Gumamela (CHINA ROSE) as Herbal Medicine

Properties
· Considered emollient, emmenagogue, anodyne, expectorant, refrigerant.
· Anti-infectious, anthelmintic, antiinflammatory, diuretic, antipyretic.
· Hypotensive, antispasmodic.
· Prepared drug has sweet taste, neutral natured.
· The Hibiscus with five petals noted for its medicinal properties, the flowers are considered astringent. The roots contain a mucilage that is soothing on the mucous membranes of the digestive and respiratory tracts.
· Proanthocyanidins are considered antioxidant, antipyretic, analgesic, spasmolytic.

Constituents
- Flowers reported to yield hisbiscetin.
- Flowers yield polyphenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins.
- Polysaccharides which promote wound healing and are immune-modulating.
- Studies have isolated flavonoids, cyanidin, quercetin, hentriacontane, calcium oxalate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid.

Parts utilized
· Flowers, roots, and leaves.
· Harvest the roots and leaves anytime of the year.
· Wash, cut into slices, and sun-dry. The flowers should be collected from May to August, sun-dry.

Uses
In the Philippines, flower buds, beaten to a paste, applied as poultice to boils, cancerous swellings, and mumps.
·Poultice of leaves and flower buds applied externally to swellings; the same mixture, with the addition of lime, hastens the maturation of tumors.
· Mumps, infection of the urinary tract: use dried drug materials 15 to 30 gms, boil to decoction and drink.
· For abscesses, carbuncles and boils: crush fresh leaves and poultice the infected area.
· Decoction of roots, barks, leaves and flowers used as an emollient.
· Decoction from roots of red and white-flowered plants is a Kelantan antidote for poison. Same decoction is drunk for venereal diseases and fevers.
· Decoction of roots also used for coughs.
· Decoction of flowers and or roots used as natural diuretic.
· Bark is an emmenagogue; also used to normalize menstruation.
· Malays uses a decoction of leaves as a lotion for fevers, and the roots for glands in the neck.
· Infusion or poultice of leaves used for headaches.
· In China, leaves used as emollient, anodyne, and a gentle aperient.
· Decoction of root used as drops for sore eyes.
· Seeds used as a stimulant and for cramps.
· Decoction of leaves for fevers.
· For headaches, an infusion of leaves or poultice of leaves.
· Leaves are mildly laxative.
· Mucilage applied during labor.
· Juice of leaves, along with that of Vernonia cinerea, used by midwives to stimulate the expulsion of the placenta
· In the Dutch Indies the red flowers are used to regulate menstruation; also, considered somewhat purgative and sometimes said to cause abortion
· In Sind, flowers are fried in clarified butter and used for checking excessive menstruation
· Red flowers used for sprue.
· Infusion of flowers and leaves used as expectorant in bronchitis
· The Chinese and Annamites use the flowers for paralysis and dysmenorrhea.
· Infusion of flowers, exposed all night to the dew, used for gonorrhea.
· Flowers fried in ghee, given for menorrhagia. The dark red petals are used as a mucilaginous infusion for painful urination, strangury, cystitis, and other irritable genitourinary conditions
· Infusion used as a refrigerant drink for fevers and as demulcent for coughs.
· Red flowers are purgative; when taken with papaya seeds, may be abortive.
· Hair stimulant: oil made by mixing the juice of fresh petals and olive oil in equal proportions, and boiled till the water has evaporated, used for stimulating hair growth.
· Seeds, pounded to a pulp and mixed with water, used for gonorrhea.
· In Costa Rica, used as a purgative.
· In Venezuela, used to treat tumors.
· In the Caribbean, used as analgesic, anti-inflammatory.
· In the Dominican Republic, used to treat hematomas.

Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated for ornamental use.

Karot (Carrot) as Herbal Medicine

Constituents
- Leaves contain a volatile oil with pyrrolidine, daucine, and mannite.
- Roots yield volatile oil 0.0114%; fixed oil, carotin, lecithin, phosphatide, glutamine, sugar 4 to 12%, d-glucose, malic acid, pectin 1 to 3%, asparagine, inosite, etc.
- Leaves and seeds yield an alkaloid; the seeds, in addition, yield a bitter glucoside.

Properties
Astringent, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, sudorific.

Parts used
Roots, seeds.

Uses
Believed to be beneficial for cancers and kidney problems.
- For coughs and chest afflictions, the roots are boiled in milk; the milk is drunk and a poultice of the root is applied to the chest.
- In Mexico, roots are boiled in milk and used for coughs and chest affliction.
- For burns and infected ulcers, grated carrots are applied to the affected parts.
- Ointment made from roots and lard used for burns and scalds.
- Raw carrots eaten as mechanical anthelmintic.
- Root made into marmalade used as refrigerant.
- Poultice of carrots also used for ulcers, carbuncles, infected wounds.
- Seeds of the plant when ground to powder and taken as tea for colic and to increase urine flow.
- Tea of carrot blossoms has been used for treatment of dropsy.
- In India, seeds as considered a nervine tonic; Decoction of leaves and seeds used as stimulant to the uterus during parturition. In the Punjab, seeds are used as aphrodisiac and used for uterine pain. Fruit is recommended for chronic diarrhea. Seeds also used as abortifacient.
- In European folk medicine, root decoction used for jaundice and hepatic disorders.


Availability
Cultivated market produce.
Carrot seed essential oil in the cybermarket.

Lagundi (FIVE-LEAF CHASTE TREE) as Herbal Medicine

Parts utilized
- Leaves, bark, roots and seeds.
- Leaves may be harvested three months after establishment.


Properties
• Plant is considered antiinflammatory, astringent, antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, alterant, depurative, rejuvinating, stomachic.
• Roots considered tonic, febrifuge, antirheumatic, diuretic and expectorant.
• Leaves and seeds considered vulnerary.
• Leaves are considered aromatic, bitter, anti-inflammatory, bronchial smooth muscle relaxant, lactagogue, emmenagogue, insecticide, and vermifuge.
• Flowers are astringent, carminative, hepatoprotective, digestive, vermifuge and febrifuge.
• Fruit is considered nervine, cephalic, aphrodisiac, emmenagogue and vermifuge.


Uses
Folkloric
- Decoction of leaves used externally for cleaning ulcers and internally for flatulence. Also used as a lactagogue and emmenagogue.
- Decoction of bark, tops and leaves used as antigastralgic.
- Leaves used in aromatic baths; also as insectifuge.
- Vapor bath prepared with the plant used for treatment of febrile, catarrhal, and rheumatic affections.
- Decoction of leaves used as warm bath by women suffering with after-pains in the puerperal period. Also used as baths for new born children.
- Seeds are boiled in water and eaten or the water drunk to prevent the spread of toxin from bites of poisonous animals.
- Infusion of seeds used for disinfecting wounds and ulcers.
- Infusion of seeds in wine used for dropsy.
- Pounded leaves applies on the forehead and temples for headaches.
- Leaf decoction for fever, headache, toothache, cough, asthma.
- Root used as tonic, febrifuge and expectorant.
- Fruit used as nervine, cephalic, and emmenagogue.
- Tincture of root bark used for irritable bladder and for rheumatism.
- Powdered root used for piles as demulcent; also for dysentery.
- Root used for dyspepsia, colic, rheumatism, worms, boils, and leprosy.
- Flowers are used for diarrhea, cholera, fever, and diseases of the liver; and also as cardiac tonic.
- Powdered flowers and stalks are used for bleeding from the stomach and bowels.
- Fruit used for headaches, catarrh, and watery eyes. Dried fruits are used as vermifuge.
- Seeds are prepared as cooling mediing for skin diseases, leprosy, and inflammation of the mouth.
- Oil prepared with the juice used for sinuses and scrofulous sores. Oil also used as a rubbing application to glandular or tubercular swelliings of the neck. Oil also used for treatment of sloughing wounds and ulcers.
- Leaves used for reducing inflammatory and rheumatic swellings of the joints and testicular swelling associated with gonorrheal epididymitis and orchitis. Poultice of leaves also applied to sprained limbs, contusions, leech bites, etc. For these, fresh leaves in an earthen pot are heated over fire, and applied and applied as tolerated over the bruised parts. Leaves heated over fire are also applied with oil externally on wounds.
- Pillow stuffed with leaves is placed under the head for relief of catarrh and headache. Dried leaves when smoked also used to relieve catarrh and headaches.
- Decoction of leaves and long pepper used for catarrhal fever associated with head congestion and dullness of hearing.
- Juice of leaves used to remove fetid discharges and worms from ulcers.
- Plaster of leaves applied to enlarged spleens.
- Folkloric preparations: (1) For fever and toothaches, boil 6 tbsp of the chopped leaves in 2 glasses of water for 15 minutes; strain and cool. Divide the decoction in 3 parts and take one part every 3-4 hours. Also, bruised leaves may be applied to forehead. (2) For asthma and cough: Take 1/4 of the decoction three times a day. (3) Aromatic bath or sponge bathing: Boil 4 handfuls of leaves in a pot of water for 5 minutes; use the lukewarm decoction for sponge bathing.
- In Ayurveda and Unani, leaves and seeds used for rheumatism and joint inflammation. Decoction of leaves taken as a diuretic.
- In Bangladesh, used for headaches, weakness, vomiting, malaria black fever.
- In Indo-China, root decoction used for intermittent fevers.
- In Sri Lanka, used for eye disease, toothache, rheumatism; used as tonic, carminative and vermifuge.
Others
- Insecticide: Leaves considered insecticide and placed between pages of books and folds of silk and woolen clothing to preserve them from insects.
- Dyeing: Ashes much used as alkali in dyeing.
Recent Use
Lagundi has been proven to be an effective analgesic and antitussive (prepared as a pleasant tasting cough syrup) and has been considered as a replacement for dextromethorphan in the public health system.
New Application
Studies have shown benefit through reduction of coughing and relaxation of the bronchial smooth muscles. Being promoted by the Department of Health (DOH) for cough and asthma. One of a few herbs recently registered with the Bureau of Foods and Drugs (BFAD) as medicines.


Availability
Wild-crafted.
Commercial formulations: Tablets, capsules, oil, teas, and syrup.

Balanoy (Sweet Basil) as Herbal Medicine

Properties
• Carminative, stimulant, diaphoretic, expectorant, febrifuge, diuretic, demulcent, mucilaginous, cooling.
• Leaves and flowers considered excitant, diuretic, and stimulant for weak digestion.
• Seeds and flowers considered stimulant, diuretic and demulcent.
• Seeds are mucilaginous and cooling.


Parts utilized
• Leaves, seeds.
• Mature fresh leaves are harvested 2 to 3 months after planting. Leaves are picked leaving the branches on the plant to allow it to flower and produce seeds for the next season.
• The leaves are air-dried until they crumble when crushed with the fingers. Store in amber colored bottles in a cool, dry place.


Uses
Culinary / Edibility
- The leafy and flowering tops are used as condiment; eaten sparingly in salads.
- Seeds are sometimes eaten.
- In Kanawar, sometimes eaten mixed in ordinary bread.
I- n Bengal, infused in water, used as a refreshing and cooling drink.
Folkloric
- Cough: Expectorant properties - Take infusion or decoction of herb (9-15 gm of dried herb) or tops as tea.
- Leaf juice helpful for expectoration of mucus.
- Decoction of leaves also used for hiccups, vomiting and nausea.
- Gas pains: Decoction of herb as tea helps to expel wind from bowels.
- Ear afflictions: Juice of leaves dropped in ears for earache and dullness of hearing.
- Snake bites: Crush fresh plant and poultice the bitten wound.
- Gonorrhea, using a decoction of the roots and leaves of plants.
- Decoction of leaves used as a wash for ulcers.
- Used for external contusions.
- Used in baths for rheumatic pains.
- For ringworm and insect bites, apply juice of crushed leaves.
- Decoction of herb as wash for skin ulcers.
- For delayed menstruation: take the juice of the leaves with water.
- Seeds are used in treatment of several eye diseases; to soothe pain and inflammation.
- Toothache: Wet small piece of cotton with juice of crushed leaves and insert into tooth cavity.
- Decoction of seeds used to decrease postpartum pains; the seeds are mucilaginous.
- Poultice of seeds used for buccal sores.
- Decoction of seeds also used for constipation.
- Acne: Infusion of 3 tsp of dried leaves in 1 cup of boiling water for 20-30 minutes.
- Apply externally or drink decoction of tea or infusion 3 times daily.
- Malays used the leaves as remedy for coughs.
- Decoction of leaves used after childbirth; juice taken for delayed menses.
- Seeds given as infusion for gonorrhea, diarrhea and chronic dysentery.
- Seeds used as aphrodisiac.
- Seeds, washed and pounded, used in poultices for sores and sinuses; also used internally for habitual constipation and internal hemorrhoids.
Others
• Oils repel insects (limonene, myrcene, camphor, thymol) and have larvicidal (eugenol and methylclaviol) activity against houseflies and mosquitoes.
• Malays use it as a scent for clothes.
• In Africa, they are compounded into cosmetics.
Recent uses
Dizziness: crush enough fresh leaves with your fingers and sniff them.
Cough: As decoction boil eight tablespoons of fresh leaves in two glasses of water for 15 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to half. Divide the decoction into eight parts and take one part, three times a day.


Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated for condiment and culinary use.


Toxicity
Although known for its medicinal benefits, it contains some potentially dangerous compounds: safrole, rutin, caffeic acid, tryptophan and quercetin.(

Bayabas (Guava) as Herbal Medicine

"Guava" in English. A Philippine herbal medicine used as antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, antioxidant hepatoprotective, anti-allergy, antimicrobial, anti-plasmodial, anti-cough, antidiabetic, and antigenotoxic in folkloric medicine.

Distribution
- Widely distributed throughout the Philippines in all islands and provinces.
- Common in backyards and settled areas.
- In thickets and secondary forests at low altitudes, ascending to at least 1,500 meters.
- Introduced from tropical America.
- Thoroughly naturalized.
- Pantropic in distribution.

Properties
- Antidiarrheal, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antioxidant hepatoprotective, anti-allergy, antimicrobial, antigenotoxic, antiplasmodial, cardioactive, anticough, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, antinociceptive.
- Bark and leaves are astringent and vulnerary.

Parts utilized
Leaves, bark, fruit, flowers, roots.

Uses
Edibility / Nutrition
- Well known for its edible fruit.
- Fruit can be eaten raw or canned, jellied, juiced or powdered.
- Ripe fruit is eaten as vegetable and used as seasoning for native dishes, like sinigang, etc.
- Very high in vitamin C (80 mg in 100 gm of fruit) with large amounts of vitamin A.
Folkloric
- In the Philippines, the astringent, unripe fruit, the leaves, bark cortex, and roots - though more often the leaves only - are used in decoction for washing ulcers and wounds.
-Fresh leaves used for wounds and toothache.
- Decoction or infusion of fresh leaves used for wound cleaning to prevent infection and to facilitate healing.
- Warm decoction of leaves for aromatic baths.
- Decoction of bark and leaves used for diarrhea.
- For diarrhea, boil for 15 minutes 4 to 6 tablespoons of chopped leaves in 18 ounces of water. Strain and cool. Drink 1/4 of the decoction every 3 - 4 hours.
- Bark used internally for chronic diarrhea of children and adults - half an ounce of the bark or root bark in six ounces of water is boiled down to 3 ounces, and given in teaspoon doses. Also used for prolapsus ani of children.
- Decoction of rootbark also used as mouthwash for swollen gums.
- Root-bark has been recommended for chronic diarrhea.
- For toothache, chew 2-3 young leaves and put into the tooth cavity.
- In Mexico, decoction of leaves used for cleaning ulcers. Ground leaves used as poultice. Leaves also used as remedy for itches. Fruit also used as anthelmintic.
- In Uruguay, decoction of leaves used as vaginal and uterine wash, especially in leucorrhea.
- In the West Indies, decoction of young leaves and shoots used as febrifuge and for antispasmodic baths. Infusion of leaves used for cerebral affections, nephritis, and cachexia. Pounded leaves used locally for rheumatism; extract used for epilepsy and chorea.
- In Costa Rica, decoction of flower buds used for diarrhea and to improve blood flow.
- For gum swelling, chew leaves or use the leaf decoction as mouthwash 3 times daily; chewed leaves.
- For skin ulcers, pruritic or infected wounds: Apply decoction of leaves or unripe fruit as wash or the leaf poultice on the wound or use the decoction for wound cleansing. It is also popularly used for the wound healing of circumcision wounds.
- Guava jelly used as heart tonic; also for constipation.
- Ripe fruit is used as aperient.
- Water in which the fruit is soaked used for diabetes.
- For nosebleeds, densely roll the bayabas leaves and place into the nostril cavity.
- As vaginal wash, warm decoction of leaves as vaginal wash (after childbirth) or douche.
Cosmetic
Leaf extract used in skin whitening products.
Dental
Toothbrush au-natural: Bayabas twigs, chewed at the ends until frayed, used as alternative for toothbrushing with whitening effect.
Others
Wood is suitable for carpentry, turnery, fuel or charcoal.
A favorite rural use for tool handles.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Bawang (Garlic) as Herbal Medicine

Common name in english is "Garlic". Bawang is a used in Philippine herbal medicine to treat infection with antibacterial, antiinflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-hypertensive properties. It is widely used to reduce cholesterol level in blood.

Distribution
Ubiquitous in market places. Commercially grown in Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Ilocos Norte, Mindoro, and Cotobato.

Properties
• Antibacterial, antihelminthic, antimycotic, antiviral, antispasmodic, diaphoretic, expectorant, fibrinolytic, hypotensive, promiting leucocytosis, lowering lipids and inhibiting platelet aggregation.

Parts utilized
Bulbs: Features prominently as a condiment and flavor in Filipino cuisine.
Herbalists, with concerns that cooking diminishes medicinal potency, recommends eating raw garlic cloves.

Uses
Arthritis, rheumatism, toothaches: Crush several cloves and rub on affected areas.
Headaches: Crush one clove and apply to both temples as poultice.
Insect bites: Crush garlic or cut clove crosswise and rub directly to affected area.
Athlete's foot.
Decoction of leaves and bulbs for fever and as hypotensive, carminative, expectorant, and antihelmintic.
Juice from freshly crushed garlic used for colds, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, asthma and bronchitis.
Decoction use for tonsillitis.
For nasal congestion - a steam inhalation of chopped garlic and a teaspoon of vinegar in boiling water.
Fresh garlic has been used as a complement to INH therapy for tuberculosis.
Also used for menstrual cramps.
Digestive problems and gastrointestinal spasms.
For gas pains, drink an infusion of a peeled broild clove.

Availability
Wildcrafted.
Perennial market produce.
Commercial: Tablets, extracts, capsules, powder and tea.

Atis (Sugar Apple) as Herbal Medicine

The Atis tree is easy to grow. Just plant a seed on almost any soil and atis will grow. However, it requires tropical or near tropical weather. When planted, Atis will begin to bear fruit in about a year's time. It will bear fruit about 3 times a year and the sweetest fruits are those borne during the summer months.
Cultivated throughout the Philippines; occasionally spontaneous.
- Introduced from tropical America by the Spaniards.

All parts of the atis tree have medicinal value. The seeds however are poisonous. The seeds are pounded and made into paste. This can be applied to the scalp of the head to kill hair lice. Care should be taken when applying atis seed paste on the scalp as this is extremely irritating to the eyes and can even cause blindness. The paste when applied into the uterus can cause abortion.

Uses
Salted bruised leaves used to hasten suppuration.
Bark decoction is used as tonic and to stop diarrhea.
Root has purgative action.
Leaf decoction used for rheumatic baths to alleviate pain.
For fainting and hysteria, crush fresh leaves and place over nose.
For infected insect bites, pound and extract the juice from one unripe fruit and apply the juice directly to the affected areas, 3 times daily.
For lice infestation of the head, atis has a herbal treatment regimen:
(1) Shampoo hair with gugo bark or any commercial shampoo daily for one week; with "suyod" combing twice daily.
(2) For lice eggs (nits), apply hot vinegar for half an hour after shampooing; then "suyod" (fine combing) thoroughly.
(3) Bedtime, pound 1/2 cup of atis seeds and mix with 1/4 cup of oil. Apply mixture throroughly to the scalp and hair. Wrap the hair and head overnight. Shampoo in the morning and follow with fine tooth combing. Do daily for 3-5 days.
(4) Paste of the crushed seeds in water, applied to the scalp. The same used as abortifacient applied to the os uteri.
In Northern India, young leaves used for diabetes.
In Malaysia, used for skin infections, diarrhea, dysentery and UTIs.