Materia Medica
A Travelling Botanist: The Miracle Tree
Guest blog series by: Sophie Mogg
In this installment of A Travelling Botanist I will be focusing on Moringa oleifera, commonly referred to as the miracle tree.
Moringa oleifera is native to South Asia however due to the multitude of useful products it can provide its distribution has increased in more recent years and now covers the majority of Asia, Africa and Europe. M. oleifera is a hardy tree, requiring little in the way of compost or manure and being drought resistant it is well suited to the environment of developing countries. M. oleifera reaches heights of up to 3M within the first 10 months and initial harvests of leaves are able to occur between 6-8months, with subsequent yields improving as the tree reaches maturity at around 12M tall.
Many parts of the Moringa tree are utilised in South Asian cooking. The young seed pods, more often referred to as drumsticks, are used in a variety of dishes such as curries, sambars, kormas and dals. The drumsticks can also be incorporated into soups such as the Burmese Dunt-dalun chin-yei. This is true also for the fruit of the drumsticks, the white seeds can either be cooked as you would green peas or incorporated into a variety of soups. Flowers can also be used, generally being boiled or fried and incorporated into a variety of friend snacks such as pakoras and fritters or alternatively used in tea.
The leaves of the Moringa tree are considered to be very nutritional, with the suggestion that a teaspoon of leaf powder being incorporated into a meal three times a day could aid in reducing malnutrition. The leaves can be prepared in a variety of ways, from being ground into a find powder or deep-friend for use in sambals. They can also be made into a soup with the addition of rice, a popular breakfast during Ramadan. The leaves of the Moringa also contain antiseptic properties with a recent study suggesting that 4g of leaf powder can be as good as modern day non-medicated soap. This provides some means of sanitation to people who would otherwise not be able to properly clean their hands.
The seeds of a single Moringa tree can be used to provide clean water for up to 6 people for an entire year. With their outer casing removed, the seeds can be ground to form what is known as a seed cake that can be used to filter water thereby removing between 90-99% of the bacteria present. This works on the basis of attraction whereby positively charged seeds attract negatively charged bacteria and viruses causing them to coagulate and form particles known as floc. This floc then falls to the bottom of the container leaving clean water above it. It is estimated that only 1-2 seeds are required for every litre of water.
Oil is a by-product of making the seed cakes, comprising of around 40% of the seed. This oil, often known as “ben oil” by watchmakers, can serve a variety of purposes due to its properties. Due to being light, it is ideal for use in machinery and produces no smoke when lit making it ideal for oil-based lamps. The oil also contains natural skin and hair purifiers and is becoming more popular with well known cosmetic companies such as The Body Shop and LUSH thereby providing revenue to the farmers who grow the miracle tree. It also bears similarities to olive oil making it ideal for cooking and therefore another avenue for marketing this multipurpose oil.
Moringa oleifera and its close relatives are also known for their medicinal properties, containing 46 antioxidants which aid in preventing damage to cells. Due to containing benzyl isothiocyanate it has been suggested that Moringa may also contain chemo-protective properties.
I know that you may think I have completely forgotten the bark of the tree. But no, that too has its use. The tree bark is beaten into long fibres ideal for making strong rope.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the Miracle tree as much as I have, if you wish to seek more information just follow the links below.
As always comment below with your favourite plant and if it’s in our collection and found within South Asia or Europe, I’ll be happy to feature it!
A Travelling Botanist: There’s always time for tea
Guest blog series by: Sophie Mogg
Manchester Museum is currently planning a brand new HLF funded South Asia exhibit and held a fantastic Big Saturday with a South Asian theme. There were plenty of wonderful experiences to be had from traditional South Asian food to Bhangracise lessons that featured throughout the museum. You can find more about the event here.
We shared some beautiful specimens from our herbarium and Materia Medica collection depicting several culturally and economically important plant species from South Asia. This blog post will focus on the beautiful beverage, tea.
Originating in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907), the practice of drinking tea quickly spread to other parts of South Asia. Camellia sinensis var. assamica is typically a small evergreen shrub that will grow on to produce a small tree if left undisturbed. Native to the state of Assam, India, this variety produces a full-bodied black tea with a malty flavour.
Within the Assam state, this variety of tea is grown on plantations operating on a separate timezone (IST +1) to the rest of India. The first harvest occurs in March, typically referred to as the first flush. The second flush producing much fuller flavoured tippy tea occurs much later in the season. Following harvesting, leaves must first must undergo several labour intensive processes involving: fermenting, curling and drying. Subsequently leaves are graded by size and shape before being exported to other countries. The bud and smaller surrounding leaves are often graded the highest, with hand-picking of these leaves being repeated every few weeks. Larger leaves are graded lower, due to their chemical composition differing to the young leaves.
Tea is not only the second-most widely consumed beverage across the world, it is also involved in the Ayurveda practice of medicine. Tea would be mixed with a variety of herbs such as rooibos, rosehips and chamomile for their medicinal benefits.
In the upcoming weeks I will be following the silk and spice trade routes from Asia to the UK so stay tuned to learn more about fantastic plants of the past and present and where you might find them. If you have any suggestions not listed below, please leave a comment!
If you would like to find further information on Camellia sinensis and the production of tea please follow the links below:
Camellia sinensis
Tea production
Tea grading
Cinchona and Treating Malaria
by Jemma
This blog post is going to focus on the genus Cinchona, which is the source of the antimalarial drug quinine.
Image taken from Image taken from http://pixshark.com/cinchona-officinalis-tree.htm
History
The Quechua peoples of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador were the first to realise the medicinal properties of Cinchona. Though now famous as a cure for malaria, the Quechua used the tree’s bark as a muscle relaxant to treat shivering. Since shivering can be one of the symptoms of the disease, the bark was coincidently used to treat malaria. The Quechua’s use of Cinchona was observed by Jesuit missionaries, who introduced the plant to Europe by the 1630s.
In 1677, the use of the bark as a treatment for malaria was first noted in the London Pharmacopoeia, a reference text of different medicines. During his reign, the English King Charles II contracted malaria. He was treated by Robert Talbor, who used Cinchona bark mixed with wine to fight off the disease. He later went on to treat the son of Kind Louis XIV of France of the same disease.
In 1738, Charles Marie de La Condamine produced a paper that identified three separate species of Cinchona from his travels from Ecuador. This paper and a specimen from La Condamine were then used by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who named the tree Cinchona. The name was based on a 16th century Spanish Countess of Chinchon, who contracted malaria and was cured with bark from the tree by the Quechua people. Linnaeus’ species was later named as Cinchona officinalis after he established his binomial system for classifying plants.
Medicinal properties
The bark of the Cinchona tee contains a number of medicinal compounds, including quinine and quinidine. Quinidine is used in pharmaceuticals as an antiarrhythmic agent, suppressing abnormal rhythms of the heart and regulating the heartbeat. Cinchona has been used in folk medicine to stimulate appetite, promote discharge of bile and treat mild influenza infections.
However, the most well-known use of Cinchona is as a source of the antimalarial compound quinine. Quinine is a crystalline salt that has antimalarial, fever-reducing, painkilling and anti-inflammatory properties. Though it is frequently found in antimalarial drugs, the compounds mechanism of action is still not fully understood. Even so, the bitter tasting quinine compound is included in many drugs treating malaria. Cinchona bark is still the most economically viable source of the compound, despite it being possible to synthesise quinine in a laboratory. Quinine has not been the primary treatment for malaria since 2006, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that the drug artemisinin become the standard cure. Now quinine is used when artemisinin is not available.
Despite being an effective malarial treatment, quinine is not entirely safe. It can cause a condition called cinchonism, which can range from mild to severe. Mild conditions mainly involve reversible symptoms, such as skin rashes, dizziness and vomiting. Severe symptoms of cinchonism can involve temporary deafness, paralysis, blindness and death. Death is usually by pulmonary oedema, which is fluid accumulation in parts of the lungs.
Cinchona and homeopathy
It is said that the birth of homeopathy came about from Cinchona. Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which it is believed that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure similar symptoms in sick people. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), the founder of homeopathy, came across the tree when he was translating William Cullen’s work on the Materia Medica. In it, Cullen documented that the bark could be used to treat intermittent fevers and shivering. Hahnemann began taking a large dose of Cinchona daily for two weeks. He started to develop symptoms that resembled malaria. Though he attributed the symptoms to a hypersensitivity to the bark, this experiment gave Hahnemann the idea that ‘like cures like’, which he later developed into the idea of homeopathy.
Gin and Tonic
Quinine extracted from Cinchona is they key ingredient in tonic water, a carbonated soft drink. The dissolved quinine gives tonic water a distinctive bitter flavour, which is often used to compliment the alcoholic drink gin. The quinine content gives tonic water fluorescent properties under ultraviolet (UV) light. It can even fluoresce in direct sunlight as quinine is extremely sensitive to UV.
Image taken from http://chemistry.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Glowing-Things/Tonic-Water-Glow.htm
Tonic water was first produced in the early 19th century, when British officials stationed in tropical colonial outposts began mixing quinine with carbonated water and sugar to alleviate the bitterness of quinine. They later started mixing this medicinal tonic with gin to create the classic ‘gin and tonic’ combination.
Lemongrass
by Jemma
Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a dense, clump-forming grass that is found in tropical and subtropical grassland throughout southeast Asia. It can reach a height of around 2 metres with leaves that are white on the top and green on the underside. Lemongrass flowers are red to reddish-brown in colour.
Image taken from http://www.gardensonline.com.au/GardenShed/PlantFinder/Show_2229.aspx
Culinary uses
Cymbopogon citratus is abundant in the Philippines and Indonesia, where it is known as tanglad or sereh. Lemongrass leaves are too tough for the body to digest, so they either need to be removed before eating or chopped vary finely. Both the stems and leaves feature in Asian, African and Latin American cuisine in teas, soups and curries. It has a subtle citrus flavour that complements poultry, fish, beef and seafood dishes in particular.
Medicinal uses
Lemongrass is sometimes used in folk medicine, particularly in India and Brazil. The plant is believed to have a range of medicinal applications with its supposed hypnotic, anticonvulsant, antibacterial and antifungal properties. Though many of these believed effects have not been supported scientifically, some studies have shown that it does have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties.
Citronellol, one of the essential oils that can be made from the plant, has antihypertensive properties. In other words it can lower blood pressure by relaxing the muscles of blood vessels, which results in increased blood flow and decreased tension. Hydrosol, a by-product of the distillation process used to extract the essential oils from lemongrass, is used in skin care products as a weaker alternative to the oils. In some individuals Cymbopogon citratus oil can cause contact dermatitis, whereby the skin is irritated and becomes swollen and sore.
Other uses
The oil extracted from Cymbopogon citratus is a popular insect repellent. It is particularly favoured for use against the stable flies that bite domesticated animals. Though it repels most insects, beekeepers are very fond of lemongrass oil as it can be used to attract honey bees when they swarm. In addition to these, lemongrass oil is also used in perfumes and is a popular houseplant as it gives a room a ‘fresh’ fragrance. The plant is also grown on embankments in South and Southeast Asia as a means of soil conservation.
Chamomile
by Jemma
Today’s blog post is going to focus on Matricaria chamomilla, which is more commonly known as chamomile or scented mayweed.
It is a highly aromatic shrub native to Europe and Western Asia. Chamomile grows up to 0.5 metres tall and possesses yellow daisy-like flowers that bloom in early- to mid-summer. Sometimes viewed as a weed, this plant is found near roadsides, landfills and in cultivated fields. It needs open soil to survive.
Image taken from http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0207+0114
Medicinal uses
Chamomile has been used as far back as the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. They used it to treat fevers, digestive and menstrual problems, and as an insecticide.
In herbal medicine today it is used as a mild laxative, a sleep aid, an anti-inflammatory, and to treat digestive problems. In large doses, Matricaria chamomilla can cause nausea and vomiting due to small amounts of the toxin coumarin it contains, though this is extremely rare.
The plant has been studied extensively using pharmacological models, animal experiments and clinical tests. These studies showed that chamomile has anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxing, ulcer-protecting, bactericidal and fungicidal activity. Chamomile’s properties arise from the interaction of many different chemical compounds, such as bisabolol, chamzulene, matricin and apigenin. Bisabolol, a complex alcohol, seems to be partially responsible for the majority of chamomile’s medicinal effects. Recent studies have also reported that Matricaria chamomilla extracts could have some anti-cancer effects.
Other interesting facts
Garlands of this plant were found on Tutankhamun’s mummy along with chamomile traces being found on the body of Rameses II. Chamomile produces a strong yellow dye that has been used to dye textiles and is now a popular all-natural hair dye. Matricaria chamomilla is a relative of ragweed that can cause allergic reactions in some people.
Respect the Elder
by Jemma
Elder, or Sambucus nigra, if found in woodlands and hedgerows throughout Europe, western Asia and North America. It is a short-lived shrub that can reach up to 6-9 metres tall. The plant has dark green, serrated leaves that possess a distinctive smell and flat-topped yellow-white flowers. These flowers bloom in May-July and are pollinated by insects, especially hoverflies. Following pollination, Sambucus nigra produces dark purple fruit that grow between September-October. These elderberries are mildly poisonous and grow in large clusters that often weigh down the branches of the plant.
Image taken from https://ivynettle.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/the-year-is-turning/
Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambucus_nigra
Medicinal uses
For a long time Sambucus nigra has been used for a wide range of medicinal applications. It has been mentioned as far back as the Hippocratic Corpus (a collection of medical works from Ancient Greece) and Pliny (23-79 ACE), who both suggest the use of elderberry as a laxative and diuretic.
The flowers and fruit are still used in herbal medicine today for a wide range of remedies. They are used as a diuretic, to reduce inflammation, and to treat coughs and constipation. Sambucus nigra is also a popular flavouring agent used in laxatives.
Studies have shown that elderberries can be used to boost the immune system. This effect has been suggested to be caused by the high levels of anthocyanidins, which are chemical compounds that are known to stimulate the immune system, found in the berries. Other studies have suggested that the plant is effective against diabetes. Extracts from elderflower has been shown to stimulate the breakdown of glucose and increase secretion of insulin, both of which lower blood sugar levels.
Culinary uses
Sambucus nigra has a wide range of culinary uses, despite being toxic in its raw form. The plant contains low concentrations of cyanogenic glycosides, which are toxic, but these are destroyed by heat. Thus the elder is safe to consume after cooking. One of the primary uses of elder is the production of an anise-flavoured Italian liqueur, called Sambuca, which is made from the plants berries. Elder is also involved in the production of cordials, wines and teas. In addition, it is used to make various other products such as jams, jellies, chutneys, elderflower fritters and other baked goods.
Other uses and interesting facts
Elder has been found in prehistoric archaeological sites across Europe. The stems were used by the ancient Greeks to make musical instruments called sambuke, whilst Native Americans used them for whistles and to make arrows. Traditionally, elder has also been included in the production of perfumes and dyes. The leaves are often used as a natural insect repellent. For a long time it was believed to be the tree from which Judas supposedly hanged himself in the Bible. However, this is unlikely since Sambucus nigra is not native to the Palestine region.
Image taken from http://www.snipview.com/q/Sambuca_(instrument)
Fancy a bite? – Medicinal leeches
by Jemma
One of the most well-known animals in medicine is the leech, Hirudo medicinalis. Found over almost the whole of Europe and part of Asia, the leech has been collected from muddy freshwater pools and ditches for hundreds of years.
Fully mature leeches can reach up to 20 cm in length and are hermaphrodites that reproduce sexually. Leeches have suckers on each end, called the anterior and posterior suckers. The posterior (back) one is mainly used for leverage whilst the anterior (front) sucker has the jaw and teeth for feeding. Large adults can consume 5-15 ml in a single meal, which is about 10 times their body weight. After feeding, they can live up to a year before requiring another feed.
Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leech_collector
After biting but before sucking out blood, Hirudo medicinalis secrete saliva containing about 60 different proteins. These include anticoagulants (such as hirudin), platelet aggregation inhibitors (to prevent clotting), anaesthetics and vasodilators (to widen blood vessels and increase blood flow).
Bloodletting was used by many ancient peoples, including the Egyptians and Greeks, and is one of the earliest known medical techniques. The first described use of leeches was in 800 BC by the ancient Indian surgeon Sushruta, who recommended their use for skin diseases and muscle pains.
Ancient Greek physicians Nicander, Hippocrates and Galen all advocated the use of bloodletting. Bloodletting was modelled on menstruation as they believed it purged women of bad humours (excess bodily fluid). The humours were blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile, and each represented air, water, earth and fire respectively. Those agreeing with this theory believed that any sickness that caused the patient’s skin to become red, such as fever and inflammation, must have been caused by too much blood in the body. Thus, removal of blood was supposed to balance the humours, allowing the body to function properly.
Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism
The popularity of bloodletting rose through the centuries until it reached its peak in the early 19th century. In the 1830s, the French imported as many as 40 million leeches a year for medicinal purposes. By this time, bloodletting was used to treat almost every disease, from asthma to cholera, gangrene to epilepsy, smallpox to tuberculosis and beyond. Some of the ailments leeches were employed caused more harm than good. For example, after America’s first president George Washington developed a throat infection in 1799, he was bled for 10 hours and lost 3.75 litres of blood before dying of a throat infection.
The use of leeches fell drastically towards the end of the 19th century as knowledge of the bodies systems increased. However, they made a medical comeback in the 1970s. Leeches began to be used to stimulate circulation following skin grafts, particularly in finger reattachment. The therapeutic value of Hirudo medicinalis was no longer in bloodletting, but rather in the anticoagulants and anaesthetics in the saliva. Leeches are still used today but ‘mechanical leeches’ have been developed that perform the same function, though they are not yet commercially available.
