Mexican Trees Veitchia Palm

By Liliana Usvat    
 Blog 326-365

Have you planted a tree last Year? If not here is a good one if you live in a hot climate.

Common names: The Christmas Palm is also known as Manila Palm, Kerpis Palm, Adonidia Palm, Dwarf Royal Palm, and Veitchia Palm.

Veitchia Palm, Adonidia merrillii, Arecaceae family. Resembles a dwarf version of the royal palm with a thinner gray white smooth stem marked by frond growths. Veitchia Palm grows up to 5 meters tall.  Its inflorescence attract many bees mostly in October when it flowers, by December its oblong bright red nuts (photo) hang from the stem. Pinnate frond leafs build a short compact green crown-shaft. Native to the Philippines, this beautiful ornamental palm was brought Hacienda Chichen's Botanical Gardens by Mrs. Carmen G.Rul de Barbachano in the early 1950s; for the hotel's palm collection.

Also known as the Manila palm, will rise to a height of 15-20 feet.
The slender trunk bulges slightly at the base and tapers toward the crownshaft. The portion below the yellow-green, 3 foot crownshaft is ringed by the scars from the fallen fronds. 

Seeds germinate in 2 or 3 months. Sometimes less but don't count on it.
Plant the seeds in a peat based potting mix. You can plant them with the husk or pop it open and just plant the seed inside.
Once the seedlings are up, they grow quickly.

Flowers/Fruits: During summer months the Christmas Palm produces light green flower buds that turn into creamy blossom. Unisexual flowers are held by 2ft long branched stalks that emerge from the area where the crownshaft attaches to the trunk. In December flowers are followed by green oval fruits that turn bright red as they ripe. Berrie-like fruits are 1 inch long and 1/5 inch wide. They hang in clusters looking like Christmas ornament, therefore palm’s common name is Christmas Palm.
 
Light Required: Full sun to partial shade. It likes full sun but can also grow in broken shade.
Water Required: Moderate. The Christmas Palm is moderately salt tolerant prefers moist well drained soil. To avoid root rot don’t let it sit in water. It can tolerate drought for a short time when mature enough.


Adonidia merrillii is widely planted in cultivation and grows well in tropical locations.. Its fruits are sometimes said to be used as a substitute for the betel nut, in preparing buyo (fruit of Areca catechu, leaves of Piper betle, and lime) for chewing.

Mexican Trees - Golden Shower Trees Medicinal Uses

By Liliana Usvat      
 Blog 325-365

Golden Shower Trees (English) Lluvia de Oro (Spanish), Cassia fistula, Fabaceae family; native to southern Asia. A deciduous tree with pinnae leaflets (foliage), brought in the late 19th Century to Yucatan as an ornamental flowering tree; it is most striking during May when it is in full bloom. 

Cassia fistula is native to South Asia. It has been found widely in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, SriLanka, etc. This tree is the national tree of Thailand and its flower is its national flower. It is also the state flower of Kerala in India.

Flowers bloom in delicate golden yellow drop clusters. Golden Shower seed pods are long dark brown sausage-like with woody exterior and stick molasses covering wafer shaped seeds,  abundant while blooming. 

 Like the Royal Flamboyan, Golden Shower tree is a favorite in Mayan villages and Yucatan's urban avenues or parks, for its amazingly exotic looking and has truly whimsical beautiful  flowering bloom clusters gently dropping ever so graceful down its branches. 

 Golden Shower should not be confused with another member of the Fabaceae family the Golden Rain Tree or Lapacho amarillo (Spanish), Tabebuia chrysotricha, native to China, whose flower clusters grow upwards. 


Lluvia de Oro, also known as the Golden Shower tree, Amaltas and Cassia Fistula, is a small to medium-size tree which can reach 30-40 feet tall. Its shiny green leaves drop in April, and by late spring the entire tree turns into a show stopping burst of lemon-yellow. 

When in full bloom (May-June or early July), the trees are covered with long grape-like clusters of countless delicate yellow flowers – it almost appears as if they have yellow lace dripping from their branches. The leaves begin to return as the flowering progresses, with foliage totally restored by July. 


Lluvia de Oro trees attract bees, butterflies and birds and are widely grown in tropical and subtropical areas around the world for their ornamental and medicinal properties.
The flowers are followed by 2-foot-long, round, slender and woody bean pods which contain several seeds. The fruit/pods emerge green, but mature to black, and can remain on the tree until the following year.

Medicinal Uses

The pod produces between its many seeds a pulp that makes an excellent laxative
The uncooked pulp of the pods cures constipation.

The herb, Cassia fistula is having great medicinal uses and its bark, fruits and leaves have been used since ancient times. It has been referred to as “Aragvadha” or “disease killer”.

Stomach disorders

Cassia Fistula is very effective in treating constipation. Cassia fistula is very effective in treating ulcers. The herb is very effective in treating piles. The pulp of the tree can be soaked in water for about an hour or so and consumed at bedtime. It also kills the intestinal worms.

Common Cold and Cough

The roots of the herb have great curative effects against common cold. Some people inhale the smoke of the roots. This cures the mucous that is found along the respiratory tract.

The pod of the tree is powdered and mixed with honey and consumed. This is very effective in curing cough.

Fever

When infected with fever, a tonic is prepared from the roots of Cassia Fistula.

Skin Problems

The herb is very effective in treating skin disorders like irritation, swelling, etc. The herb is very great in curing fungal infections of the skin. Some of them are athlete’s foot, ringworm, jock itch, etc.

Immunity Booster

The bark and fruits of the tree have great antioxidant properties and hence boost the immunity system of the body.

Blood Purification

The bark of the tree and fruits help in purification of the blood.

Wounds

Cassia Fistula is great in treating wounds. The specialty of the herb is that it promotes tissue regeneration. In many countries, the juice extracted from the juice of the leaves or a paste of the leaves is used for dressing the infected skin areas.

Blood Sugar

The roots of Cassia fistula have the property to reduce blood sugar by about 30 percent.

Purgative

In some countries like Philippines, a decoction is prepared from the leaves and fruit pulp of the tree. This serves as a great purgative.

Precautions

The herb needs to be taken in small quantities. Consuming excess of the medicine results in stomach pain and vomiting.

Trees found in Mexico African Tulip Medicinal Uses for Infections, Ulcers, Skin, Diabetis and HIV

By Liliana Usvat    
Blog 329-365 

Have you planted a tree this year? Here is a suggestion.
 

African Tulip or Flame of the Forest Trees (English) Tulipan Chino (Spanish), Xukul Nicte (Maya) Spathodea campanulata, Spathodea is a monotypic genus species of the Bignoniaceae Family. Native to tropical Africa, the first Tulip tree planted at Hacienda Chichen's Tropical Gardens was brought by Mrs. Carmen G.Rul Barbachano in the 1960s as a rare exotic flowering tree.  Today, the African Tulip or Flame or the Forest  is an ornamental tree common in world tropical regions, as an amazingly beautiful tree with crimson campanulate flowers and foliage.  Its exotic deeply bright orange-red flowers have striking golden yellow edges.  The flower cup holds rain water and dew attracting hummingbirds, birds, and bats. Grows in full sun, limestone rich soil, and its seeds are propagated by wind, birds, and bats.
 

Origin

Native to tropical western Africa (i.e. Burundi, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Zaire, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Angola).


Medicinal Uses

The bark has laxative and antiseptic properties, and the seeds, flowers and roots are used as medicine. The bark is chewed and sprayed over swollen cheeks. The bark may also be boiled in water used for bathing newly born babies to heal body rashes.

An infusion of the leaves is used for urethral infections, and the dried and pulverized or even the fresh inner bark is applied to oozing ulcers. The tree also has UV absorbing properties and could be utilized as a cheap sunscreen.

A decoction of the bark is astringent and used as a laxative as well as for cases of dysentery and for other gastro-intestinal problems. A decoction of the bark and leaves is used as a lotion for inflamed skin and on rashes. The flowers can be applied directly onto wounds, as can the bruised leaves which have mild pain-killing and anti-inflammatory properties. Both the bark and leaves have been found to have antiseptic actions.
 
Studies have found that the stem bark can lower blood sugar levels and so the traditional use of the bark for diabetes sufferers seems to have been borne out. (Journal of Phytotherapy Research, 1993 Vol. 7 (1) pp 64-69 Niyonzima, G. et al. Hypoglycaemic Activity of Spathodea campanulata stem bark decoction in mice.”) Extracts of the bark, leaves and roots have also been used to combat malaria and HIV and have antimicrobial and antifungal properties.


Other Uses: 
The seeds are edible. The soft, white timber used in making paper. In West Africa, their homeland, the wood is used to make drums and blacksmith's bellows. 

It has shallow roots and a tendency for branches to break off in a storm. Thus it considered unsuitable as a roadside tree.

It can be used in coffee plantations to provide shade for the young plants.


Reforestation with African Tulip

A tree that invades abandoned agricultural land, roadsides, waterways, disturbed sites, waste areas, forest margins and disturbed rainforests in tropical and sub-tropical regions. It favours wetter habitats, and is especially common along creeks and gullies.

Propagation Methods:

From herbaceous stem cuttings
From softwood cuttings
From semi-hardwood cuttings
From seed; sow indoors before last frost

Seed Collecting:

Bag seedheads to capture ripening seed
Allow pods to dry on plant; break open to collect seeds
Properly cleaned, seed can be successfully stored

Links

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/african_tulip.htm