Bahamian Bush
Medicine
Additionally, spa employees were delighted to share what they knew about Bush Medicine with Senses Spa Director, Bruce Josephs. They brought their grandmothers in to talk with Bruce. They brought bushels of Bush Medicine gathered from their yards to show him. They introduced him to Millie Sands, a local expert.
Out of all of this came the Bahamian Bush Bath, which is also part of the Bahamian Wrapsody treatment. It is the only treatment using native remedies at the time I visited Senses Spa. Hopefully, Senses Spa will continue to expand their offerings in this area.
Included in the local Materia Medica are:
Aloe (Aloe Vera ) - The latex "bitter aloe" acts as a strong purgative and the jelly-like substance obtained by slitting and scraping the gel, applied directly to skin, burns or sunburn alleviates pain. If a leaf is cut lengthwise, spread flat in a frying pan and warmed, it is said to cure sores if placed directly on the affected part. The "gel" is said to remove wrinkles.1
Bay Geranium (Ambrosia Hispida) - Can be made into soap and used to relieve itching skin. Recommended for indigestion and cleaning of the lungs and mainly used to cure the common cold in the form of a strong tea with lime and salt.
Blue Flowers (Valerianoides Jamaicensis) - Soothes babies with colic, gas and constipation. Also used to cool the blood and soothe skin irritations in children.
Breadfruit (Artocarpus Altilis) - Leaves are used for high blood pressure. The leaves slightly crushed, are also bound on the head and forehead as a cure for headache.1
Cascarilla (Croton Eluteria) - Tincture from bark is used as a tonic and stimulant.2
"Catnip": Small White Sage (Salvia Serotina) - Used to make a tea and health drink in pregnancy. It is given to children to rid them of worms and is considered beneficial in colds and influenza, to relieve itching skin and as a nasal douche for sinus.1
Cerasee - Soothes the skin. Used to treat fever, flu, congestion, and cramps.
Fever Grass - Cleanser and relaxer.
Five Fingers (Tabebuia Bahamaensis) - Used as a soothing tea for body aches.
Gale of the Wind (Phyllanthus Amarus) - Used as a fever-reducing tea and improves the appetite.
Geiger Tree (Cordia Sebestena) - Used in tea to sharpen the appetite.
Gum Elemi (Bursera Simarouba) - Natural resin secreted from tree can be used to stop blood flow from wounds. The sap can also be used as an antidote for poisonwood, a tea for rheumatism, and a bath for back pain. A poultice of crushed leaves can soothe bee and wasp stings.
Jumbey (Leucaena Glauca) - Used a cure for "wind on the stomach:, to quiet the nerves, and in treating heart trouble.1
Life-Leaf: Live For-Ever (Bryobhyllum Pinnatum) - Used in "shortness of breath" and for kidney conditions.1
Lignum Vitae (Guaiacum Officinale) - Used as an antibiotic in the 1700's. The bark was used as a cathartic, the fruit as a vegetable and the flower as a laxative. The white juice from the bark was used against "scal'd head". Now used as a tea and as a bath for body pains.1
Love Vine (Cuscuta) - Used in tea as an aphrodisiac for "sex weakness" and a soothing bath for itching and prickly heat.
Match Me if You Can (Acalypha Wilkesina Var. Macafeana) - For rheumatic pains the large leaves are slightly crushed, applied to the affected parts and bound firmly in place. Also worn on the sole of the shoe for cure of a cold.1
Mint (Mentha) - Used in tea to stimulate the body.
Periwinkle (Vinca Rosea, Vinca Alba) - Used in the treatment of Leukemia because of its effect on white blood cells. Polynesians have reported using it to treat diabetes.
Pigeon-Plum (Cocoloba) - Used to stop "free bowels"1
Pound-Cake Bush (Parthenium Hysterophorus) - Used to combat "weakness" and is also used for coughs and as a wash for skin sores. The flowers are sometimes "parched" and sprinkled on skin sores. It is also made into a tea for diabetes.1
Red Pepper, Goat Pepper (Capsicum) - Used internally as a powerful stimulant, being considered beneficial in exciting the appetite, also used externally as a counter-irritant. A leaf is slightly crushed and placed on a boil to "draw" it to a head.1
Sage (White [Lantana involucrata] & Orange) - White sage can be used as a tea and the yellow as a bath to promptly relieve itching of Measles and Chicken Pox.
Salve Bush (Solanum Verbascifolium) - Alliviates coughing when used in tea and calms skin irritations as a wash.
Shepherd's Needle (Bidens Pilosa) - Foliage and flowers are steeped and used for prickly heat, "cooling the blood" and to relieve "sick stomach" and given every day for nine days for worms in children.1
White Bells: Angel's Trumpet (Datura) - Poisonous. The leaves and flowers are allowed to dry, then are smoked in a clay pipe as a cure for asthma and influenza.1
White Elder (Sambucus Intermedia) - Perhaps the most popular plant used as a bush medicine. Applied as a bath for chicken pox to the skin sores, and internally as a tea to reduce fever.1
1 Bush Medicine in the Bahamas by Mrs. Leslie Higgs (apparently available only in Nassau).
2 King's American Dispensatory
pictures of Our Lucaya property outside
