Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Gossypium Herbeceutn - MALVACEAE - Upland Cotton, or Sea-island Cotton
Gossypium Herbeceutn
MALVACEAE
common cotton, upland cotton, or sea-island cotton
From Virginia southward, cotton, originally a wild plant, has escaped cultivation to a great extent. A textbook of pharmacy discusses the value of the expressed cottonseed oil for culinary and medical use (in the preparation of liniments); the value of the purified cotton wool as an absorbent and protective dressing; and use of the cotton for filtering. The freshly gathered, dried, root bark, known to druggists as Gossypii radicis cortex, is also used. Grieve’s Herbal gives its preparation: “Boil 4 ounces of the inner bark of the root in 1 quart of water down to 1 pint: dose, 1 full wineglass (4 ounces) every thirty minutes” (presumably until the quart is used).
All reliable authorities agree that this is a valuable medicine as an emmenagogue, and especially good as an oxytocic or abortifacient. For the latter purpose it is recommended, “in place of ergot, being not so powerful but safer; it was used largely in this way by the slaves in the south.” Another writer says, “Used in cases of difficult or obstructed menstruation. It seems especially useful in sexual lassitude.” In another reference note is made of the fact that a preparation of cottonseed increases the milk of nursing mothers; a strong decoction of the root is said to check hemorrhages.