Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Hawthorn
Mayflower for Heart Disease
Family: Rosaceae; (includes Rose, Peach, Almond, Apple, Strawberry)
Genus and Species: Crataegus Oxyacantha
Also known as: Hawthorne , Haw, May, Mayblossom, Mayflower
Parts used: Flower, leaves, fruit
Every American schoolchild learns the Pilgrims’ ship was the Mayflower. But few, if any, know the name refers to hawthorn, a tree known for centuries as a heart tonic and today widely used in Europe as a treatment for heart disease.
Heart disease is our leading cause of death, yet hawthorn has been virtually ignored on this side of the Atlantic. Even herb conservative Varro Tyler, Ph.D., calls hawthorn “valuable … a relatively harmless heart tonic which … yields good results.”
Crown of Thorns
Hawthorn was well known in the ancient world, but not as a medicine. The Greeks and Romans linked it to hope, marriage, and fertility. Greek bridesmaids wore fragrant hawthorn blossoms, and brides carried a bough. The Romans placed hawthorn leaves in babies’ cradles to ward off evil spirits.
Christianity changed hawthorn’s image dramatically.
Christ’s crown of thorns was reputedly made of hawthorn, and as a result, it became a symbol of bad luck and death.
The hawthorn/death association was bolstered by the unpleasant aroma of some European species’ flowers. These trees are pollinated by carrion-eating insects, and to attract them, their flowers emit the odor of rotting meat. A similar odor was associated with bubonic plague. (Because the disease killed so many so quickly, bodies often remained unburied for quite a while.) As a result, hawthorn was associated with plague.
Tonic for the Heart
Over the centuries, hawthorn shed its bad reputation and came to be used medicinally. Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper praised it as “a singular remedy for the stone [kidney stones l, and no less effectual for dropsy [congestive heart failure].”
American pioneers also used the plant for heart problems.
The 19th-century Eclectics prescribed it for the severe chest pain known as angina, and congestive heart failure (a serious heart problem with fluid buildup and shortness of breath after minor physical activity).
Modern herbals echo this advice. Most would agree with David Hoffmann’s Holistic Herbal: “Hawthorn [is] one of the best tonic remedies for the heart …. It may be used safely in long-term treatment for heart weakness or failure … palpitations … angina pectoris … and high blood pressure.”
Herbalists also suggest it for kidney stones and as a sedative for chronic insomnia.