OREGANO

Common Names:Cebu, Leyte: ClavoSpanish: Torongil de LimonSubanon: LatayTagalog: Suganda, Oregano
Folkloric uses:· The juice of the leaves for dyspepsia, asthma, chronic coughs, bronchits, colic, flatulence, rheumatism. The dose is one tablespoonful of the fresh juice every hour for adults and one teaspoonful every two hours, four times daily, for children. As an infusion, 50 to 60 grams to a pint of boiling water, and drink the tea, 4 to 5 glasses a day. For chilldren, 1/2 cup 4 times daily.· For otalgia (ear aches), pour the fresh, pure juice into the ear for 10 minutes.· For carbuncles, boils, sprains, felons, painful swellings: Apply the poultice of leaves to the affected area, four times daily.· For sore throats, a decoction of two tablespoonfuls of dried leaves to a pint of boiling water, taken one hour before or after meals.

BANABA LEAVES

Banaba is also a famous medicinal plant in ayurvedic medicine mainly to lower blood sugar and reducing weight agent. The Philippine banaba has become popular with respect to its anti-diabetic properties. Banaba tea is famous as a health drink in Japan and in the U.S. Technically, the active principle is considered to be corosolic acid, a triterpenoid compound, which promotes glucose transport or utilization in the body cells. The current thinking is that banaba can lower glucose independent of pancreatic insulin. This makes the active principle of banaba a natural form of insulin from plants.With the reduction of blood glucose is the concomitant reduction in body weight, apparently due to the better control of carbohydrate. The weight reduction was seen even without dietary restrictions.The leaves are generally used to make a concoction or tea, but the bark, flowers and fruits can be used as well. If you want to prepare your own banaba tea, get mature green leaves and chop them. The ratio is 1 part chop banaba leaves to 3 parts water boiled for about 15 minutes (low heat). You can drink this tea 3 or 4 times a day. If you want some twist in the flavor with added value of herbs, you can add “tanglad” or lemon grass with local citrus such as “kalamansi

NIYOG NIYUGAN

Roasted seeds for diarrhea and fever.
Pounded leaves externally for skin diseases.
Decoction of boiled leaves used for dysuria

MAKABUHAY

UsesFolkloricø Decoction of leaves and stems used for malaria and fever and as a tonic (40 gms to pint of boiling water).ø Scabies: Crush fresh stem and apply juice over the affected.ø Tropical ulcers and wound healing: Decoction of the stem as wash, or crush stem, soak in oil for 12 hours and apply oil extract on affected areas.ø Pounded stem, mixed with coconut oil, has been used for a variety of rheumatic and arthritic complaints; also for abdominal colic.ø Athlete's foot.ø Fertility regulation.ø Rheumatism and flatulence: mixture of the vine with oil. Cut 100 gms of the vine in small pieces, mix with 3 ounces of coconut oil. Place in bottle and "cook" under the sun for 5-7 days.ø For stomach ulcers: stem is pounded inside a plastic bag, water is added, strained, and drank once daily. Also, stems are dried, thinly sliced, decocted, then drank.ø Used by nursing mothers to assist in weaning infants off breast-feeding. The bitter juice of the stem is applied to the nipple area causing the infant's aversion to breastfeeding and facilitating transfer to breast feeding.