Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

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© 2004 by CRC Press 528 Florida Ethnobotany (1753) formalized the use of Plumbago to the plant and it has remained that way. The white plumbago (Bahamas, Puerto Rico) in southern Florida is P. scandens. That sprawling herb is also found in the Bahamas, the West Indies, Mexico (Sonora and Tamaulipas south) to Costa Rica and South America to Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. The plant has multiple names throughout its range because it is notorious for several reasons.. The names for the American plants were complicated because Europeans already knew P. europaea. They called the Old World plants by two sets of names*/one mentioning the metal lead, and the other teeth. Mostly, P. europaea is associated with the metal in the names leadwort (English), piombaggine (lead plant, Italian), plúmbago (Sonora, Spanish), and Bleiwurz (lead herb, German). Those names are either based on an old belief that it could be used to cure lead poisoning (Bremness 1994), because of the ‘‘leadcolored’’ flowers (OED 1971), or because the roots impart a lead color to the hands when handled (Walker 1976). Few English speakers recognize the word plumbago, and they use its translated form, leadwort. According to Nathan Bailey’s A Universal Etymological English Dictionary, ‘‘leadwort’’ was first used in English in 1727. The other names for P. europaea are based on its use in treating toothache. Surely the oldest name of those referring to teeth was Lepidium Dentillaria dictum (little scale called dentillaria) published by Gaspard Bauhin in 1623. That name evolved into dentelaire (French) and dentilária (Portuguese). This knowledge of use was carried to the Americas where P. scandens became dentelaire [dentelle] (Haiti) and dentelária (Oaxaca, Cuba). The European Spanish hierba blesa (pretty herb) and velesa (pretty one) are related, and these were applied to P. scandens as belesa [beleza] (Puerto Rico). These probably gave rise to bella Emilia (pretty Emily, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina), belleza enredadera [veleza enredadera] (pretty twiner, Puerto Rico), and embeles [embeleso] (Yucatán, Cuba). There is either a linguistic relationship between these and Spanish embelezar (to enchant) because of the beauty of the flower or simply as a result of confusion with that word. Throughout the Americas, there is an ambiguity of feelings toward these plants that is typified by homme [à] deux faces (man with two faces, Haiti). The herbs are pretty because of their flowers, but like their European cousin, they are ‘‘acrid, blistering, and emetic’’ (Polunin 1969). Many of the common names warn against those traits. Some of the names are direct, as in blister leaf (Virgin Islands), chilillo (little pepper, Veracruz), herbe brûlante (burning herb, Guadeloupe, Martinique), queimadeira (burner, Brazil), sarne vejiguilla (blister herb, Peru), yerba de vejigatorio (irritant herb, Guyana), tlalchinchinolli (from tlachichinacapololli, cruelly tortured, Náhuatl, Querétaro), and tlepatli (fire medicine, Náhuatl, Querétaro). Others damn them by inference or association, as in caataia (caa, plant, taia,fromta’yá /Zanthoxylum violaceum in the Rutaceae, a family famous for volatile oils, Tupí, Brazil), folhas de louco [louco] (crazy leaf, Brazil), malacara (bad-face, Cuba), and herbe bourrique (sheass herb, Haiti). Surely, the fiery juice led to the comparison with mustards and the names moutard pays (wild mustard, Guadeloupe, Martinique) and sinapisme (from Latin sinapis, mustard, Guadeloupe, Martinique). Some people consider the plants the devil incarnate, with erva do diabo [erva de diabo] (devil’s herb, Brazil), herbe au diable (devil’s herb, Haiti), hierba del diablo [yerba del diablo] (devil’s herb, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina), and mauvaise herbe (damned herb, Haiti). At the opposite extreme, some people consider them an erva divina (divine herb, Brazil). Other names are more obtuse allusions to medicines. These include doctor-bush [doctorbush] (Bahamas, Florida), herbe à Madame Bihoret [zèbe Man Bihoret] (Guadeloupe, Martinique), folha de louro (parrot leaf, Brazil), hierba del negro (negro’s herb, Oaxaca), hierba del pajaro (bird’s herb, Panama), hierba de alacrán (scorpion herb, Sinaloa, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí, Oaxaca, Guanajuato), lagaña de aura (vulture’s eyelid, Cuba), lagaña de perro (dog’s eyelid, Morelos, Cuba), and muela de alacrán (scorpion’s molar, Mexico). People also find the sticky fruits worthy of comment. Some of these names are positive, such as collant (sticky one, Guadeloupe, Martinique), erva de amor (love herb, Brazil), and meladillo [melallillo, mielilla] [silvestre] ([wild] honey-giver, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico). Typically, meladillo is applied to P. auriculata in Puerto Rico. Other names are negative, as in pegajoso (sticky one, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa), pegapollo (chicken-catcher, Dominican Republic), pegoso (sticky), mata-pollo (chicken-killer, Dominican Republic), and visqueira (the viscous one, Brazil). Some people do not know of the medicinal uses. They may be the ones calling the plants canutillo (little tube, maybe the flower, Sinaloa), guapote [guapito] (from guapo, handsome, Venezuela, Peru), estrenina (little gift, Sonora), Isabel (Hispaniola), jazmín azul (blue jassmine, Yucatán), and jazmim azul (blue jassmine, Brazil).
© 2004 by CRC Press The Ethnobotany 529 Several indigenous names are descriptive or simple terms. Among those are caajandiva [caajandivas] (caa, plant, jandiva, from ñandi’á, catfish, Tupí, Brazil), caaponga [caapononga, caponga] (caa, plant, ponga, climber, Tupí, Brazil), chabak [chab-ak, chabac, chapak] (chab, bad odor, ak, vine, Maya, Yucatán), guacochile (if Náhuatl, maybe from uactoc, mature, chilli, chile, El Salvador), guaicuru (maybe Taino), and turicua [tiricua, jiricua] (Guanajuato, Tamaulipas). The Huastec call it hurika, and some people have spelled that eureka (San Luis Potosí). The second spelling has no linguistic relation to ‘‘eureka’’ in English. Leaves and roots when applied to the skin produce almost instant reddening and in a short time blisters. An external decoction is used to treat erysipelas, felon, itch, mange, warts, external ulcers, leprosy, and similar problems (Bye 1986). Root juices have also been used to cauterize ulcers in horses (Mors et al. 2001). The same parts are poisonous if taken internally (Tokarnia and Dobereiner 1982, Medeiros et al. 2001, Mors et al. 2001). Plumbago europea has similar properties and is used as an emetic; when chewed, the plant increases saliva flow. Roots are used from both species to relieve pains in ears and teeth, for swollen joints, and as a purgative (Mors et al. 2001). Beggars have applied the leaves to raise sores on their body to arouse pity (Standley 1920 /1926). Leaves and roots are macerated in alcohol and applied to the skin to treat rheumatism (Pittier 1926, Petersen 1974, Liogier 1974). Roots and leaves contain plumbagin (Harborne 1967), a naphthoquinone derivative characteristic of most species in the genus (Mors et al. 2001). There are related compounds in P. scandens and other species (Sankaram et al. 1979, Bhattacharyya and Carvalho 1986, Dinda and Chel 1992, Dinda 1994, Gupta et al. 1999). Plumbagin is active against several fungi and bacteria (Gonçalves de Lima et al. 1968, Vijver and Lotter 1971, Bambode and Shukla 1974, Durga et al. 1990, Ahmad et al. 1998, Ali-Shtayeh and Abu Ghdeib 1999, Beg and Ahmad 2000). In addition, plumbagin and related compounds have shown promise in cancer treatment, for inhibiting inflammation, in controlling cholesterol, and improving cardiotonic action (Melo et al. 1974, Itoigawa et al. 1991, Sharma et al. 1991, Oyedapo 1996, Devi et al. 1999). Several studies show that the chemicals in Plumbago inhibit feeding by insects (Kubo et al. 1980, Sharma 1984, Hassanali and Lwande 1989). In spite of the potpourri of toxins in the plants, one genus of North American butterfly uses Plumbago for its larvae. Those animals are butterflies in the genus Leptotes, but specifically L. cassius (Cassius blue) and L. marina (marine blue) use Plumbago (Brown 1990, Minno and Minno 1999). How the larvae of those tiny blue gems can ingest the scalding compounds with immunity is unknown. Yet, when they become adults, they can also sip nectar from the flowers. Podophyllum (From Greek pous, podos, a foot, and phyllon, a leaf; Linnaeus modified the name from Catesby’s Anapodophyllum, duck foot leaf) Podophyllum peltatum. From Britton and Brown 1897. Podophyllum peltatum (shield-shaped) behen (from Medieval Latin behen, corrupted from Arabic bahman [behmen], a kind of root; the word appeared in English in Henry Lyte’s 1578 translation of Dodoens’s Cruydeboek of 1554 as ‘‘Called ... of herboristes at this day Behen, or Been album’’) che-sa-ne-pe-sha (it pains the bowels, Osage; also called shon’-gthin-dse) citron (fruits resembling Citrus medica, among the French in 1700, Missouri); citron sauvage (wild citron, Citrus medica, Quebec) devil’s-apple; hog apple (Iowa); Indian apple; mugapple duck’s foot (in use by the 1730s by Catesby); wild duckfoot fala imisito (fala, crow, im, its, isito, pumpkin, Choctaw); fala intanchi (fala, crow,in, its, tanchi, corn, Choctaw); falaanosi’ (fala, crow,aanosi’, bed, Chickasaw) ipecacuana (from ipega’kwai, duck’s penis, or ipekaa-guéne, creeping plant causing vomiting, Tupí, Carolinas, Catesby 1731 /1732)
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