Showing posts with label heartwood are used for sore throats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heartwood are used for sore throats. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Acacia Medicinal Uses Reforestation and History Religion Symbolism

 By Liliana Usvat
Blog 233-365

Ancient Story

Here is a story about a Sumerina scribe Endubsar in ancient times that was given a job by Lord Enki to write a Book of Witnessing of the past and the book of foretelling the future, for the future in the past lies and the first things shall also be the last things. He wrote on tablets for 40 days and nights on tablets. After he wrote the tablets he put them one by one in the correct order in the chest.  And the chest was made of acacia wood and it was inlaid with gold on the outside.

The tablets are real, are on display in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford England and were translated by Zecharia Sitchin and are known as Sumerian King Lists.

Acacia Plant

Acacia, known commonly as acacia, thorntree, whistling thorn, or wattle, is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773 based on the African species Acacia nilotica.

 Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not. All species are pod-bearing, with sap and leaves often bearing large amounts of tannins and condensed tannins that historically found use as pharmaceuticals and preservatives.

There are over 1,300 species of Acacia

Use as human food

Acacia seeds are often used for food and a variety of other products.
In Burma, Laos, and Thailand, the feathery shoots of Acacia pennata (common name cha-om, ชะอม and su pout ywet in Burmese) are used in soups, curries, omelettes, and stir-fries.

Medicinal Uses
  • anthelmintic
  • antibacterial
  • anticatarrhal
  • antifungal
  • anti-inflammatory
  • antimalarial
  • antimicrobial
  • antiseptic
  • astringent
  • diuretic
  • hemostatic
  • mucilaginous (roots and gum)
  • sedative (flowers and leaves)
 
A 19th-century Ethiopian medical text describes a potion made from an Ethiopian species (known as grar) mixed with the root of the tacha, then boiled, as a cure for rabies

An astringent medicine high in tannins, called catechu or cutch, is procured from several species, but more especially from Senegalia catechu (syn. Acacia catechu), by boiling down the wood and evaporating the solution so as to get an extract.

Acacia gum may be used to rid the mouth of the bacteria that causes periodontal disease. The gum from the plant is dissolved in water, then swished in the mouth to treat gum disease

Acacia gum as a demulcent, or soothing to mucus membranes. Because of this effect, this substance is often applied to affected skin to treat minor wounds and scrapes.

Acacia gum is helpful in treating cold symptoms and relieving the sore throat associated with them. You may drink a tea made with the herb or gargle it to help the sore throat.

Acacia gum is useful in treating dysentery, diarrhea and other intestinal ailments. Make a tea or extract with the gum and drink is for the desired effect.

The acacia flowers are useful in treating a hangover, nausea and vomiting when made into a tea.

In Ayurvedic medicine, Acacia leaves, flowers, and pods have long been used to expel worms, to staunch bleeding, heal wounds, and suppress the coughing up of blood.

In Ayurvedic medicine, decoctions of the bark and heartwood are used for sore throats.

The acacia in some South American cultures has been considered specific for venomous stings and bites and used in much the same manner in each culture. The juice of the chewed bark is swallowed, while the chewed bark itself is placed on the area of the bite

Any part may be powdered and applied to fungal infections, infected wounds, and to stop the bleeding of wounds and prevent subsequent infection.

To prepare gum: combine one part by weight of acacia gum with with parts by volume of distilled water.

Place into a tightly-stoppered bottle, shake occasionally, all to dissolve, and keep refrigerated. It becomes a slimy goo in the process. One or two tablespoons of this at a time can be taken as often as needed for gastrointestinal inflammations, oral ulcerations, or dysentery.

 Perfume

Vachellia farnesiana (syn. Acacia farnesiana) is used in the perfume industry due to its strong fragrance. The use of acacia as a fragrance dates back centuries.

Reforestation
 
 Acacias can be planted for erosion control, especially after mining or construction damage.
One of the most globally significant invasive acacias is black wattle A. mearnsii, which is taking over grasslands and abandoned agricultural areas worldwide, especially in moderate coastal and island regions where mild climate promotes its spread. Australian/New Zealand Weed Risk Assessment gives it a "high risk, score of 15" rating and it is considered one of the world's 100 most invasive species.

Symbolism and ritual

The acacia is used as a symbol in Freemasonry, to represent purity and endurance of the soul, and as funerary symbolism signifying resurrection and immortality. The tree gains its importance from the description of the burial of Hiram Abiff, who provided some of the builders for King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

 It is also supposed to have been the material used for Zulu warriors' iziQu (or isiKu) beads, which passed on through Sir Robert Baden-Powell to the Boy Scout movement's Wood Badge training award.
 
Egyptian mythology has associated the acacia tree with characteristics of the tree of life, such as in the Myth of Osiris and Isis.

Several parts (mainly bark, root, and resin) of Acacia species are used to make incense for rituals. Acacia is used in incense mainly in India, Nepal, and China including in its Tibet region.

Smoke from acacia bark is thought to keep demons and ghosts away and to put the gods in a good mood. Roots and resin from acacia are combined with rhododendron, acorus, cytisus, salvia, and some other components of incense.

Both people and elephants like an alcoholic beverage made from acacia fruit. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, the acacia tree may be the “burning bush” (Exodus 3:2) which Moses encountered in the desert.

Also, when God gave Moses the instructions for building the Tabernacle, he said to "make an ark" and "a table of acacia wood" (Exodus 25:10 & 23, Revised Standard Version). Also, in the Christian tradition, Christ's crown of thorns is thought to have been woven from acacia.




In Russia, Italy, and other countries, it is customary to present women with yellow mimosas (among other flowers) on International Women's Day (March 8). These "mimosas" are actually from A. dealbata (silver wattle).