A list of all the herbs and items that Mexicans use for medicinal purposes
would fill hundreds of pages. Maximino Martínez's outdated, fragmentary, but still
much-used Las plantas medicinales de Mexico is 659 pages long. Surely
important natural cures are being forgotten every day as old traditions die away. The few
medicinal herbs mentioned below can only hint at what might be found by anyone browsing
among mercado herb stalls.
Many of the herbs in Mexican herb
stalls have been introduced from other continents. This reminds us that more than
Mexican-mercado herb stalls being museumlike vestiges of the past, they are serious
"people's pharmacies" where people go for traditional cures, either because they
believe in the cures, or because that's all they can afford.
When you study Mexican herbal remedies, notice how often the Doctrine of Signatures is in evidence. This is the
principle that a plant indicates its use for human beings by its shape, behavior, odor, or
some other natural feature. Thus an infusion of doradilla, the little resurrection
plant growing on rocks and perhaps giving the impression that is breaking up the rock, is
used traditionally by Mexicans to break up kidney and gall stones. Hierba de la
golondrina, a euphorbia with milky-white latex oozing from any breaks inflicted on its
skin, is used to cure eye diseases of the sort characterized by a milky opaqueness
spreading across the lens.
Finally, please heed this warning: Use only as people who know, and whom you trust, to tell you how to use them. Do not experiment with these. Very often an herb that is medicinal in one dosage is poisonous in others. Some of these herbs are extremely
potent!
- Aguacate:
(avocado, Persea americana): for intestinal worms, grate 8 to 10
grams of fresh avocado-pit rind into a glass of water, and the next day sweeten it, drink,
and eat nothing
- Altea (plantain,
Plantago spp.): for dysentery, cook the root in rice
- Añil: (indigo, Indigofera
suffruticosa): for children's headaches, boil leaves until soft, then apply
the leaves like a bandage to the forehead
- Arnica: (golden
aster, Heterotheca inuloides): for bruises, boil the flower heads
into a mass, and apply
- Borraja: (borage,
Borago officinalis): for bronchitis and fevers, boil 10 grams of
flowers and young leaves in a liter of water, and drink the tea
- Cedrón: (lemon
verbena, Aloysia triphylla): tea from the boiled leaves, taken
while fasting, regularizes the menstrual flow, and expels worms
- Chicalote:
(prickly poppy, Argemone ochroleuca): for stomach pain, mash 4
grams of seeds in 200 cc of water, take two or three times a day
- Clavellina:
(ceiba, Bombax palmeri): for skin wounds, roast and grind the
bark, and apply
- Codo de fraile:
(oleander, Thevetia thevetioides): for hemorrhoids, mash seeds,
mix in lard, and apply
- Cola de caballo:
(horsetail, Equisetum spp.): brewed teas of the stems are
diuretic, and have been used against dysentery and gonorrhea
- Culantrillo:
(maidenhair fern, Adiantum capillus): to "thin the
blood," for constipation, liver problems, and kidney stones, boil about 5 grams in
half a liter of water, and take a small cup every day
- Damiana:
(turnera, Turnera diffusa): for nervousness and weakness, take a
tea made by boiling the macerated leaves
- Doradilla:
(resurrection plant, Selaginella lepidophylla an infusion has
salutary effects on the kidneys and liver, and breaks up gallstones.
- Encino: (oak, Quercus
spp.): for diarrhea, drink tea made from boiling the tree's bark
- Gordolobo:
(cudweed Gnaphalium spp.): a handful of this weedy herb brewed in
a pot of water is very much used against coughs and sore throats.
- Guamúchil:
(Manila tamarind, Pithecellobium dulce): for diarrhea, bloody and
otherwise, boil bark from the root and drink
- Hierba de la golondrina:
(spurge, Euphorbia spp): white latex from the plant is famed for
curing "spots on the eye"
- Lantén:
(plantain, Plantago spp.): for burns, bruises, and mouth sores,
boil 100 grams of leaves in 500 ml of water, and wash the affected area
- Magnolia:
(magnolia, Talauma mexicana): a tea from the bark serves as a
general tonic, but too much causes the heart to beat irregularly
- Maguey: (maguey, Agave
atrovirens): for bruises and pains resulting from hard blows to the body,
squeeze juice from a roasted leaf, boil it down, sweeten, and drink
- Muicle:
(jacobinia, Jacobinia spicigera): a tea from the leaves combats
dysentery
- Nanche: (golden
spoon, Byrsonima crassifolia): to improve digestion and appetite,
and generally improve one's feeling, cook the bark and drink the tea
- Naranjo agrio:
(sour orange, Citrus aurantium): a tea from the leaves is used as
a general tonic, calming agent, for heart palpitations, and epilepsy
- Nogal: (walnut, Juglans
regia): wash skin sores and cure thrush in infants with a tea made from
boiled leaves
- Ortiga: (jatropa,
Jatropha spp.): several different plants are called ortiga,
but the roots of this one are used against venereal diseases
- Palo dulce:
(eysenhardtia, Eysenhardtia polystachya): for kidney problems,
place wood chips into water, and when the water turns blue, then red or amber, drink
- Pata de león:
(wild geranium, Geranium spp.): an infusion of this herb is added
to the bath water of babies to rid them of the rash; the brew is also good for washing
wounds.
- Pingüica:
(manzanita, Arctostaphylos pungens): for kidney problems, drink a
tea made from boiled leaves and fruits
- Romero:
(rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis): to improve the digestion,
drink a tea made of the boiled leaves
- Ruda:, (rue, Ruta
graveolens): highly regarded for its abilities to induce menstruation, and to
abort fetuses; in too high concentrations, it is exceedingly poisonous.
- Sauco:
(elderberry, Sambucus mexicana): for the cough, make a tea from
the boiled flowers
- Su-tut (Helicteres guazumifolia), a small tree of the
Yucatan scrub: fruit, shown at right, found in Mérida. Sold for children who don't speak
clearly. An old man said, "You put a fruit into the child's mouth, twist it nine
times in one direction, then twist it nine times in the other direction, and after you do
that for a few weeks the child no longer has problems speaking."
- Tejocote:
(hawthorn, Crataegus mexicana): to "flush out the
kidneys," boil the root in water and drink the tea
- Tepopote: (Mormon
tea, Ephedra antisyphilitica): a tea from the boiled stems is used
against venereal diseases and kidney problems
- Tilia: (linden or
basswood, Tilia spp.): for coughs, a tea brewed from the boiled
flowers is drunk
- Uña de gato:
(pisonia, Pisonia aculeata): several plants go by this name, but
for this one, a member of the four o'clock family, drink tea from boiled leaves and bark
to ease arthritic pain in joints
- Zacate limón:
(lemon-grass, or citronella, Cymbopogon nardus): the lemony brewed
tea is a good anti-flatulent and soothes the intestines in general
One medicinal plant deserves special mention. Anyone seeing the number of stalls a good-size mercado devotes to...
- ajo, or garlic,
will be impressed by how important Mexicans seem to regard this bulb. Most garlic of
course is destined for culinary use, but the traditional Mexican pharmacopoeia also grants
garlic an eminent place.
Garlic juice is applied to scorpion stings and spider bites. Garlic
taken internally is regarded by many as a stimulant to the body in general, and
traditionally has been used to control hypertension and arteriosclerosis. For these latter
purposes several cloves are mashed, the paste is placed in a glass, and just enough
drinking alcohol is added to cover it. Every day for a week the glass's contents is
stirred. Finally it is strained, and then after every meal five drops are taken. The next
week the dosage is doubled, and every week this doubling is continued, until arriving at
twenty drops per dosage. After a week of twenty drops, the dosage is diminished to fifteen
drops for a week, and then ten and five drops on subsequent weeks. At the end of the
second five-drop week, the treatment is ended.
