haitian plants medicine

Although medicinal uses of these plants are not absent from the Cuban pharmacopoeia, they may in some cases be restricted to Haitian descendants and to Cubans who have been influenced by the migrants' culture. leaves applied to the forehead to treat headache). Esquivel M, Hammer K: The Cuban homegarden 'conuco': a perspective environment for evolution and in situ conservation of plant genetic resources. Among the shared ethnobotanical practices is also the preparation of miel de gira with the pulp of the fruit of Crescentia cujete. You can drink that one over there named King of the Forest, she said. Since catnip is a very mild herb for humans, it is safe to give to babies in tea form. (Colon, 154).. Colon, Sandra Hernandez. I dont think theres a place that you would go in Haiti and say, I have a fever, I have a sickness, and one person wont tell you, Did you drink asosi?, she said. To the Haitian, these beliefs are inexorably woven in with Voodoo, serving the loa and reliance on the local docteur feille.. the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health. Dayana St. Fort was born in Haiti. If they or their leaf doctor sense that any of these factors are out of balance in their body, they dose themselves with an decoction (tea) of sarsaparilla root. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food as Medicine. the use of Dichrostachys cinerea as antidiarrhoeic) or incomplete imitation of local practices. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the They are persistent. Chemie, Pharmakologie, Toxikologie. A Haitian Treasure: Vetiver Dr. Naika Apeakorang Here Kloss seems to be hinting in his 1939 publication that vervain can be used to cause abortion. Cultural aspects related to traditional plant posology are addressed, as well as changes and adaptation of Haitian medicinal knowledge with emigration and integration over time. While most women in America go to licensed medical doctors to find relief for gynecological problems, the vast majority of Haitian women cannot avail themselves of expert medical care. 1974, La Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro. Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, Weniger B, Rouzier M, Daguilh R, Henrys D, Henrys JH, Anton R: La medecine populaire dans le Plateau Central d'Haiti. [14]. The ethnic and cultural composition of contemporary Caribbean populations are the result of historical population movements through the slave trade and inter-island migration and of the legacy of the different ethnicities involved in the process of national identity formation. statement and We will present and discuss data about: 1) traditional remedies, their uses, and preparation, 2) traditional practices and beliefs related to these uses, and 3) changes and adaptation of Haitian medicinal knowledge with emigration and integration over time. They sell a large variety of medicinal plants (67 dry species and three fresh species) from the Haitian pharmacopoeia. Viladrich A: Between bellyaches and lucky charms. The plants cited were photographed, collected with the informants during the interviews, and identified by authors (D.G., A.B., A.B.) The last group of herbs I would like to comment on are three that could be called "female herbs". By using this website, you agree to our Haitian Plants Medicine, One natural remedy that can be made from the plants and herbs in your herb garden is a frustration painkiller called Echinacea. Journal of Black Studies. Ososki AL, Balick MJ, Daly DC. Afro-Caribbean pharmacopoeia is that body of knowledge and practices around medicinal plants which finds its origins in the cultures of African slaves brought to the Caribbean [50]. Different plant species are added to the basic preparation according to the specific medicinal purpose for which it is prepared: for example, Cissus spp. A fresh pot of cerasee or asosi tea, a traditional plant used across the Caribbean for all ailments. Paul A, Cox PA: An ethnobotanical survey of the uses for Citrus aurantium (Rutaceae) in Haiti. Therefore, herbs are the medicine of choice and necessity. 2001, Guantnamo, Cuba: Editorial el mar y la montaa, Nevet M, De la Rosa AS: Kote ou bouke m pote. So, Lippia alba and Cymbopogon citratus often appear in the corpus of ethnobotanical knowledge of African origin in Cuba [14, 51], and Erythroxylum havanense and Chiococca alba are among the main ingredients of multi-herbal preparations used as a medicinal remedy in Eastern Cuba as well as a spiritual remedy in Afro-Cuban religions [19, 34]. from therapeutic activities pertaining to this cult are of the same kind as those encountered in the practice of Modern Medicine. The use of medicinal herbs is highly developed. DeSantis' appointed board approves a lawsuit against Disney, South Florida professor allegedly fired over racial justice unit files civil rights complaint, Gas prices across Florida are on the decline and could get even lower, Florida LGBTQ+ lawmaker tells the GOP: 'Im literally trying to exist', The Symphonia's climate change-themed concert series concludes with 'Water', Favorite Zip Odes: Poems about cafecito, heat, language and I-95 traffic, Bumping Lady Gaga off the charts? The data presented in this paper are derived from a wider study that was conducted on the ethnobiological knowledge of Haitian people living in the Province of Camagey. The rural Missourian who uses herbs does so out of an unwillingness to give up a part of her heritage. The continuous ingestion of low doses of the allelochemicals in these species may be an effective means to prevent massive parasite infestations, especially in children [43]. Haiti is one of the leading producers of vetiver in the world. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-5-16, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-5-16. Sister Francis is a religious woman whose backyard is filled with the healing bushes she grew up using in Jamaica. Ozark people are surely not as impoverished as Haitians and they have better access to doctors and hospitals, but the majority of improvements to this area of Missouri have come within the past fifty years, and before that time, an old-fashioned way of curing one's ills was the tradition. Revealing Latinos' plant-healing knowledge and practices in New York City. Citrus aurantium was found to be used medicinally to treat colds, fevers, hepatic disorders, gall bladder problems, rheumatism, epilepsy, emotional shock, bruising internally and externally, skin blemishes and digestive problems. They knew the use of cure-to-all medicinal plant Asosi or cerasee or corailee in English which grows all over South Florida, especially in abundance during the rainy season. Among the Haitians interviewed, 21 migrated to Cuba between 19131926, ten are the offspring of Haitian couples who entered Cuba during the same period, and three more left Haiti between 19461954. "You know the herb is the healing of the nation," she said. with Momordica charantia, Hamelia patens), as well as to treat skin infections such as carbuncles, to alleviate itching, and to fortify children who have 'fragile health'. Those who arrived in the 1940s came either by plane or boat, although they were migrating mostly for the same reasons. Rowe said growing up in Jamaica people used to tell pregnant women that if they wanted their babies to be born with pretty brown skin, they should drink cerasee. Of these, about three quarters were reported with the same medicinal uses, and the remaining quarter with different uses. 1959, Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie de L'etat. The ethnic and cultural composition of contemporary Caribbean populations are the result of historical population movements through the slave trade and inter-island migration and of the legacy of the different ethnicities involved in the process of national identity formation. FOIA The plant parts used include: leaves and aerial parts (53.5% as a whole), young leaves and shoots (9.7%), seeds and fruits (8.4% each), roots and tubers (7.7% as a whole), bark (4%), stems (3%), flowers (2.3%), rhizomes (1.3%), and resins and bulbs (0.6% each). Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise. She learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, who learned from her mother and so on. During the period 19001930, more than half a million Haitians entered the country legally or illegally [6,7]. Boletn de Resea de Plantas Medicinales. Economic Botany. Inventory of medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. The resulting juice is then mixed with sugar and/or bee's honey and sometimes a small amount of rum, and drunk/eaten for problems of the respiratory system (asthma, catarrh), of the digestive system (stomach pains, intestinal parasites), and of the female reproductive apparatus (infertility) [19]. Nevertheless, some culturally relevant products such as dried or fresh specimens of Artemisia absinthium and fruits and seeds of Abelmoschus esculentus were brought to Cuba upon migration (Figure 2). Five formulas have been reported as miel de gira (siw kalbaz in Creole), whose main ingredient is the fruit of Crescentia cujete. National Library of Medicine Uses of medicinal plants by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in Prior to that date, many documents on the French colonies carry some mention of Haitian ethnobotany. 10.1016/j.jep.2008.01.016. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 5, 16 (2009). Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Red sage is an herb found in both locales and is known to be an emmenagogue, or that which promotes menstrual flow (Kloss, 308; Laguerre, 94; Colon, 161). Among those plants with shared uses are species that are widely used in Cuban pharmacopoeia such as Bidens pilosa, Boldoa purpuracens, Phyla scaberrima, Pluchea carolinensis, and Rheedia aristata, whose medicinal uses may have partly been adopted by migrants, as well as medicinal plants that are common to the Caribbean pharmacopoeia whose use Haitians and Cubans shared prior to migration: examples include the use of Cecropia schrebiana as an anticatarrhal; of Carica papaya, Chenopodium ambrosioides and Psidium guajava to treat intestinal parasites; of Lepidium virginicum as a carminative and diuretic; and of Zingiber officinale to treat colds, catarrh, and rheumatic pains. Haitian empirical medicine sprang from both European (16th to 19th century) and African (especially voodoo) traditional therapies. It is located between the Canal Viejo de Bahamas in the North, the Caribbean Ocean in the South, the Province of Las Tunas in the East, and the Province of Ciego de vila in the West. Haiti Medicine S.A. (HM) is a private company, which distributes top quality medicines and pharmaceutical products throughout Haiti. He deduced that the bark and wood of the simarouba excelsa plant were an excellent tonic and febrifuge (that which acts to expel intestinal worms from the system). This video showcases plants used for post labor bath and tea as Haitian mother explains the importance of traditional medicine. Voucher specimens were deposited at the CIMAC herbarium in Camagey (HACC). Additional file 1: Medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Calle Cisneros No. I used Kloss's Back to Eden and Santillo's Natural Healing with Herbs for my American source books. Even though Haitian and Peruvian ritual bathing traditions demonstrate many differences, we note several important themes of similarity: cleanses that involve moving (not stagnant) sacred waters; the application, and at times ingestion, of medicinal plants and flowers; and the act of being bathed by a spiritual elder to cultivate greater . Especially dominant are the soothing effects it is known to have on small infants. Once they found themselves in Cuba, the main strategies that Haitian migrants used to maintain their ethnomedicinal practices depended principally on the floristic similarity between Haiti and Cuba (i.e. This paper focuses on traditional medicinal plant uses of Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. De Smet PAGM. The Province of Camagey is located between 2031'01" and 2229'00" latitude North and 7657'00" longitude West from Greenwich. Throughout the field study, the ethical guidelines adopted by the American Anthropological Association [27] were followed. GV and DG conceived and designed the research. Datura is a powerful psychoactive plant, found in West Africa as well as other tropical areas and used there in ritual as well as criminal activities. To some, the wild green plant with five point leaves may be just an annoying weed, but to many in South Floridas Caribbean community Jamaicans, Bahamians,Trinidadians, Haitians -- its the "it" plant for just about every ailment. Its not even like cod liver oil. Given this, as well as the poor availability of ethnobotanical data relating to traditional Haitian medicine, there is an urgent need to record this knowledge. Although medicinal uses of these plants are not absent from the Cuban pharmacopoeia, they may in some cases be restricted to Haitian descendants and to Cubans who have been influenced by the migrants' culture. 1974, La Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro. Its worse than cod liver oil.. Although its roots grow downwards, the plant itself can grow up to 1.5 meters high, with long and thin leaves and brownish/golden flowers. 1987, South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey Publishers. 10.1007/BF00052650. Conversely, and to a lesser extent, Haitians contributed to what is today considered as traditional Cuban medicine by introducing into the dominant Cuban community certain specific ethnobotanical practices and uses of plants, as described also in Volpato et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Pierre-Noel (1959) gathered recipes and modes of usage for various plants and categorized them by illness. 2. and Bidens pilosa are added to treat congestions of the respiratory system, whereas 'hot' plants (e.g. Besides single medicinal plants, 22 herbal mixtures, mostly prepared as a concoction of plants or plant parts, are reported. Informants reported using 123 plant species belonging to 112 genera in 63 families. Inventory of medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Cultural aspects related to traditional plant posology are addressed, as well as changes and adaptation of Haitian medicinal knowledge with emigration and integration over time. Chemical Ecology. Viladrich A. The decoction of fresh herbal components is by far the preferred means to prepare medicinal remedies, accounting for almost 60% of all preparations, which is similar to what has been found in traditional Cuban medicine [15, 17, 19]. Herbal Index | Graduate Medical Sciences Nevertheless, some culturally relevant products such as dried or fresh specimens of Artemisia absinthium and fruits and seeds of Abelmoschus esculentus were brought to Cuba upon migration (Figure (Figure2).2). The use of medicinal herbs is highly developed. Traveling cultures and plants The ethnobiology and ethnopharmacy of migrations. "y tienen faxones y fabas muy diversos de los nuestros" Origin, Evolution and Diversity of Cuban Plant Genetic Resources. The plant pops up all over South Florida, especially when it rains. I used Kloss's Back to Eden and Santillo's Natural Healing with Herbs for my American source books. Received 2009 Feb 28; Accepted 2009 May 18. Scientific name, botanical family, vernacular Cuban and Haitian name(s), voucher specimen number, part(s) used, preparation, use(s), and frequency of mention are . Often performed during the new year and around holidays, voudou baths are designed to bestow various blessings from God: anything from better cash flow to improved health or a new baby. About 40% of the total population of the province lives in the city of Camagey; almost 200,000 people live in rural areas. Haitian migrants played an important role shaping Cuban culture and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. Volpato G, Godnez D: Medicinal foods in Cuba: Promoting health in the household. Migrants confront a different sociocultural context and new environments where specific plants may no longer be available and traditional practices may come under pressure and therefore may be progressively adapted or abandoned [46]. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, http://www.afrocubaweb.com/haiticuba.htm#creole, http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm, decoction of three shoots and three roots. New York: Paragon, 1989. The Province is inhabited by some 780,000 people, or seven per cent of the Cuban population. Consequently, there is little data in the literature about the ethnobotanical knowledge and practices of Haitians in Cuba, with the exception of Volpato et al. In the case of a child with persistent 'evil eye' (for example when the child cries excessively), after the bath the child's clothes are burnt, and a collar is made with seeds of Canavalia ensiformis and placed on the child, as reported also in Haiti [36]. Most Haitians were illiterate, crowded into barracks (barracones), paid a miserable salary, and compelled to hand over their savings to reimburse the cost of their passage [7,9]. Remedies shared between Haitian immigrants and their descendants and the Cuban population are mainly the result of the presence of shared ethnobotanical knowledge before migration took place, but as well reflect adoption by Haitian immigrants of plants and/or uses from the dominant Cuban pharmacopoeia and, to a lesser extent, vice versa. GV, DG, AB, and AB carried out interviews and collected data in the field. The complexity of practices related to traditional posology is rarely investigated in ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological studies. Miel de gira is considered as a panacea, and its use is apparently widespread among Cuban and Cuban-Haitian populations as a preventive and a remedy, when it is taken in small spoons in doses of from one to five spoons per day [16]. Echinacea can be taken several times a day, as advised by an herbalist. religious and traditional practices have merged with medicine. 1997, Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. 1 During the immense and ongoing recovery effort, individuals and organized groups have been incorporating natural and traditional medicine into their activities. 1964, La Habana: Asociacin de Estudiantes de Ciencias Biolgicas, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. The rapid disappearance of Haitian migrants' traditional culture due to integration and urbanization suggests that unrecorded ethnomedicinal information may be lost forever. Throw in the extra cultural factor of what the Amer-Indians knew and imparted, and what emerges is a wide body of knowledge that serves a very useful, if not vital function. Almost five per cent of the remedies are used without processing, which is especially the case for fruits eaten as medicinal foods (e.g. More than half of the plant species reported in that study are also reported in the current study of Haitian immigrants and their descendants. These mixtures can be more or less complex, ranging from a concoction of two plants to complex preparations with different species. GV and DG conceived and designed the research. In contrast, the use of the same species with different medicinal purposes may be the result of migrant's adoption of some species through experimentation with plants found in the new environment (e.g. 1984, 10: 1-39. Among first generation migrants, twenty are originally from the cities of Les Cayes (Creole name Okai) and Port Salut (Creole name Posal), in the South of Haiti, whereas four lived in or near Port-au-Prince. Traveling Plants and Cultures The Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. Ethnomedicinal knowledge of Haitian immigrants in Cuba presents no exception [14]. Some touristic infrastructures (notably in Camagey city and Santa Luca beach) have been developed in the last decade [26]. 1951, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Len H, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. Fuentes V: Plants in Afro-Cuban Religions. " with Momordica charantia, Hamelia patens), as well as to treat skin infections such as carbuncles, to alleviate itching, and to fortify children who have 'fragile health'. The plant parts used include: leaves and aerial parts (53.5% as a whole), young leaves and shoots (9.7%), seeds and fruits (8.4% each), roots and tubers (7.7% as a whole), bark (4%), stems (3%), flowers (2.3%), rhizomes (1.3%), and resins and bulbs (0.6% each). The Ballad of 'Deepfake Drake' - The New York Times The practice of using herbal baths both as physical and spiritual medicine is similar to other ethnic groups [37,38]; as well, baths are very important in general in traditional health systems based on Afro-American religions [39], and their use among Haitians can be regarded at the same time as magical, spiritual, and medicinal. The incorporation of local remedies into their own pharmacopoeia occurred as a consequence of factors such as cultural contacts and exchanges between Haitians and Cubans and of personal experimentation or imitation of local practices by migrants. Once they found themselves in Cuba, the main strategies that Haitian migrants used to maintain their ethnomedicinal practices depended principally on the floristic similarity between Haiti and Cuba (i.e. The tea is bitter. Throughout the field study, the ethical guidelines adopted by the American Anthropological Association [27] were followed. Weniger B, Rouzier M, Daguilh R, Henrys D, Henrys JH, Anton R. La medecine populaire dans le Plateau Central d'Haiti. Exceptions to this are the works of Brutus and Pierre-Noel, Len, and Weniger et al. Across the yard is a towering shrub with yellow flower clusters shapedlike a candle. Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies Haitian Medicinal Plants - Medicinal Plants and Herbal Remedies Her go-to cure-all medicinal plant is asosi, also called cerasee or corailee in the English-speaking Caribbean. Volpato G, Ahmadi Emhamed A, Lamin Saleh SM, Broglia A, Di Lello S: Procurement of traditional remedies and transmission of medicinal knowledge among Sahrawi people displaced in Southwestern Algerian refugee camps. The final question that I wanted to probe was some sort of linkage between the two cultures of Haiti and America that might account for the similarities I found in treatment methods. Bidens pilosa, Cymbopogon citratus, Majorana hortensis, Ocimum spp.). In: Hammer K, Esquivel M, Knpffer H, editor. Although they are also reported in Beyra et al. Map of Cuba with the Province of Camagey. This use of cricket's legs has been also reported by Hernndez and Volpato [19] in their article about the medicinal mixtures of Eastern Cuba, as well as by Seoane [16] in his treatise on Cuban medical folklore. This story originally ran on September 22, 2015. Cerasse vine intertwined with other plants growing in Cacheta Francis' North Miami Beach backyard. Her go-to cure-all medicinal plant is asosi, also called cerasee or corailee in the English-speaking Caribbean. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Most of those interviewed are elderly people living in remote rural areas; they often live alone since, because of their age, their husbands and wives have passed away and their children, if any, have migrated mainly to major Cuban cities (e.g. Haitian Voodoo priests control two major practices which might be of interest to toxicologists: healing and poisoning. Since Haitians have very limited access to the attentions of doctors and modern medicine when ill, their reliance on leaf-doctoring is essential to remedying their sicknesses and maintaining a state of good health. Google Scholar. The hairs of the fruit of this plant contain formic acid and mucunain, which are so toxic that they were used as homicidal poisons in Africa [40,41]. Mints such as catnip are widely used both in Haiti and America. In: Pieroni A, Price LL, editor. Given this, as well as the poor availability of ethnobotanical data relating to traditional Haitian medicine, there is an urgent need to record this knowledge. most plants used in Haiti were also available in Cuba), and to the cultivation of medicinal plants in the new environment. 2007, Oxford: Berghahn, 245-269. 1986, 17: 13-30. Haitian empirical medicine sprang from both European (16th to 19th century) and African (especially voodoo) traditional therapies. Canella winterana, Pimenta dioica) are added to preparations with stomachic purposes. Senna is the main ingredient in many modern day American laxatives. One home remedy that can be made from the plants and natural herbs in your herb garden is a frustration pain reliever called Echinacea. Cerasee Or Asosi: The Cure-All Plant For South Florida's Caribbean

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