Common Name(s): Worry Vine, Vervine, Porter Weed Scientific Name: Stachytarpheta jamaicensis Medicinal Uses: Used in a tea to treat anxiety, heart conditions, coughs, fevers, constipation and colds. Leaves were mashed for use in poultices. Midwives used the entire plant either as a tea (in combination with cerasee) or vaginal irrigation. This bushy herb is described … Continue reading Worry Vine
Yellow Root
Common Name(s): Yellow Root, Rhubarb Root, Strong Back Scientific Name: Morinda royoc Medicinal Uses: Tea made from the leaves and stems was used to treat back pain and kidney ailments. According to a CINA Memory Bank interview with Austin Bothwell from West Bay, the tea was also good for stopping bed-wetting in children. The genus … Continue reading Yellow Root
Jennifer
"Toothache? You used to have enough of that. They had a bush down there that grow along the sand, the beach. That were jennifer." - Genveva Range (CINA Memory Bank Interview) Common Name(s): Juniper, Junifer, Jennifer Scientific Name: Suriana maritima Medicinal Uses: Tea could be made from the leaves. Bark used as a poultice for … Continue reading Jennifer
Bluebell
Common Name(s): Bluebell Scientific Name: Clitoria ternatea Medicinal Uses: None in local tradition. In Ayurvedic medicine, it has been used for centuries as a memory enhancer, nootropic, antistress, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anticonvulsant, tranquilizing and sedative agent (Journal of Ethnopharmacology). When "butterfly pea tea" started popping up all over Instagram, I immediately wanted to know what flowers … Continue reading Bluebell
Castor Oil Plant
"The castor oil nut, or simply oil nut, was a purgative and tasted terrible but few youngsters escaped getting a dose at least once." - Cromwell Ebanks (CINA Memory Bank Interview) Common Name(s): Castor Bean, Castor Oil Plant, Castor Oil Nut, Oil Nut Scientific Name: Ricinus Communis Medicinal Uses: Made from the beans of the … Continue reading Castor Oil Plant
Wormwood
Common Name(s): Wormwood, Geranium, Running Wormwood Scientific Name: Ambrosia hispida Medicinal Uses: Leaves brewed as a tea to cure the common cold or in a compress for sprains. Also used in soap making in order to relieve itchy skin conditions. With its silvering, lobed leaves, this plant’s resemblance to Artemisia absinthium – the Old World common wormwood – … Continue reading Wormwood
Rosemary
"You boil it down strong and you can put little sugar. You see, it just like medicine." - Joselyn Rankin (CINA Memory Bank Interview) Common Name(s): Rosemary Scientific Name: Croton linearis Medicinal Uses: Tea made from the leaves and stems was used to treat diabetes and alongside other medicinal plants after giving birth. It was … Continue reading Rosemary
Dash-A-Long
"People comes from all over the whole island for this dash-a-long. Especially in the winter time when they have colds and fevers and all that. That's why I grow all of these so that I can help any neighbours that comes that wants." - Nolan Smith (CINA Memory Bank Interview) Common Name(s): Dash-a-long, Ramgoat dash-a-long, … Continue reading Dash-A-Long
What’s In A Name?
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir Plants are often identified by two sets of names: "scientific" and "common". The scientific name comprises the Genus species of the plant in question while the common names are the local nomenclature. Neither … Continue reading What’s In A Name?
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