Jamaican Traditional Medicine
Maroon Medicinal Plants
Traditional medicine represents a part of Jamaica’s heritage and deserves greater recognition of its importance to our history. The retention of medicinal practices and traditions is evident mainly in the rural communities (where technology is not as widespread). To a lesser extent, this is also evidence in urban communities. With modern technology, medicine has moved from a purely traditional phase to high-tech production of synthetic chemicals and the extraction of chemicals from plants to make medicinal drugs. Several of these medicinal drugs are derived from the plants that form the basis of traditional medicine.
It was the use of certain plants for medicinal purposes by people like the Maroons that prompted scientists to study these plants in order to ascertain the usefulness of their components for the production of medicinal drugs. The importance of traditional medicine has gained support from the World Health Organization and other international bodies that have been actively promoting it on a global level. This has made such an impact that the herbal medicine market has been revitalized and seems to be a new option rather than an after thought for the treatment of various ailments and diseases.
The traditional medicine practiced throughout a country will usually differ depending on the influences and roots from which the practitioners came. The locality of plants in certain geographical areas or climates makes traditional medicine even more specific to indigenous cultures. The Maroons being descendants from the "Mother Land" have retained many traditions that are characteristic to Africa. There have been some new practices due to influences of different cultures that they may have interacted with. This exhibition highlight some of the herbs and preparations that the Jamaican maroons have grown to depend on for medicinal purposes and preparations adopted from their culture by various sectors within the society.
Aloe vera
A member of the Lily Family.
Aloe vera is a short stemmed herb with tufted fleshy dull greyish green or blue leaves. It buds profusely to produce new plants from the short creeping underground stem. It bears a yellow flower.
The interest in the mucilaginous pulp or "Aloe gel" of the plant in particularly within western countries can be traced back to the early nineteen hundreds. Despite the unpleasant and bitter taste the plant is much esteemed in Jamaican Maroon medicine. The Herbalists see it as particularly valuable for skin conditions, especially burns and insect bites. These are treated by just merely rubbing the gel on the affected area. The leaves are also wrapped (and left in place for around twelve to twenty-four hours) around parts of the body that might be in pain (e.g. from arthritis). It is also considered to be a laxative or "cleanser" due to special cells in the aloe leaf that produce a "juice" that causes this reaction. This "juice" can be dried to produce the solid, bitter aloes, which was widely used in western regular medicine for it’s laxative action. It is used to "enhance the immune system" and also for the common cold and to purify one’s blood.
Leaf of Life
Bryophyllum pinnatum
A member of the Stonecrop Family.
This is a smooth skinned more or less erect fleshy herb. It grows up to about 1.2m tall. Its lower leaves are simple and the upper complex in formation. Its flowers are light green (and turn yellowish) and dull brownish red.
The mucilaginous leaves of the plant are pressed or boiled for its juice. This juice is used for the relief of stomach pains; the mucilage is also thought to be useful in healing ulcers. The pulp of the crushed leaves is also used as a poultice that is applied over the stomach and the crushed leaves are applied to the forehead to relieve headaches. It also has been used for hypertension and treatment of sore feet, but generally it is most commonly used for treating the common cold.
Bizzie, Bizzy, Bissie, Kola Nut, Cola Nut
Cola acuminata
A member of the Sterculiaceae Family.
The Cola Nut is a medium sized tree native to West Africa. It has leathery dark green leaves that are often twisted at the tip. It has small flowers that lack petals borne in clusters. Both male and female flowers are produced on the same cluster. The fruit is a follicle, which is corky or rough on the surface and may be 20 cm. in length.
The Maroons prepare a tea from the powdered bissie (or cola nuts) mixed with rum. It is used for settling the stomach or "pains in the belly", and as a tonic. The pains in the belly are usually associated with "ptomaine poisoning", known to have happened after eating tinned meat that has gone bad. They also use Bizzy for "nerve problems".
Ginger
Zingiber officinale
A member of the Ginger Family.
The ginger plant is an erect herb with scaly underground stems that branch in a finger-like fashion and is known as "hands." The stem reaches a height of about 1m and is surrounded by the sheathing bases of the leaves. The flowers are yellowish with purple lips.
Jamaican ginger is known to be one of the most highly valued commercial gingers worldwide, and it is used as a spice and medicine.
The Maroons use ginger to relieve indigestion and this is done by making and drinking ginger tea. Some Maroons who believe that pork causes indigestion will grate ginger over it at some point before consuming. Chewing on the root is also a common thing to do when one feels sick. Apart from its "carminative" action to settle the stomach, hot ginger tea is also used to produce a sweat in feverish conditions.
Cerasee
Momordica charantia
A member of the Gourd Family.
This plant is a climber with its leaves cut into several narrow based lobes. Its fruits are narrow at both ends and the seeds are covered with a red pulp.
Cerasee is commonly found on fences, hedgerows, beaches and shrubs in disturbed areas.
The Maroons use the aerial parts to make a bitter tea. This bitterness has been a rationale for any reputation as a tonic and as a blood purifier. They however use it more as a blood purifier. They also use the tea for griping or pains associated with the stomach. The tea is also used for colds and fever.
Castor Oil, Oil Nut
Ricinus cummunis
A member of the Spurge Family.
This plant usually takes the form of a short-lived shrub or small tree. It usually has many branches and varies in heights from 90cm-12m.
The Maroons commonly prepare castor oil from the seeds of this plant. In preparing the oil the stirring is only carried out in one direction and one should not look away while the oil is rising to the surface. The oil is used by the Maroons as a laxative, a cleanser for many other conditions including colds, and midwives have employed it to speed up labour by administering it to the mother. The oil has been linked to a vast number of ailments but its main role has been a "cleanser", rather than a treatment specific to a particular condition.
Periwinkle, Old Maid, Ram-Goat Rose
Catharanthus roseus
A member of the Dogbane Family.
This is a bushy herb with grows up to about 80cm and has a single flower. The flower is usually white or pink, or white with a pink eye. It is commonly found in gardens and waste places mostly at low elevations and it flowers and fruits all year round.
The Maroons uses constituents of this plant as a "blood strengthener" for anemia and leukemia, as a mouthwash and external astringent. This herb has also been used as a remedy for tuberculosis, and has been credited as a remedy for certain cancers.
Arrow root
Maranta arudinaceae
A native of Brazil and a member of the Arrow root Family.
Arrowroot is an herb that grows up to about 1m high, with a fleshy underground stem. Flowers are white in colour and its seeds are rather rough with a yellowish coating.
The rhizome of the plant, a rich source of starch, is beaten and ground to produce "arrowroot flour" or "arrowroot starch". The maroons make this into a thickish soup and this soup is used to treat diarrhea, especially in children, or "to strengthen the stomach after a baby is born." It is also used as a blood purifier. The Maroons have also used this plant to treat cases of poisoning.
Annatto
Bixa orellana
A member of the Bixaceae Family.
Annatto can take the form of a shrub or a tree; the former may grow up to 3m high and the latter up to 6m high. The flowers are usually pink in colour and the fruit is in the form of a capsule. Inside the seeds are covered with a soft reddish-orange pulp. It is commonly cultivated and occasionally naturalized in secondary growth and on waste ground, especially on alluvial soils.
This plant is naturalized throughout the tropics and is best known for the dye extracted from the pulp surrounding the seeds. This dye is also used to colour butter, margarine, cheese, curries and soups.
The Maroons make a tea with the leaves that they use for biliousness. In bad cases, vomiting bile may occur. The use of Annatto seems to be justified, on occasions, on the basis of cleansing by laxative action, which is the rationale for using the tea in conjunction with a "worm killer" especially in children. Annatto is also used against ailments of the liver. |
