I'm writing more about the interesting native plants of the Peruvian Amazon Rain Forest area this week. Like I mentioned in my last post, there is a huge variety of interesting and USEFUL native herbs here, and they're used for everything from ovarian cysts to digestive disorders to cancer.
Last week, Jorge brought home something strange from the market. It looked like this:
Cinchona.
If you're thinking "wow, this looks a lot like mossy tree bark", you're totally right. This is Cinchona
, also known as Peruvian tree bark. It was sold exactly as this -- a harvested fragment of tree bark about a foot long, sticky to the touch and fragrant like the rain forest.
, also known as Peruvian tree bark. It was sold exactly as this -- a harvested fragment of tree bark about a foot long, sticky to the touch and fragrant like the rain forest.
Jorge had been instructed at the market to "take a small piece" and make a tea with it. It helps with infections and digestion, he was told. Decent enough properties to warrant a splurge purchase, in my book.
So he came back from the market with bags of vegetables, handfuls of herbs and a hunk of bark. Imagine my surprise as he slowly unloaded his backpack. Only in Peru, I suppose!
The tree bark sat around for about a week, forgotten. And then, this morning, I woke up wanting something warm. Rainy season has begun in Cusco, and I've been feeling especially cold recently. Since I'm still on a no-coffee whirl, I thought I'd make a cup of tea to warm my hands for the morning.
And then I remembered the tree bark.
I brought it out carefully, sniffing it, poking it, wondering what exactly constituted "a small piece". I know herbal remedies often carry a hefty "warning" label, so I wanted to investigate before I gambled on 'a small piece' only to find myself later in a near overdose state.
Off to google, then!
Lots of interesting benefits and properties came up about cinchona. Here's just a little rundown:
- promotes digestion (gosh, what herb DOESN'T?)
- eases muscle cramps
- kills bacteria and fungi
- relieves pain
- helps with hemorrhoids and varicose veins
- regulates heartbeat
- and...perhaps the most important benefit of cinchona...IT CURES MALARIA!
That's right. Cinchona contains quinine, which is the active ingredient of malaria medication. One of the most important discoveries in the rain forest, it's been used since TIME ETERNAL to cure malaria. When the Europeans arrived in the 1600's, they found out about this usage and began to export this 'wonder cure' back to their homeland.
As you can see above, the uses for this bark extend way beyond curing malaria, and that's not even half of the ways it's been utilized throughout the centuries.
And if this stuff isn't already in your local health food store, ask for it! Though they might want to ask for the more easily-transportable powder form. I'm not too sure they'll be able to receive the literal hunk of bark I showed above!
The bounty of the rain forest is simply ASTOUNDING to me. The sheer variety of medicinal plants is both awe-inspiring and a huge relief. Mother Nature provides for us in so many ways, and I'm sure there are even more discoveries to be made about what else is out there to help heal us.
If you're interested, you can find cinchona here in powder form
(and not the sticky, mossy, piece of literal jungle bark in your kitchen, like SOME of us have!).
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