Cuba's Herbalism, Natural Remedies and Ingenious Use of Plants

Article 5 in the Sustainable Cuba Series.

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I found Cuba's high level of integrative medicine and use of herbal remedies to be very impressive...

Local's Knowledge

The average Cuban's general knowledge about natural medicine is notable. Upon arrival into one 'Casa Particular' (a private home-stay; the main tourist accommodation available in Cuba), the owner was cooking up a tea with leaves from a 'yagruma' tree to help cure her flu. It was amazing to witness this as I'd been noticing the silvery-undersided large fan leaves all over the place, and I had been curious about what type of tree it was. When I mentioned that I had a keen interest for herbalism, she casually said, “Well, I can teach you a thing or two about that"!

Herbal Pharmacies

The next day I walked a few blocks down the street and came across a pharmacy. As soon as I walked in, I realised that behind the desk was a large poster of all the herbal remedies they sold, and eventually I managed to speak to the chemist herself, who made all the tinctures sold there. A large bottle of local propolis tincture was sold for the equivalent of 50 cents – to give perspective, on Amazon a bottle a fraction of the size is going for $15. There were also many other treasures available, such as spirulina, chamomile and ginger tinctures and cañandonga (an iron-rich seed pod, see photo to the right) extract for anaemia. The pharmacy also sold more conventional pharmaceutical remedies, and we learned that the natural remedies were often more affordable for Cubans, and therefore more often purchased than the chemical options. Interestingly enough, my request to take a photo of the pharmacy was refused, as I was told that the government prohibits it. In other herbal pharmacies, though, I did manage to sneak a few clandestine photos in while nobody was looking...

Information was readily available for the public about the properties of different plants. In one pharmacy there was a large poster with detailed explanations of the plant properties and how to best consume the medicine (see below). This photo shows explanations of garlic, fennel, guava, and sour orange tinctures, and passionflower extract.

When we asked the pharmacist for more information, she pulled out a book with detailed chemical compositions of each plant, which also listed the formulas for certain extracts and tinctures (see below).

From my (limited) experience, almost all of the pharmacies that I entered offered a selection of both herbal and pharmaceutical medicine. One of the most bizarre findings was in a small local shop where I came across shampoo containing human placenta, supposedly to support hair growth!

Hospitals

Upon the wall of the local hospital in Viñales, there is a poster of plants and their medicinal qualities for all to see and study while waiting. The poster includes plants such as calendula, white basil, garlic, aloe vera, pumpkin, and the linden or lime tree.

I then found out that the Cuban Ministry of Public Health distributes plant-based medicines to hospitals, pharmacies and clinics across the island, with all the plants grown on Cuban farms. But the natural remedies are sourced from more than plants... A Cuban doctor told me that scorpion venom is commonly used in the hospitals as anaesthetic. What's more, blue scorpion venom makes up a Cuban-designed homeopathic drug (named Vitadox) which is currently being researched as a cure for cancer.

'Jardin Botanico' of Bayamo

Bayamo has the one of the most important botanical gardens in Cuba. We were given a tour by a very knowledgeable young man who explained many fascinating things to us about the plants there. Just to give a taste...

The 'yamagua' tree has a bark with crazy properties, which lead to it being used in Cuba's war of independence. When the bark is stripped from the tree in an upward direction, remedies made from the bark will decrease bleeding. On the other hand, stripping the bark in a downwards direction means that remedies from the bark will increase bleeding. Women can reduce menstruation through 'yamagua' bark tea, if it was stripped in an upward direction. Because of its anti-hemorrhage properties, the bark is also used in abortion procedures to reduce the risk of bleeding.

'Achote' is a large bush whose seeds can be used to paint things red, be that food or the body! In times of extreme poverty when Cubans couldn't afford spices to colour their rice dishes, 'achote' seeds were harvested and used instead.

Similarly, when salt wasn't available or affordable, Cubans learned to flavour food with a type of palm leaf. When boiled in water, this palm leaf gives a salty taste to food.

This tree has the common name of 'Old man's beard'. The hair-like growth on the trunk is useful for fire-starting and as an absorbent gauze.

Needless to say, all of these observations of different uses of plants in Cuba are just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many more in-depth discoveries to make. Here I barely scratch the surface of the fascinating human-plant connection on this island...