MEDlCINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. PARTS 1 & 11.

MENTHA VIRIDIS L. Garden Mint: Black or Sweet mint.
The plant, introduced into the gardens of Jamaica, is much used as a medicinal herb. Tea is prepared by
infusion or decoction and is used as a general beverage and for stomach trouble. It is sometimes used with gin
or rum for stomach-ache and vomiting. These uses can be traced back to the early writers on Jamaican
medicinal plants. The essential oil contains l-carvone (about 54-66 per cent). I-limonene and phellandrine and
d-pinene. (2, 3, 14, IS, 23, 26, 27).
MICROMERIA BROWNEI (Sw.) Benth. Pennyroyal (Pennyrial).
The leaves are used to make tea for stomach pains. Beckwith does not mention this use but gives a
number of other uses including a rather curious 'cure' for a catarrhal cold in which a poultice of beaten leaves
moistened with rum is applied to a small bare patch on top of the head. 'The water will run out of your nose and
cure the complaint'. It would also seem that pennyroyal has some reputation as an abortifacient either in conjunction
with cerasee and marigold or 'boiled with a rusty nail'. (2, 15).
MICROMERIA VIMINEA (L.) Urb. Peppermint.
Beckwith, identifying this species as peppermint, says that it is used with ginger to make tea for colic.
(2, 15).
OCIMUM MICRANTHUM Willd. Wild Barsley: Mosquito Bush, Wild Basil.
Used as a general beverage. For fever and pain the decoction is taken as a drink and also as a bath.
Alternatively the body may be rubbed with the leaves. For colds the leaves may be ground up to provide a snuff,
and a bath with ginger root added may be used. It is also probably used as a laxative for babies. In the Grenadines
and in Jamaica it is considered valuable for difficult menstruation. In Antigua it was, and may still be,
used for bronchitis, colic, and convulsions in children. (2, 13, 27).
OCIMUM BASILICUM L. Barsley.
This plant is grown in gardens and, in addition to its use in cooking, it is employed in a similar manner
to the wild species. Ocimum spp. are used in Trinidad, where they are called mosquito bush, in the treatment of
colds and are hung in the houses to keep away mosquitoes. O. micranthum is a native Trinidadian species. (13,
15).
SALVIA SEROTINA L. Chicken Weed or Bitters: Wild Sage.
Used to make tea as a general beverage for colic, biliousness. constipation, fever and for the blood'. It is
also used, 'rubbed up', as an application to scratches, especially for a baby. It may also be used for skin
complaints such as eczema. In Africa a number of Salvia species are used for these purposes. In Jamaica it is
considered to be good for night sweats. (2).
LAURACEAE
About a thousand woody and herbaceous species mainly of warmer regions. All possess oil cells in most
parts, producing volatile oils of commercial importance, e.g. oils of camphor, cinnamon and sassafras. The
volatile oils contain aldehydes, alcohols, hydrocarbons, esters, free acids and other constituents. Mucilage, fats
(in the fruits and seeds). and alkaloids such as beeberine and laureline occur.
CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM Breyn. Cinnamon.
Cinnamon twigs and leaves are sold in Jamaican markets. Boiling water poured on to them makes a
drink which may also be taken on corn meal porridge. It is said to be good for the stomach. It is thought to have
been introduced into Jamaica in 1782 by Admiral Rodney. The bark gives 0.8 to 2 per cent volatile oil which is
a carminative, an antiseptic and a stimulant. The oil contains 50 to 65 per cent cinnamic aldehyde; 4 to 10 per
cent phenols of which eugenol is the principle one; hydrocarbons including pinene, phellandrene, and
caryophyllene; and small amounts of alcohols, ketones and estels. The leaf oil, of varying composition, contains
a high percentage (70-95) of eugenol.