Our purpose was to list the plants held to be antifertility agents in the island. GUID:FB7A69D3-5F4B-4A23-86B2-F73B140ADACB. Inventory of medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. "y tienen faxones y fabas muy diversos de los nuestros" Origin, Evolution and Diversity of Cuban Plant Genetic Resources. Even though the Haitian and the Ozarkian know that "modern medicine" exists and is practiced by doctors located an automobile or donkey ride away, the old herbal beliefs don't die away. 10.1016/j.jep.2003.10.012. Haitian ethnobotanical practices related to traditional posology often follow cosmological/ritual numbers, both for plant quantities and timing of administration. This use of cricket's legs has been also reported by Hernndez and Volpato [19] in their article about the medicinal mixtures of Eastern Cuba, as well as by Seoane [16] in his treatise on Cuban medical folklore. Ososki AL, Balick MJ, Daly DC: Medicinal plants and cultural variation across Dominican Rural, Urban, and Transnational Landscapes. 1951, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Len H, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. An official website of the United States government. In this context, traditional ethnobotanical practices are sometimes reconstituted as part of Haitian culture [14]. The hairs of the fruit of this plant contain formic acid and mucunain, which are so toxic that they were used as homicidal poisons in Africa [40, 41]. Some locals say that Voodoo succeeds where modern medicine can't, but that the religion is often misunderstood. About 75% of the inhabitants live in urban areas, where Camagey, Florida and Nuevitas are the major cities. The continuous ingestion of low doses of the allelochemicals in these species may be an effective means to prevent massive parasite infestations, especially in children [43]. We are a Social Impact (SI) company; we don't focus in making excessive profits, but we primarily . "y tienen faxones y fabas muy diversos de los nuestros" Origin, Evolution and Diversity of Cuban Plant Genetic Resources. Herbal baths are important in Haitian culture in both spiritual and medicinal practices, and represent the second most important category of administration, after ingestion. Two main stores are situated in North Montreal and offer a choice of several dozen Haitian medicinal plants, dried and packaged in small plastic bags (Fig. For example, three shoots of Mangifera indica are boiled and the remedy is drunk in three different cups to treat empacho, a digestive problem; three leaves of Cissampelos pareira are split into half and three halves are boiled in the case of fever; an infusion made from three whorls or tops of Stachytarpheta jamaicensis is prepared and given to children in the morning on an empty stomach as an anthelmintic; the decoction of three leaves of Momordica charantia must be drunk for three days, and the seeds of the same plant are ingested one on the first day, two on the second, and three on the third, and so on for seven days. To gain further insights, we qualitatively compared our results with those reported in other Cuban ethnobotanical studies [18, 19, 42, 49] and especially with the work of Beyra et al. 1953, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Len H, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. Across the yard is a towering shrub with yellow flower clusters shapedlike a candle. Besides the instinctual, the blood is watched by looking into the eyes, checking the fingernails, behind one's ears and through skin eruptions and bleeding. following Len [28], Len and Alain [2931] and Alain [32, 33]. The incorporation of local remedies into their own pharmacopoeia occurred as a consequence of factors such as cultural contacts and exchanges between Haitians and Cubans and of personal experimentation or imitation of local practices by migrants. most plants used in Haiti were also available in Cuba), and to the cultivation of medicinal plants in the new environment. An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants commercialized in the markets of La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia. In the latter province, they mainly settled in Haitian communities such as Caidije and Guanamaca, thus permitting the perpetuation of their own culture, including the voodoo religion and the creole language [912]. Map of Cuba with the Province of Camagey. Baths are also prepared to rid people of the 'bad' and the 'evil eye', a practice known in Afro-Cuban religions as despojo [34,35], mainly using species such as Vitex trifolia, Trichilia glabra, Alpinia speciosa, Allophyllus cominia. It is located between the Canal Viejo de Bahamas in the North, the Caribbean Ocean in the South, the Province of Las Tunas in the East, and the Province of Ciego de vila in the West. Cite this article. Au DT, Wu J, Jiang Z, Chen H, Lu G, Zhao Z. Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by Hakka in Guangdong, China. In reference to therapeutic use, almost half of the remedies are intended to treat gastro-intestinal afflictions (stomach pains, and as digestive and carminative; about 20%) and afflictions of the respiratory system (catarrh, asthma, colds, cough; about 18%). Moreover, to date only limited data about Haitian traditional medicine has been collected in Haiti, mostly due to the fact that the religious, cultural, and political situation in Haiti has made the study of Haitian ethnomedicine difficult [20]. But quinine is a chemical salt that can cause violent reactions, unlike gentle verbena. Rowe and Francis are both Jamaican. 2009, 37 (1): 43-53. Although medicinal uses of these plants are not absent from the Cuban pharmacopoeia, they may in some cases be restricted to Haitian descendants and to Cubans who have been influenced by the migrants' culture. Esquivel M, Hammer K. The Cuban homegarden 'conuco': a perspective environment for evolution and in situ conservation of plant genetic resources. Inventaire ethnopharmacologique. Her go-to cure-all medicinal plant is asosi, also called cerasee or corailee in the English-speaking Caribbean. Edited by: Hammer K, Esquivel M, Knpffer H. 1992, Gatersleben, Germany: Institut fr Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, 1: 83-109. William Seabrook's work The Magic Island also cites the usage of verbena in women who are in labor (Seabrook 327). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. Edited by: Hammer K, Esquivel M, Knpffer H. 1992, Gatersleben, Germany: Institut fr Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, 1: 110-137. In: Pieroni A, Vandebroek I, editor. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food as Medicine. A fresh pot of cerasee or asosi tea, a traditional plant used across the Caribbean for all ailments. She is a believer of remed fey, or bush medicine. Naomie Phillis, 50, sells traditional herbal medicine in Ption-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. During the decades after emigration, the original Haitian ethnomedicinal knowledge progressively changed and adapted to the new environment, maintaining cultivation and use of important medicinal plants, incorporating plants and uses from the host Cuban culture, and diffusing specific plant uses to Cubans in contact with Haitian communities. During the decades after emigration, the original Haitian ethnomedicinal knowledge progressively changed and adapted to the new environment, maintaining cultivation and use of important medicinal plants, incorporating plants and uses from the host Cuban culture, and diffusing specific plant uses to Cubans in contact with Haitian communities. The most frequently used species are Chenopodium ambrosioides, Cissus verticillata, Cocos nucifera, Crescentia cujete, Cymbopogon citratus, Lippia alba, Momordica charantia, Pimenta dioica, Portulaca oleracea, Psidium guajava, and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis. The relatively high figure for alcoholic maceration (8.7%) is due to the number of plants that are reported to be soaked in rum and used in the preparation of a medicinal and ritual Haitian drink called tifey [14]. Therefore, a medical syncretism of sorts must have occurred. Back to Eden, 1939. This paper focuses on traditional medicinal plant uses of Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Herbal mixtures used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey. Creole Language and Culture: Part of Cuba's Cultural Patrimony, Volpato G, Godnez D, Beyra A. Migration and ethnobotanical practices: The case of, Beyra A, Len M, Iglesias E, Ferrndiz D, Herrera R, Volpato G, Godinez D, Guimarais M, Alvarez R. Estudios etnobotnicos sobre plantas medicinales en la provincia de Camagey (Cuba). Although in the recent past there has been an increase in ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal investigations in Cuba [1519], these have generally not paid attention to the specific ethnic knowledge that immigrants have contributed to traditional Cuban medicine. Before you rub yourself with it, Sister Francis instructed, youwash it and rub it all over where the itching is.. [15] who interviewed 29 Cuban informants across the Province of Camagey and reported 111 species used for medicinal purposes. Given this, as well as the poor availability of ethnobotanical data relating to traditional Haitian medicine, there is an urgent need to record this knowledge. This use of cricket's legs has been also reported by Hernndez and Volpato [19] in their article about the medicinal mixtures of Eastern Cuba, as well as by Seoane [16] in his treatise on Cuban medical folklore. DG, AB, and AB performed botanical analysis and species identification. Haitian Plants Medicine. Davis had found Datura growing in Haiti. Due to its mostly flat territory, the Province of Camagey historically had an economy primarily based on cattle and sugarcane, as well as small-scale farming. The research led to the identification of 123 different plant species used for medicinal purposes by Haitians and their descendants in the Province of Camagey. 2007, Oxford: Berghahn, 245-269. It just doesnt taste good, said St. Fort. Otherwise, they live in hospices either in Camagey or in smaller cities and villages. Especially over the last decade, Haitians in Cuba have begun to rediscover their roots and revitalize their traditional culture by forming Haitian associations and groups and celebrating festivals and other events. Esquivel M, Fuentes V, Martnez C, Martnez J, Hammer K. The African influence from an Ethnobotanical Point of View. Camagey is the largest province in Cuba, at 15,615 km2, corresponding to 14.3% of the nation's territory. Informants reported using 123 plant species belonging to 112 genera in 63 families.