Tag: Peru

Cinchona calisaya

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Botanical Name : Cinchona calisaya
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Cinchonoideae
Tribe: Cinchoneae
Genus: Cinchona
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Gentianales
Synonyms: Jesuit’s Powder. Yellow Cinchona. Cinchona ledgeriana (Howard.) Bern.Moens. ex Trimen. Cinchona officinalis Auct.

Common Name: Peruvian Bark, Quinine

Habitat : Cinchona calisaya is native to western S. America – Bolivia, Peru. It grows on cool, humid, mountain regions. Andean rainforests.
Description:
Cinchona calisaya is an evergreen tree growing to 6 m (19ft) by 6 m (19ft) at a medium rate. The flowers are white and pinkish arranged in panicles, very fragrant. Not all the species yield cinchona or Peruvian bark.

Its great value as a tonic and febrifuge depends on an alkaloid, quina (Quinine). This substance chiefly exists in the cellular tissue outside the liber in combination with kinic and tannic acids. Calisaya yields the largest amount of this alkaloid of any of the species – often 70 to 80 per cent of the total alkaloids contained in the bark which is not collected from trees growing wild, but from those cultivated in plantations. The bark for commerce is classified under two headings: the druggist’s bark, and the manufacturer’s at a low price. The great bulk of the trade is in Amsterdam, and the bark sold there mainly comes from Java. That sold in London from India, Ceylon and South America. Mature Calisaya bark has a scaly appearance, which denotes maturity and high quality. It is very bitter, astringent and odourless.

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Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid soils.

It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.

Cultivation:
A plant of the moist tropics, where it is found at elevations from 400 – 3,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 17 – 24 degree centigrade but can tolerate 7 – 28 degree centigrade. It can be killed by temperatures of 5 degree centigrade or lower. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,500 – 3,000mm, but tolerates 1,400 – 3,800mm. Requires a well-drained, moist soil and a position in full sun or partial shade. It grows very poorly or not at all on soils that have been exposed to fire. Prefers a pH in the range 5 – 6, tolerating 4.5 – 6.5. Plants start flowering after 3 – 4 years, and are uprooted and harvested after 8 – 12 years. In commercial plantations, the trees are coppiced when about 6 years old.
Propagation:
Seed – Nodal softwood cuttings. Cuttings of half-ripe wood in a sandy soil.

Constituents: The bark should yield between 5 and 6 per cent of total alkaloids, of which not less than half should consist of quinine and cinchonidin. Other constituents are cinchonine, quinidine, hydrocinchonidine, quinamine, homokinchonidine, hydroquinine; quinic and cinchotannic acids, a bitter amorphous glucocide, starch and calcium-oxalate.
Edible Uses:
Quinine, extracted from the bark of the tree, is used as a bitter flavouring in tonic water and carbonated drinks.

Medicinal Uses:
Peruvian bark has a long history of native use, especially as a treatment for fevers and malaria. Modern research has shown it to be a very effective treatment for fevers, and especially as a treatment and preventative of malaria. The bark contains various alkaloids, particularly quinine and quinidine. Up to 70 – 80% of the total alkaloids contained in the bark are quinine. The bark is a bitter, astringent, tonic herb that lowers fevers, relaxes spasms, is antimalarial (the alkaloid quinine) and slows the heart (the alkaloid quinidine). The bark is made into various preparations, such as tablets, liquid extracts, tinctures and powders. It is used internally in the treatment of malaria, neuralgia, muscle cramps and cardiac fibrillation. It is an ingredient in various proprietary cold and influenza remedies. The liquid extract is useful as a cure for drunkenness. It is also used as a gargle to treat sore throats. Large and too constant doses must be avoided, as they produce headache, giddiness and deafness.

Other Uses:
Other uses rating: Low (2/5). The powdered bark is often used in tooth-powders, owing to its astringency.

Known Hazards : Care must be taken in the use of this herb since excess can cause a number of side effects including cinchonism, headache, rash, abdominal pain, deafness and blindness. The herb, especially in the form of the extracted alkaloid quinine, is subject to legal restrictions in some countries.

Disclaimer The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinchona
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Cinchona+calisaya
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/calisa08.html

Tags 5-HT1 receptor, América Televisión, Antidepressant, Apple cider vinegar, Architect, Law enforcement in Peru, Lima, Peru, Santa Claus, United States Department of State

Herbs & Plants (Spices)

Maranta arundinaceae (Arrowroot)

Post author By Mukul
Post date October 17, 2016
No Comments on Maranta arundinaceae (Arrowroot)

Botanical Name: Maranta arundinaceae
Family: Marantaceae
Genus: Maranta
Species: M. arundinacea
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Zingiberales

Synonyms:

*Maranta indica Tussac
*Maranta minor Chantrier ex André
*Maranta ramosissima Wall.
*Maranta sylvatica Roscoe ex Sm.
*Maranta tessellata var. kegeljanii E.Morren
*Phrynium variegatum N.E.Br., nom. illeg.

Comon Names: Arrowroot, Maranta, West Indian arrowroot, Obedience plant, Bermuda arrowroot, Araru, Ararao or Hulankeeriya
Habitat: Maranta arundinacea is native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies (Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Lesser Antilles) and South America (Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana). It is widely cultivated in the many warm countries and is considered naturalized in Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, the Netherlands Antilles, India, Sri Lanka, China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan), Kazan Rett?, Mauritius, Réunion, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Florida, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the world’s largest grower of arrowroot and producer of arrowroot flour. In Kerala , India, arrowroot, locally called bilathi koova, is cultivated to produce an easily digestible starch.

The arrowroot plant probably originated in the Amazon rainforest of north-western Brazil and neighboring countries. It grows best between temperatures of 23 °C (73 °F) and 29 °C (84 °F) with annual precipitation between 1,500 millimetres (59 in) and 2,000 millimetres (79 in). The dormant rhizomes can withstand temperatures as low as 5 °C (41 °F).

In the United States, arrowroot is cultivated as an outside plant only in southern Florida

Parts Used: Fecula (starch) of the tuberous root.

Description:
Arrowroot is a perennial plant growing to a height of between .3 metres (12 in) and 1.5 metres (59 in). Its leaves are lanceolate. The edible part of the plant is the rhizome. Twin clusters of small white flowers bloom about 90 days after planting. The plant rarely produces seed and reproduction is typically by planting part of a rhizome with a bud. Rhizomes are ready for harvesting 10–12 months after planting as leaves of the plant begin to wilt and die. The rhizomes are fleshy, cylindical, and grow from 20 centimetres (7.9 in) to 45 centimetres (18 in) long.
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Edible Uses:
Arrowroot was very popular in the Victorian era, and Napoleon supposedly said the reason for the British love of arrowroot was to support the commerce of their colonies. It can be consumed in the form of biscuits, puddings, jellies, cakes, hot sauces, and also with beef tea, milk or veal broth. Kudzu arrowroot (Pueraria lobata) is used in noodles in Korean and Vietnamese cuisine. In the Victorian era it was used, boiled with a little flavouring added, as an easily digestible food for children and people with dietary restrictions. With today’s greater understanding of its limited nutritional properties, it is no longer used in this way. In Burma, arrowroot tubers, which are called artarlut, are boiled or steamed and eaten with salt and oil.

Arrowroot makes clear, shimmering fruit gels and prevents ice crystals from forming in homemade ice cream. It can also be used as a thickener for acidic foods, such as Asian sweet and sour sauce. It is used in cooking to produce a clear, thickened sauce, such as a fruit sauce. It will not make the sauce go cloudy, like cornstarch, flour, or other starchy thickening agents would.

The lack of gluten in arrowroot flour makes it useful as a replacement for wheat flour in some baking uses. Like other pure starches, however, arrowroot is almost pure carbohydrates and devoid of protein, thus it does not provide a complete substitute for wheat flour for bread-making, which requires gluten.

Arrowroot thickens at a lower temperature than flour or cornstarch, is not weakened by acidic ingredients, has a more neutral taste, and is not affected by freezing. It does not mix well with dairy, forming a slimy mixture. It is recommended that arrowroot be mixed with a cool liquid before adding to a hot fluid. The mixture should be heated only until the mixture thickens and removed immediately to prevent the mixture from thinning. Overheating tends to break down arrowroot’s thickening property. Two teaspoons of arrowroot can be substituted for one tablespoon of cornstarch, or one teaspoon of arrowroot for one tablespoon of wheat flour.
Constituents:
An 1887 analysis of the root of the St. Vincent Arrowroot gave starch 27.17 per cent, fibre, fat, albumen, sugar, gum, ash, and 62.96 per cent water.

Of the starch was given: starch 83’70 per cent., fibre, fat, sugar, gum, ash and sand, and water 15.87 per cent.

The official granules, according to Pereira, are ‘rarely oblong, somewhat ovate-oblong, or irregularly convex, from 10 to 70 microns in diameter, with very fine lamellae, a circular hilium which is fissured in a linear or stellate manner.’

Medicinal Uses:
Arrowroot is chiefly valuable as an easily digested, nourishing diet for convalescents, especially in bowel complaints, as it has demulcent properties. In the proportion of a tablespoonful to a pint of water or milk, it should be prepared by being first made into a smooth paste with a little cold milk or water, and then carefully stirred while the boiling milk is added. Lemon-juice, sugar, wine, or aromatics may be added. If thick, it will cool into a jelly that usually suits weaning infants better than other farinaceous foods.

It is said that the mashed rhizomes are used for application to wounds from poisoned arrows, scorpion and black spider bites, and to arrest gangrene.

The freshly-expressed juice, mixed with water, is said to be a good antidote, taken internally, for vegetable poisons, such as Savanna.

Arrowroot has been used as an infant formula in place of breast milk or to help the baby adjust after weaning. A jelly made from arrowroot is often preferred by recently weaned infants to infant cereal or other farinaceous foods. Compared to other starches, arrowroot is believed to be the easiest to digest.

It is believed that the herb is an effective treatment against poisoned wounds, including scorpion stings, snake bites, and spider bites. Additionally, arrowroot has been used to treat gangrene.

Fresh arrowroot juice mixed with water, if drunk, is said to be an antidote to vegetable poisons.

The plant is used as an herbal remedy to alleviate nausea and to replenish nutrients lost through diarrhea and vomiting.

Used as a foot powder to combat excess moisture that may lead to athlete’s foot or other foot problems. Arrowroot does not have antifungal properties, so its use is restricted to moisture control alone.

Potential Side Effects of Arrowroot:

As with any herbal remedy, caution should be exercised when taking arrowroot. While a doctor should always be consulted before using herbal remedies, use special caution before giving it to children, pregnant or nursing mothers, or anyone with kidney or liver disease.

If considering arrowroot for an infant formula, consult the child’s pediatrician first and monitor closely for allergic reactions.

There are no known side effects linked to arrowroot, and it is not known to have any adverse interactions with drugs or chemicals in food.

When using the herb to alleviate diarrhea, it should not be taken with any other medication or supplement for diarrhea, as this may lead to constipation.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranta_arundinacea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowroot
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/arrow064.html

Arrowroot – Health Benefits and Side Effects

Tags Airbus Defence and Space, Arianespace, European Space Agency, French Guiana, Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, Peru, Terra Bella, Vega (rocket), Vega program

Herbs & Plants

Erythroxylon Coca

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Botanical Name: Erythroxylon Coca
Family: Erythroxylaceae
Genus: Erythroxylum
Species: E. coca
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

Synonyms: Cuca. Cocaine.
Habitat: Erythroxylon Coca is native to Bolivia and Peru; cultivated in Ceylon and Java.

Description:
Small shrubby tree 12 to 18 feet high in the wild state and kept down to about 6 feet when cultivated. Grown from seeds and requires moisture and an equable temperature. Starts yielding in eighteen months and often productive over fifty years. The leaves are gathered three times a year, the first crop in spring, second in June, and third in October; must always be collected in dry weather. There are two varieties in commerce, the Huanuco Coca, or Erythroxylon Coca, which comes from Bolivia and has leaves of a brownish-green colour, oval, entire and glabrous, with a rather bitter taste, and Peruvian Coca, the leaves of which are much smaller and a pale-green colour. Coca leaves deteriorate very quickly in a damp atmosphere, and for this reason the alkaloid is extracted from the leaves in South America before exportation. The Coca shrubs of India and Ceylon were originally cultivated from plants sent out there from Kew Gardens and grown from seeds…....CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

The branches are straight, and the leaves, which have a green tint, are thin, opaque, oval, and taper at the extremities. A marked characteristic of the leaf is an areolated portion bounded by two longitudinal curved lines, one line on each side of the midrib, and more conspicuous on the under face of the leaf.

The flowers are small, and disposed in little clusters on short stalks; the corolla is composed of five yellowish-white petals, the anthers are heart-shaped, and the pistil consists of three carpels united to form a three-chambered ovary. The flowers mature into red berries.

The leaves are sometimes eaten by the larvae of the moth Eloria noyesi.
Part Used in medicine : The leaves.
Constituents: Coca leaves contain the alkaloids Cocaine, Annamyl Cocaine, andTruxilline or Cocamine. As a rule the Truxillo or Peruvian leaves contain more alkaloid than the Bolivian, though the latter are preferred for medicinal purposes. Java Coca contains tropacocaine and four yellow crystalline glucosides in addition to the other constituents.

Medicinal Uses:
The actions of Coca depend principally on the alkaloid Cocaine, but the whole drug is said to be more stimulating and to have a mild astringency. In Peru and Bolivia the leaves are extensively chewed to relieve hunger and fatigue, though the habit eventually ruins the health. Coca leaves are used as a cerebral and muscle stimulant, especially during convalescence, to relieve nausea, vomiting and pains of the stomach without upsetting the digestion. A tonic in neurasthenia and debilitated conditions. The danger of the formation of the habit, however, far outweighs any value the drug may possess, and use of Coca in any form is attended with grave risks. Cocaine is a general protoplasmic poison, having a special affinity for nervous tissue; it is a powerful local anaesthetic, paralysing the sensory nerve fibres. To obtain local cutaneous anaesthesia the drug is injected hypodermically. Applied to the eye it dilates the pupil and produces complete local anaesthesia. It is a general excitant of the central nervous system and the brain, especially the motor areas producing a sense of exhilaration and an incitement to effort; large doses cause hallucinations, restlessness, tremors and convulsions. Those acquiring the Cocaine habit suffer from emaciation, loss of memory, sleeplessness and delusions.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythroxylum_coca#Taxonomy
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/cocobo78.html

Tags Associated Press, Aymara people, Bolivia, El Alto, Katari River, La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Lima, Peru, Puerto Pérez, South America

Herbs & Plants

Myrospermum Toluiferum

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Botanical Name :Myrospermum Toluiferum
Family:Fabaceae /Leguminosae
Subfamily:Faboideae
Tribe:Amburaneae
Genus:Myrospermum
Species: M. frutescens
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales

Synonyms: Balsamum Tolutanum. Tolutanischer Balsam. Balsamum Americanum.

Common Name: Balsam of Tolu

Habitat :Myrospermum Toluiferum is a tree which grows throughout the forests of South America, especially on the elevated parts near Carthagena, Tolu, and in the Magdalena provinces of Columbia.

Description:
Myrospermum Toluiferum is presumed to be similar to the Balsam of Peru tree, differing only in the leaflets, which in this tree are thin, membranouss, obovate, taper-pointed; the terminal ones larger than the others.

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The balsam is obtained by making incisions into the tree, and which flows into wax vessels. It is exported from Carthagena in tin, earthen, and other vessels. It has a pale, yellowish-red or brown color, solid and brittle, an agreeable vanilla-like odor, and a sweetish aromatic taste. It is soluble in alcohol, ether, and essential oils.

Medicinal Uses:
Constituents: About 80 per cent amorphous resin, with cinnamic acid, a volatile oil, and a little vanillin, benzyl benzoate and benzyl cinnamate. It is freely soluble in chloroform, glacial acetic acid, acetone, ether, alcohol and liquor potassa, scarcely soluble in petroleum-benzine and benzol.

To distinguish it from Balsam of Peru it can be tested with sulphuric acid and water, yielding a grey mass instead of the lovely violet colour of the genuine Peruvian Balsam.

Like Balsam of Peru, it is a stimulant, tonic, and expectorant, and cannot be equalled for its curative effects in cases sof consumption, catarrh, bronchitis, asthma, and all inflammatory, ulcerated, spasmodic, or other morbid conditions of the respiratory organs and their adjuncts. The balsam dissolved in ether, and the vapor therefrom inhaled, is reported beneficial in coughs and bronchial affections of long standing, and I have no doubt it is so, as its virtues in such complaints are very wonderful.

Resources:
http://chestofbooks.com/health/herbs/O-Phelps-Brown/The-Complete-Herbalist/Tolu-Myrospermum-Toluiferum.html
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/baloft07.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrospermum

Tags Benzyl benzoate, Cinnamic acid, Essential oil, Myroxylon, Peru, Peru Balsam, South America, Tolú

Herbs & Plants

Fabiana imbricata

Botanical Name :Fabiana imbricata
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Fabiana
Species: F. imbricata
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Solanales

Synonym: Fabiana.
.Common Name : Pichi

Habitat:Fabiana imbricata is native to Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentine Republic.It occurs on dry upland slopes.

Description:
A neat half-hardy evergreen shrub, very like a heath in general appearance. Fastigiate habit, has small branches covered with scale-like imbricated leaves, colour bluish green, leaves are smooth, entire, flowers solitary, terminal, corolla tubular, usually white, sometimes purple. A dwarf decorative plant; will grow in warmer parts of England; it needs a bright sheltered sunny spot, and would do well on a rockery. The fruit is a capsule containing a few sub-globular seeds. The odour of the drug is aromatic, the taste bitter, and terebinthinate. It grows to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) tall and wide, it is a frost-hardy, heath-like evergreen mound-forming shrub. It has needle-like leaves and small white, tubular flowers in early summer. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs)...CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Cultivation:
Succeeds in a sunny position in a light well-drained soil. Plants are not very hardy in Britain, growing best in areas that receive little or no frost. The cultivar ‘Violacea’ is generally faster growing and is somewhat hardier than the type, tolerating temperatures down to about -5°c.

Propagation:
Seed – sow in a well-drained sandy soil in the greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Greenwood cuttings, rooted with gentle bottom heat, summer in a cold frame

Medicinal Uses:
Parts Used: Dried leaf and twig

Constituents: Volatile oil, fat, resin, bitter fluorescent glucoside, and an alkaloid fabianine and tannin.

Tonic, cholagogue, a valuable terebinthic diuretic, largely used in acute vesical catarrh, giving very favourable results where urinary irritation is caused by gravel. Is said to ease the irritability and assist in the expulsion of renal, urethal or cystic calculi, very useful in the treatment of jaundice and dyspepsia due to lack of biliary secretion. Is contraindicated in organic disease of the kidneys, though cases of renal haemorrhages from Bright’s disease have been greatly benefited by its use; it has been used also for gonorrhoea and gonorrhoeal prostatitis.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Fabiana+imbricata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabiana_imbricata
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/pichi-31.html

Tags Bolivia, Chile, England, Fabiana, Garden, Home, Peru, Plant

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