Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Eucalyptus
The Australian Flu Remedy
Family: Myrtaceae; (includes Myrtle)
Genus and Species: Eucalyptus Globulus
Also known as: Gum tree, blue gum, Australian fever tree
Parts used: Leaf oil
If you’ve ever used Listerine mouthwash or such decongestants as Vicks VapoRub, Dristan decongestant, or SineOff, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the unique, refreshing scent of eucalyptus. And if you’ve ever seen a koala bear, you’ve also seen eucalyptus, because its long, scytheshaped leaves are the sole food source for the cute, furry marsupial.
The symbol of Australia is also Down Under’s contribution to herbal Healing. It’s a Food and Drug Administration approved cold and flu remedy.
Australian Fever Tree
Eucalyptus roots hold an astonishing amount of water. Australia’s aborigines chewed them for water in the dry outback. They also drank eucalyptus leaf tea for fevers.
When England declared Australia a penal colony and started shipping convicts in the 1780s to what is now Sydney, it took a while for the new immigrants to catch on to eucalyptus as a water source. Many early outback explorers died of thirst within sight of eucalyptus stands.
Around 1840, crew members of a French freighter anchored off Sydney developed a disease involving high fever-and cured it with eucalyptus tea. Reports of similar incidents slowly made their way back to Europe, and the herb became known as “Australian fever tree.” By the 1860s, eucalyptus leaves and oil were being used around the Mediterranean to treat the fever that had plagued the area since ancient times-”intermittent fever” or malaria. Some physicians reported malaria cures with eucalyptus, but others dismissed it as worthless.
We now know eucalyptus has no direct effect on the protozoan that causes malaria, but ironically, the tree virtually eradicated the devastating disease in much of Italy, Sicily, and Algeria, where it had raged unchecked for thousands of years. Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes that live in swampy areas. Europeans planted eucalyptus in the marshlands bordering the Mediterranean, and as they grew, their roots soaked up water and drained the swamps, eliminating malarial mosquitoes’ habitat-and the disease they carried.
Catheter Oil
Eucalyptus oil was used as an antiseptic on urinary catheters in 19th-century British hospitals, where it became known as catheter oil.
America’s 19th-century Eclectic physicians used eucalyptus oil as an antiseptic on wounds and medical instruments. They also recommended inhaling the vapors in steam to treat bronchitis, asthma, whooping cough (pertussis), and emphysema.
Contemporary herbalists recommend eucalyptus as a topical antiseptic, a gargle for sore throat, and an inhalant for asthma, bronchitis, croup, and the nasal congestion of colds and flu.