root it out. The black roots have a strong aromatic flavour and are white inside. When broken open they exude a clear liquid that dries into tiny crystals.

It is one of the most sought after plants for the treatment of colds and flu and gives wonderful relief from the miserable feelings in a developed and neglected cold that drags along. Where it grows is typical of the place in the body where it acts - the cliffs behind the nose - the post nasal drip.

The fresh roots are eaten raw. The dried roots are powdered and used in an infusion often mixed with umhlonyane.

Aloe spp. (A.ferox, A.arborescens) - umhlaba

This is one of the bitter succulent plants in South Africa. Not only does it have a bitter yellow juice in the outer edges of the leaf but it has sharp spikes along the edges of the leaves. It is drought resistant but sensitive to frost especially while young and short.

It is used to treat the bitterness of mind and body. To treat the bitter mother who's child will not drink from her.

The yellow bitter juice is rubbed all over the body of the mother and allowed to dry. She has to sleep with it on all night. After washing in the morning her milk becomes tasty to her child. If it has not worked the first time a second night treatment is sure to bring results.

It is used as a life sweetener and to wash away bad luck. The aloe is used as the first step in a bath cycle to prepare the client to deal with life in a new way.

The gel in the centre of leaf can be used the same way bulbine gel is used.

It can easily be propagated from seed. The seedlings need to be protected from frost.

Artimisia afra - umhlonyane

This is a different kind of bitter. It is the gall of courage. If you are lacking courage it will help you. As an additive to any cold remedy it is excellent to get things going.
To be active and engaging we need to absorb strength. This plant helps us to absorb and use our foods. Not only is it a great appetite booster but causes our tissues to absorb the sugars from our blood stream and be ready for action.

Balotta africana - isinazi
This plant is for coughs. Added to other herbs if makes a good cold remedy that has to take coughing into consideration. It grows easily and can survive some drought. It feels very sticky to the touch. The dark green leaves are very similar to the grey horehound used in europe for coughing.

Bulbine frutescens - ithethe elimpofu

The bulbines have a clear nontoxic non-bitter gel in the leaves that is an ideal cover up treatment for minor cuts and burns. It is very soothing and protective. To increase its soothing qualities the juice of the sour fig (edulis) can be added to remove any stinging sensation (as from herpes eruptions) in the skin.

On its own it can be used in a drink of water before meals to line the intestines and protect them from irritation.

They are ideal for blocking up any holes in the intestine lining that allows half digested food particles to enter the bloodstream where they cause alergic reactions and oversensitization. This condition that is now called leaky gut syndrome and is known to contribute to allergic reactions has long been treated by africans with Bulbine juice. To test yourself for leakey gut, just eat beetroot. If your stool goes red but your urine remains clear then you are ok. Take as many leaves as needed before a meal to prevent the beetroot colour to come through into the urine.

The third realy useful application for bulbine juice is as a laxative. It is the only effective totally non irritant non-toxic substance available.

It is very easy to grow from a little slip and makes a stunning display of yellow and orange flowers. If grown from a slip be sure to cut off the flowers otherwise they will drain the slip of all its life before it can take root. Because it has succulent leaves it is quite drought resistant.

Carpobrotus edulis - ikhambilamabulawo (sour vig)

The fresh juice from the leaves of this plant are astringent, pain relieving, and antiseptic. The pain relief is phenomenal. It neutralizes the stings of bluebottles, sore throats and herpes like little else can. For sore throats it can simply be chewed and gargled or swallowed. Not very pleasant but very effective. Half an hour after chewing leaves for a sore throat most people will have forgotten that they had one.

If the juice of these leaves is mixed with the jelly from the Bulbine plant it gives an excellent cream that gives instant relief to Herpes blisters. Both the pain from Herpes simplex and Herpes zoster or shingles.

It is used for pain in the eyes, sometimes caused by Herpes.

It has also been used for pain relief in the eyes while squid shell powder is scraped into eyes that have cataracts. (Malikwa, personal communication)

Clematis brachiata - umdlonso

This plant is commonly known as travelers joy. To travel is to be interested in new things, sniff things out, but for that you need an open nose. To open a blocked nose the leaves of this plant can be placed in very hot water and the steam inhaled.
The plant also grows like a traveler, crawling like a creeper over everything in summer then withdrawing home in winter.
So when everything has become too much and you have lost interest in the world then umdlonso is what you need to respect.
It is easily propagated in summer from rooted cuttings as long as you keep the roots moist during transplanting.

Dodonaea angustifolia - mutzuwe
This, the sand olive grows over large arid areas of South Africa. The aromatic leaves are mostly used in hot water for inhaling the steam to give relief from colds and flu but I have found them most usefull in treating hay fever. Chewing a fresh leaf can often give relief from hay fever for three hours. The leaves can also be dried, pounded and added to snuff to clear the head and nose.

Elephantorrhiza elephantina - intolwana

This plant is seen growing in patches in the northern part of South Africa. It looks a lot like the twigs of Jacaranda growing directly out of the soil. Under the soil are these enormous roots that look like long sweet potatoes. They are bright red inside. This red tissue turns into a wonderful relaxing soothing slightly astringent tea when you add water.
It is soothing and appears to make everything go more easily. Its astringent qualities are a great restorer of the stomach lining. It has even been reported to succesfully restore perforated ulcers.

Mixed with maluleka (waxberry Myrica quercifolia) it makes a wonderful relaxing bath.

Geranium incarnum - (carpet geranium)
This is a well known women’s tea (vrouetee of vrouebossie) as it seems to help with the regulation of the menses. It has certain properties in common with various other species of geranium in that it is beneficial and antiseptic to the kidneys and bladder and promotes urine flow.

Gunnera perpensa - ugobho, thangazaan

This plant thrives in wet places especially where there is fresh flowing water such as at the edges of steams. It loves water furrows used for irrigation in the western cape where it is regarded as a troublesome weed. In Natal and Eastern Cape it is so valued that it has almost been removed in some locations. It has been called river pumpkin or "rivier kalbas" because of the pumpkin like leaves.

If ever you have heard someone say "well just pull yourself together" and you do not know how to do it then you know that you need some of this plant to help. It does not fall apart when growing in the excessive moisture. Not only is it toning and contracting to the muscles in the body including the uterus, but also the stolons root where ever they touch the stream bank when extending through the water. This ability to root is used in helping mothers fall pregnant by helping the fertilized egg to implant in the uterus wall.
I found that one teaspoon of the dried root powder in a cup of hot water is enough to activate an overdue pregnancy in a very swollen mother.
Some forms of migraine respond very well to this plant.

Warning! Excessive use of this herb can cause severe contractions. It is a medicine not a food.

It is easy to propagate from stolons but needs a lot of water to keep growing. Best grown on the edge of a pond.

Helichrysum petiolare - imphepho
Several of the Helichrisum species are known as imphepho. Imphepho means air for the spirits. On the whole the different species seem to have been used interchangeably. I have concentrated on H. petiolare for use in infusions. It is the age old medicine used to smoke away bad influences and call the good spirits. I have also found it to be an excellent remedy to use in infusions where blood infections need to be cleared up whether they be streptococcal bacteria eating away at the heart valves or riketsia from ticks causing tick bite fever. The headache of infection, the high blood pressure, and the constipation will move within an hour of drinking the tea. The swollen glands mostly disappear within a week. The secret is to drink one or two cups daily over a two week period or longer.
Warning! If more than two cups a day are used then it seems to relax the pelvic girdle and cause lower back pain and easy dislocation of the spinal column. Avoid carrying anything heavy at this time. Propagation can be made from rooted stolons. Cutting back the plant into the woody part stunts or kills it. Do the pruning and collecting only into the green growth.

Hypoxis species - African potato, Ilabatheca (covered with stalks), Inkomfe (multiple heads)

There are many species of this genus that have a similar effect. They have corms with yellow or white inside. When exposed to the air the tissues rapidly turn dark. When eaten fresh the flesh stimulates the sense of sweetness and everything tastes sweet for the next half hour. The most important thing is the age of the plant.

The older it is the stronger it works. If it has multiple heads it is called inkomfe. Some San say that the most important part of the plant is not the corm but its roots.

It is used primarily for the sense of being connected to the earth. It works on the lower heart in the body, the prostate and uterus.

It helps manic people feel more stable. It is used with isidagwa and sutherlandia to stabalize and warm manic people.

Leonotis leonotis - umfincaficane

"Klipdagga" is a lion plant with heart shaped leaves. It grows very fast under good conditions and is killed by frost. The closely related Leonotis leonoris "wilde dagga" has narrower leaves, tends to be more perenial and has smaller balls of flowers. The flowers are bright orange.
They have always remained a popular medicine especially for children and are used for a whole range of off colour conditions. It seems a great ally for courage and deals with the many itchy diseases created by fear. It even works for epilepsy, the extreme of fear. It has been used by chewing, taken as an infusion or bathing in a extract. As a bath for excema it has given great results.

Melianthus comosus / Melianthus major - Kruidjie roer my nie. (Do not touch me herb)

This is the plant that says: "Do not touch me. I am too sensitive. "

This has been thought to mean that it is named such because of its bad smell. The plant however works for the unstable who cannot deal with life. One of two things usually happen when you cannot deal with life, you panic and/or withdraw. The panic speeds up the heart rate. Then if it all gets too much the person withdraws and goes into a dark lethargic state. I have found this to be a wonderful medicine in homeopathic doses for bipolar (manic-depressive) people with a spleen problem. These small doses cause them to react to over sensitivity and stabilize. Over sensitivity in the form of allergic sneezing also reacts well to a snuff that contains a little Melianthus.

If over sensitivity has caused the nerve sensitivity to withdraw as in stroke patients, warm baths in water to which a tea of Melianthus has been added aids in the restoration of the nerves.

Insect stings and infections that cause a hot swelling can quickly be calmed with a paste of Melianthus leaves applied to the stricken area.

If applied to the surface of puncture wounds (in poultice form) as in dog and snake bites it helps draw out the toxins and pain.

In the case of snake bites that cause paralysis of the nerves and death through paralysis of the heart and chest muscles that keeps one breathing, a thumb sized stem can be sucked in the cheek to keep the nerves sufficiently stimulated to keep going. This is the only form of direct internal use and only in dire circumstances as this herb is very toxic.

Pentanisia prunelloides - icimamlilo
Icimamlilo in Xhosa means "put out the fire" and it does just that. It can put out the fire of a too acid digestion. It can also subdue anger. As an antacid I have never met its match. Taking it as a powder with powdered intolwane for acid reflux is quite magical. The root is clear almost like jelly when fresh with a red centre. It grows in the eastern half of the country.

Psoralea pinnata - umhlonitshwa

This blue and white flowered legume tree has the most varied shapes and sizes. Depending on the climate and soil type this plant can he stretched out or quite compressed and stunted. It is called "blou keur" or "fonteinbos" in Afrikaans as in mostly grows in moist places.

The name umhlonitshwa means to respect. It is a tree that helps us to be humble. If we are humble we can more easily give up our criticism and cynicism. Then our pancreas can start working and overcome some form of diabetisism.

As a student of the spirit world it helps us to enter without pride. Pride leads to a serious fall in the spirit world. To enter with humility we first burn the umhlonitshwa with imphepho and inhale some of the fumes. This is why the plant is called student dagga.

Withania somnifera - ubuvumba

This plant can help you endure and be strong. It is also called Indian Ginseng and is a well known adaptogenic in the east.
In South Africa I have mostly seen it growing amongst the rocks in hilly outcrops.
It is very frost sensitive and there is always less frost on the outcrops.

It can be propagated from cuttings and seed. The small birds love feeding off the bright shiny red berries that look like small gooseberry fruit.

Effects of healing

Meet the plants

About______ Zanemvula

Traditional healing

Holistic ___ approach

Courses


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