KAPOK (Ceiba pentandra)

Good morning everyone. Another tree with medicinal value found in the Philippines. I’m sure if many have this plant you can use it to cure some ailments. There are a total of 96 Philippine medicinal trees under 83 genera and 38 families. I want to share the most seen trees here.

This is an erect, deciduous tree, 15 m high. The trunk is cylindrical, usually bearing scattered, large spines. The branches are in distant whorls, and spread horizontally. The leaves are compound with 5-8 lanceolate leaflets, 6-15 cm long, pointed on both ends.

Medicinal Value:

■ The bark is used as a vomitive and diuretic. It is used to treat ever and diarrhea. It is also applied on wounds and swollen fingers.

■ A decoction of the flowers is used for constipation.

■ An infusion of the leaves is used for cough, hoarseness, intestinal catarrh and urethritis. The tender leaves are administered for gonorrhea.

■ The unripe fruit is regarded as a demulcent (soothing medicine, provides a protective coating on mucus membranes) and astringent.

■ A tender fruit used as emollient.

■ A decoction of the roots is given for chronic dysentery, diarrhea, ascites (abnormal accumulation of serious fluid in the abdominal cavity) and anasarca (edema characterized by accumulation of serum in the connective tissue of the body).

■ The gum is an astringent and useful as a styptic (having a harsh acrid, flavor). It is given with milk as a cooling laxative to children. It is also used for incontinence of urine of children.

KALINGAG (Cinnamomum mercadoi Vidal Lauraceae)

Good morning everyone. Another tree with medicinal value found in the Philippines. I’m sure if many have this plant you can use it to cure some ailments. There are a total of 96 Philippine medicinal trees under 83 genera and 38 families. I want to share the most seen trees here.

Kalingag is a small-to medium-sized tree with relatively thick, aromatic bark. It reaches a diameter of 60 cm or more. The bark is gray, without fissures or cracks and covered irregularly with corky pustules, which give it a slightly rough appearance. The leaves are smooth, opposite, elliptical, 7-14 cm long and 3-6.5 cm wide; apex is acute, tip is rounded, texture is leathery; both faces are glabrous, the upper face is shiny while the lower has a glaucous ochre bloom.

Medicinal Value:

■ The bark, when masticated and taken internally, helps digestion.

■ It is also used for flatulence (gas accumulation in the alimentary canal) and as an expectorant.

■ It is used for tuberculosis and as a remedy for headaches and rheumatism.

CABALLERO (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Good morning everyone. Another tree with medicinal value found in the Philippines. I’m sure if many have this plant you can use it to cure some ailments. There are a total of 96 Philippine medicinal trees under 83 genera and 38 families. I want to share the most seen trees here.

It is an erect, small and smooth tree reaching 1.5 to 5 m high. It is armed with scattered spines along the branches. The red and yellow, few flowered clusters are borne on terminal portions.

Medicinal Value:

■ Fresh leaves are applied externally to relieve rheumatism; heated and applied externally, remedy stomach pains.

■ A decoction from the crushed seeds is used as an emetic and believed to be a remedy for dysentery.

■ roots are diuretic and useful in cases of stone formation in the bladder.

■ The juice of the stem and roasted fruit are used for eye disease.

■ The finely powdered leaves are given as uterine tonic to women immediately after giving birth.

Photo courtesy: aves

Solemnity of St. Joseph

Solemnity of St. Joseph
March 19

BIGNAI (Antidesma bunius (L) Spreng.)

Good morning everyone. Another tree with medicinal value found in the Philippines. I’m sure if many have this plant you can use it to cure some ailments. There are a total of 96 Philippine medicinal trees under 83 genera and 38 families. I want to share the most seen trees here. Bignai is a dioecious small tree reaching a height of about 10 m and a diameter of about 40 cm. the bark is dark brown.

Medicinal Value:

■ Leaves are acidic and diaphoretic (having the power to increase perspiration). Young leaves are boiled with pot-herbs and used by the natives in syphilitic infection.

Photo courtesy: hiroshima

BANABA (Legerstroemia speciosa)

Good morning everyone. These is another tree with medicinal value found in the Philippines. I’m sure if many have this plant you can use it to cure some ailments. There are a total of 96 Philippine medicinal trees under 83 genera and 38 families. I want to share the most seen trees here.

Banaba is a deciduous tree growing from 5 to 20 m in height. The bark is smooth gray to cream-colored, and peels off in irregular flakes.

The leaves are smooth, oblong to elliptic-ovate and 12 to 25 cm long. The flowers are of six parts, purplish lilac or mauve-pink, rarely pink, 5 to 7.5 cm across and borne in large, terminal pinnules up to 40 cm in length.

Medicinal Value:

■ The old leaves and ripe fruit of banaba contain the greatest amount of an “insulin-like principle” (20 grams of old leaves or ripe fruits, dried from 1 to 2 weeks, in the form of 10 cm3 of 20% decoction), were found to have the equivalent to 6 to 7.7 units of insulin in lowering blood sugar.

■ The mature and young leaves, and flowers have an activity that ranged from 4.4 to 5.4 units of insulin per 100 cm3 of 205 decoctions or equivalent to around 70% of the activity of the leaves or fruits.

■ A decoction of the leaves of all ages is used for diabetes mellitus. It is prepared and taken like tea. Some Filipino doctors believe that a decoction of the dried full is even better.

Photo courtesy: hiroshima

AGOHO (Casuarina equisetlifolia L. Cauanrinaceae)

Good morning everyone. I was looking for the date today on my calendar when I saw the design of it. Thought to share this with you. There are trees with medicinal value which you can find in the Philippines. I’m sure if many have this plant you can use it to cure some ailments. There are a total of 96 Philippine medicinal trees under 83 genera and 38 families. I want to share the most seen trees here.

A large evergreen tree, 20 m high, with a 65-cm diameter. The crown is narrowly pyramidal resembling some of the conifers in appearance. The bark is brown to dark brown and rough. The inner bark is light in color and has a bitter taste. The leaves are actually reduced to small sheaths on the needle-like branchlets.

Medicinal Values:

■ A decoction of the bark, when taken in large doses, is used as an emmenagogue (an agent that promotes menstrual discharge) and ecbolic (alleviates menstruation pains). It is helpful for hemoptysis (expectoration of blood from some part of the respiratory tract) and also an excellent astringent.

■ The bark is used to arrest diarrhea and dysentery; it’s lotion used for beriberi; a powder of the bark is prescribed for pimples on the face.

■ An infusion of the bark is used as a tonic.

■ A decoction of the twigs is used as a lotion for swellings; an infusion of the branches is used as a diuretic (an agent that tends to increase the flow of the urine).

■ A the Leaves are used for colic (spasm, obstruction or twisting or abdominal pain).

Photo courtesy: Amrei Dizon

How sharp is your eyes?

Good morning everyone. Let's relax for some time. Do you have a sharp eyes? Do you know who are these famous personality? Well, let's see if you can guess. And rate yourself after naming the all personality. And also check the score. The name of each person will appear when you click their eyes. So don't cheat, try to guess wisely. I bet you can't name those personalities ... :)

Scoring

1 - 3 You need to read more about the famous person and know them well.

4 - 6 Good. You have a good knowledge of the famous people.

7 - 9 Better. You know more about famous personality.

10 Congratulation. You are perfect and very well known of famous person. I bet you know more that this.