Healing plant presentations

Healing plant presentations

Diane covered the use of Aloe vera gel for the treatment of external burns.


Annielisa covered the popular use of soursop leaf tea as a treatment for diabetes. This particular treatment surfaces regularly in my class, but the leaves of soursop are associated with neurotoxicity and may induce Parkinson-like conditions. Some soursop leaf extracts were toxic to breast cancer cells, but the compounds were also toxic for humans and no clinical trials were conducted. The use of soursop leaves in tea is not currently recommended.


Darnick explained the use of tuhke en kilin wai to treat fungal skin disorders.


Yuki spoke of the use of a particular variety of green (unripe, not yet sweet) coconut juice to shut down diarrhea.


Mayson spoke of the use of unripe weipwul (Morinda citrifolia) fruit for stomachache.


Wadel detailed the use of the hard part of the front of a coconut frond petiole, split in half, pounded, and the juice produced used to treat pink eye.


Edson brought in paiwed, Angiopteris evecta, for burns. The inner part of the stem is carved out and placed on the burn.


Joe noted that reh takai, a type of grass, is used to make a tea to treat diabetes and high blood pressure.



Cody also brought in soursop leaves and explained its use for nose and throat inflammation. These sorts of treatments interest me only in that this is an introduced plant with some toxicity that is apparently being used in a variety of ways on conditions for which there is scant evidence of efficacy. How and why these uses developed, and where they were picked up from, puzzles me.



Jedidiah spoke on the use of niyóór, Chuukese for Premna obtusifolia, to treat fever. The leaves are infused into water and then a bath is taken with the water. This differs from the steam sauna approach using the same plant favored by Pohnpeians and Kosraeans.


Mailyn also brought in Senna alata, sra kito, known on Pohnpei as tuhke en kilin wai, to treat tinea versicolor (white spots on the skin due to fungus).


Kayleen covered the use of Piper ponapense, konok, to bring a boil to a head.


Vern anchored with used of the papaya leaf to make a tea for the treatment of various cancers.

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