Showing posts with label Kidney Disorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kidney Disorder. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Cecropia Tree Medicinal Use for Obesity, Diabetes Asthma, Kidney Disorder

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 304-365


One of the most interesting symbioses in the rainforest exists between the Cecropia tree and the Cecropia ant (Azteca sp.) The Cecropia trees recruit ants to live in them and protect the tree.  

The ants drive off herbivorous insects, attack herbivorous vertebrates, and remove epiphytes and competing plants.  Their wastes also provide a lot of nitrogen to the plant.   The plant provides them with housing (inside hollow stems) and gylcogen-rich  bodies.  At least, that's the simple explanation of the relationship.


















The Cecropia leaf is quite popular among the Amazonian Indian tribes who use it for its anti-inflammatory qualities in the treatment of lung, kidney and rheumatic inflammations. For instance, these tribes prepare a tea made of leaves to treat respiratory problems and diabetes. 

It is further used to cure liver disorders and to stimulate menstruation. People from Trinidad take these leaves as a remedy for colds, fever, flu, snake and scorpion bites. The Palikur indigenous people resort to Cecropia leaves when they need to take care of bruises, wounds, bone fractures and mostly to clean the genitalia and relieve the pain felt after childbirth.

Cecropia is a Neotropical genus consisting of sixty-one recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees.

The genus is easily identified by its large, circular, palmately lobed leaves, about 30–40 cm in diameter and deeply divided into 7-11 lobes. The trees consist of very few branches, usually with candelabrum-like branching system. In Costa Rica, three-toed sloths are often spotted easily in Cecropia trees because of Cecropias’ open, leafless branches compared to other trees. 

Cecropia trees have a hollow trunk and branches, which are divided into a series of chambers by partitions. The tree produces special structures in velvety-brown glandular patches under the leaf stems, providing nourishment for Azteca ants, which defend the leaves.

Common nameTrumpet tree, embauba, trompettier, snake wood, yagruma, bois cannon, Yagrumo hembra, ambay, sandpaper tree.


FamilyMoraceae (Mulberry family).

Medicinal Uses

The trumpet tree or embauba is widely used in traditional medicine throughout Central and South America.Virtually every part is used – bark, roots, sap, leaves and fruit – to treat a diversity of ailments. 

Each country has different uses for extracts of this plant, such as treatment for bronchitis and snakebites in Trinidad and a cure for diabetes and hypertension in Guatemala.

Recent scientific research on the trumpet tree has shown 

  • potential for treating obesity, as well as 
  • bacterial infections and 
  • cancer. 
  • The tree is regularly used throughout the world by herbalists for treating respiratory disorders and 
  • diabetes.


Suriname's traditional medicine.

  • The leaves of Embauba are used against: albumin in the urine and 
  • have a good effect on the urinary passages, 
  • bladder and 
  • kidney disorders.

Tea made from the leaves is used as

  •  a cure for asthma
  • cough and 
  • other upper- respiratory complaints such as bronchitis
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), 
  • emphysema, 
  • pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Trumpet tree is also used to treat 
  • high blood pressure, for 
  • childbirth and 
  • menstruation and 
  • to strengthen the heart.
The other parts of the plant are also useful: 
  • the bark decreases mucus, 
  • the roots ease bile problems and 
  • the fruit greatly soothes the skin thanks to its emollient qualities.
 In many parts of Latin America, Cecropia tea is considered to be 
  • a miraculous cure for asthma and apparently it is brewed from its leaves.
  • Cecropia has a beneficial effect in patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes. 
Dosage
Tincture: 1 - 3 ml daily
Infusion (herbal tea): 1 - 2 cups daily


Plant Chemicals

Trumpet tree has among its plant chemicals: glycosides; lipids; alkaloids; flavonoids; isoorientin; chlorogenic acid; tannins; resins; ambain; cecropin; cardenolid; leucocyanidin; methyl-salicylate; proanthocyanidins; ursolic and stearic acids. The latex contains an alkaloid, cowleyin.

Reforestation

Cecropia trees are common in the rainforest - and in the tropical dry forest as well.  The trees are often seen along the roadsides as well. They are related to the mulberry tree.  

They often invade disturbed areas (hence their presence on roadsides) and are considered a pioneer species.  They don't do well in the shade; in the rainforest they depend on the appearance of openings due to treefalls, landslides, fires, etc.  

They are very quick-growing and shed the lower limbs (this shedding epiphytes as well).  In addition to the ants, the Cecropia trees have a number of chemical defenses including latex ducts (which gum up the mouthparts of feeding insects) and tannins.