MEDlCINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. PARTS 1 & 11.

PIPERACEAE
PEPEROMIA PELLUCIDA Kunth. Pepper Elder.
In Jamaica this plant is still included among the ubiquitous "cold bushes": it is considered especially
valuable as a children's remedy. One informant who had resided in Cuba said that it is an excellent "blood
cooler" and helps one to sleep. (2, 7, 13, 28).
PIPER AMALGO L. Joint Wood; Jamaica Black Pepper.
The leaves and twigs of this and other Piper species are still used in baths for fever and pain and the tea
may also be drunk for the same complaints and for dysmenorrhoea. Among the Brazilian Indians Piper spp. are
used to treat. wounds and toothache. (5, 10, 15, 25, 26, 28, 37, 48, 62).
PIPER JAMAICENSE C.DC. Jointer.
This Piper sp. is also used in the same way as other species. (10, 28, 48).
PLANTAGINACEAE
PLANTAGO MAJOR L. English Plantain; Wild Plantain.
This species is sometimes included in the Sarsaparilla tonics. Its use in the treatment of sore eyes is
confirmed. According to recent information the decoction prepared for use as an eye lotion must be left out in
the "dew water" all night before it is used. This decoction is also said to be used for "pain a' waist". In Lunan's
time the root was considered to be effective in the treatment of intermittent fevers. Plantain seeds are used as
demulcents and in chronic constipation. They are mucilaginous and contain fixed oil. Maya medicine makes use
of them for dysentery and the leaf in vinegar is used as a burn dressing. (2, 5, 15, 23, 26, 27, 36, 52, 56, 61).
PORTULACACEAE
A small family of some two hundred herbs and shrubs often with succulent leaves and found chiefly in
the New World.
PORTULACA OLERACEAE L. Pussly (Purslane).
This is a well-known pot-herb used fairly commonly in Jamaica and in other parts of the world. It has
been considered cooling, anti-scorbutic and diuretic. In Jamaica and also in the Gold Coast and among the
Mayas it is considered to be a useful "heart tonic". It has also been used as a stomachic, vermifuge, medicine for
skin diseases, as an application for swellings and bruises and as an ingredient of a syphilis remedy, as a lotion
for inflammation of the eyes and with oil as a dressing for burns. The foliage is said to contain 92 to 95% water,
0.3 to 0.4% fat, and 1.0 to 1.6% ash. (1, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 26, 27, 30, 39, 47, 56, 61).
RUBIACEAE
BORRERIA LAEVIS (Lam.) Griseb. Button Weed.
B. VERTICILLATA (L.) Meyer Button Weed: Wild Scabious.
Button weed is used to make tea for colds and with Cuscula and Zebrina it provides a remedy for
amenorrhoea: "however long the menses have been stopped this will start them again". Boiled with lresine and
Desmodium it is used as a diuretic. Wright records the use of B. verticillala, which he calls wild scabious, in the
preparation of a lotion for itch. (26, 51, 62).
RUTACEAE
ZANTHOXYLLUM MARTINICENSE L. Prickly Yellows: Yellow Hercules.
The B.P.C. 1934 describes this species as being one of those which provides the drug prickly ash bark or
toothache bark. It is described as carminative and astringent to the digestive tract. diuretic and diaphoretic. It
has been used with belladona and Hyoscyamus in the treatment of alcoholism. In Jamaica it has been employed
in the treatment of rheumatism, paralysis of the tongue and as a febrifuge. The root bark was much used in
the past as an ulcer dressing and is still in use for the treatment of toothache (See Cajanus). The infusion was
thought anti-spasmodic and useful as an eye lotion.