Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

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© 2004 by CRC Press 484 Florida Ethnobotany juice with cornmeal as a thickener. That would be a drink akin to horchata in Latin America. Most surprising is that the Cherokee also parboiled and then fried the leaves in hot grease as a potherb (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). The Cherokee and other indigenous people used P. incarnata as medicine. A compound infusion of the roots was used to treat boils, and roots were used to stop inflammation of wounds. Infants were given infusions of the roots to aid in weaning, and it also was used to relieve earache (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). The Houma called it chassepareille incarnata (flesh-colored saw brier), and took an infusion of the roots as a blood tonic (Speck 1941). Whole plants have traditionally been used in a tea as an antispasmodic and as a sedative for neuralgia, epilepsy, restlessness, painful menses, insomnia, and tension headaches. Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) also published the Florida species P. lutea (yellow passionflower, Florida), P. multiflora (whiteflower passionflower, Florida; fruta de perro, dog fruit, Cuba; pasionaria vainilla, vanilla of the crucifixion, Cuba), and P. pallens (pineland passionflower, Florida). Similarly, Linnaeus named P. sexflora and P. suberosa, which are better known within the Caribbean. Passiflora sexflora grows in Florida, the Greater Antilles to Puerto Rico, and from Mexico to Panama and Colombia. In those areas the plant is known as ala de murcielago or bat wing (Jamaica), duck foot (Jamaica), duppy pumpkin (Jamaica), goat foot (Jamaica, Florida), and pasionaria de cerca (fence passion vine, Cuba). Guatemalans make a sedative preparation of the flowers for nerves, insomnia, and diarrhea. Even more noted is P. suberosa, native from southern Florida to southern Texas to northern South America and the West Indies, introduced into the Old World. That species like all the others has edible fruits, although they are smaller than most. The edible fruits gave rise to the names baleeyail an ’its’aamal (deer watermelon, Huastec, San Luis Potosí), huevo de gallo (rooster egg, Cuba), juniper berry (Bahamas), meloncillo (little melon, Cuba), morita (blackberry, Dominican Republic), parcha yedra (ivy passionfruit, Puerto Rico), parchita de culebra (snake’s little passion-fruit, Venezuela), and wild pumpkin (Caymans). Fruits are also used to make black ink as noted by the names indigo berry (Virgin Islands), ink berry (Virgin Islands), and ink vine (Barbados). There are always names that are at odds with others. Passiflora suberosa is called corky passionflower in Florida because some scholar simply translated the Latin name. In Yucatán, the Maya say kansel-ak (kants’il, like cotton, ak, vine). Supposedly, it is called that because it is covered with trichomes like cotton, but most Florida plants are glabrous. In Hispaniola it is leontafia (lion’s aguardiente or whiskey) or tidiane (little Diane). When I first experienced juice from maracujá in Belém, Brazil in 1969, I was told that it was good to drink with dinner because it aided digestion and calmed the nerves. At the time, I drank it because it tasted good, but I could not really notice the effects. Subsequently, I discovered that several species are considered calmants or even intoxicants (Fellows and Smith 1938, Speroni and Minghetti. 1988, Medina et al. 1990, Solbakken et al. 1997, Dhawan et al. 2001a,b,c). Some experiments support the tranquilizing conclusion, while others do not (Coleta et al. 2001, Volz 2001). One other caveat is that the commercial extract is possibly toxic, at least in some individuals (Fisher et al. 2000). However, most results indicate that plant extracts are mildly sedative, reduce blood pressure slightly, and decrease motor activity. In addition to the supposed sedative effects of Passiflora, several others are known, including as an adjuvant agent in the management of opiate withdrawal, and as an antibacterial, anticonvulsant, antifungal, and antioxidant (Nicolls et al. 1973, Medina et al. 1990, Akhondzadeh et al. 2001, Murcia et al. 2001, Taglioli et al. 2001). Perhaps the most surprising result was in neutralization of hemorrhage from the fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox) venom (Otero et al. 2000), although bleeding decreased only 25%. Chemicals have been identified from several species, including P. edulis, P. foetida, P. incarnata, and P. quadrangularis. Compounds found are the alkaloid passiflorine, benzylic beta-D-allopyranosides 1 and 2, which are representatives of a rare class of natural glycosides, flavonoids, cycloartane triterpenoids and six related saponins, harmane and harmine, oxygenated monoterpenoids, and passifloricins (polyketides alpha-pyrones) (Lutomski and Wrocinski 1960, Bennati 1971, Morton 1981, Osorio et al. 2000, Yoshikawa et al. 2000a,b, Christensen and Jaroszewski 2001, Echeverri et al. 2001). Harmaline and harmine have been used to treat Parkinson’s disease (Swerdlow 2000). In the 1960s, it was uncommon to find passionfruit juice in groceries, even in mixtures. Then a television commercial made ‘‘passion-fruit’’ an everyday word because it was an ingredient (minor) in ‘‘Hawaiian punch.’’ The ad showed one cartoon character ‘‘punching’’ another when they said they wanted the drink. Everyone laughed at the catchy phrase, although few realized what a passion-fruit was. Botanists knew it was Passiflora, and somehow we felt smug knowing that bit of trivia.
© 2004 by CRC Press The Ethnobotany 485 Pavonia (Antonio José Cavanilles named this for José Antonio Pavón y Jimenez, 1754 /1844, a Spanish explorer who toured Chile and Peru with Hipolito Ruiz López and Joseph Dombey) Pavonia paludicola (swamp-loving) ( /P. spicata) cadillo de ciénaga (marsh sticker, Puerto Rico) cotton (Belize); wild cotton (Belize) gombo-mangle (mangrove okra, Guadeloupe, Martinique) kayuwaballi (kayuwa, mahoe or Hibiscus tiliaceus, balli, resembling, Arawak, Suriname) mahot mangle [mare] (mangrove [ocean] fiber tree, Taino and French, Guadeloupe, Martinique); mahuat (fiber tree, Taino, French Antilles); majagüilla (little fiber tree, Hispanized Taino, Cuba, Hispaniola); smaller mahoe (Jamaica) mangrove mallow (Guadeloupe, Martinique) sunabao (Guadeloupe, Martinique) swamp bush (Bahamas, Puerto Rico) Pavonia was created in 1786 by the director of the botanical garden in Madrid, Cavanilles (1745 /1804). However, it was not until 1989 that Dan Nicolson and Paul Fryxell described P. paludicola from the Lesser Antilles. That species brought the genus to a total of 150 species found in tropical and warm regions of the world (Mabberley 1997). In the French Antilles, the leaves are applied to inflammations, boils, and abscesses (Morton 1981). In Haiti, an infusion is gargled for tonsillitis. Taken regularly, it is laxative. Pectis (From Latin pecten, pectinis, a comb, referring to the bristles along the margins of the leaves or the papus) Pectis prostrata (lying flat) cominillo [tomillo] (little dwarf, Venezuela); comino de piedra [de sabana, rústico] (stone [savanna, wild] dwarf, Venezuela) contra-yerba (herb against, typically meaning that it can be used to treat any malady) hierba de gallina (chicken herb); hierba de chinche (bedbug herb) romero macho (wild [male] rosemary, Puerto Rico) tebenque [tebenki, tebink, theebink] (probably Taino, Cuba); tebink moge (probably Taino, Cuba?) zacato-coche (car grass; probably because it is common on roadsides) Pectis prostrata has been reported from a number of places in the Caribbean, but there are indications that those are misidentifications. For example, the Flora of Cuba reported the plants from Jamaica, but Adams (1972) could not verify that they had ever been there. Similarly, Morton (1981) recorded medical use in Puerto Rico, but Liogier and Martorell (1982) do not include the species. TROPICOS lists specimens from Texas, Mexico (Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatán), Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador. Maybe the true distribution is less important for ethnobotanical comments because people often do not distinguish species. In Venezuela, for example, both P. ciliaris and P. prostrata have the same names (Pittier 1926). Perhaps that is because the aromatic traits of both are similar. Pectis prostrata has been taken to stop diarrhea, dispel flatulence, as an emmenagogue, and for venereal diseases in Venezuela (Pittier 1926). In Jamaica and Puerto Rico, it is taken for colds and tuberculosis (Morton 1981). The species is used as a medicine in Belize (Balick et al. 2000). Hocking (1997) reported that it had been used to treat colds and tuberculosis, to expel flatulence, and as an emmenagogue. Pedicularis (Named from Latin pediculus, a louse, because Europeans believed that cattle or sheep feeding where P. palustris grew became covered with lice; also herba pedicularis, lousewort, because it was used to kill lice) kallgra˚s (kall, cold?, gra˚s, grass, Swedish) Läusekraut (louse herb, German) myrklegg (myr, bog,klegg, gadfly, Norwegian) pédiculaire (French); pediculare (Italian) riabhach (gray or grizzled, Gaelic) Pedicularis canadensis (of <strong>Cana</strong>da) beefsteak-plant (Long Island) betony [betong, beton lousewort, head-betony] (‘‘betony,’’ from Latin betonica, which Pliny, A.D. 23 /79, said was a Gaulish name; betonica, from vettonica, derived from Vettones, people of Lusitania, originally applied to Stachys officinalis, New York); wood-betony (‘‘wood’’ meaning growing wild, as opposed to the cultivated betony, Stachys officinalis) cagacka’ndawesoanûk (flying squirrel tail, Potawatomi) chickens’-heads (Long Island)
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