Monday, April 9, 2012

Fruit, Fish and Flowers - Plant of the Day: Ipecac Plant (Psychotria ipecacuanha)



Have you been to Como Conservatory to see the Flower Show?  Beautiful!  As you enter the Palm Dome, you can smell the floral fragrance wafting from the Sunken Garden.  You need to see and smell this to experience it for yourself!  You need to hurry - this show closes on April 22nd and you'll have to wait a short time to see the next flower show.  

I, of course, always have to visit the Sunken Garden at least once on my volunteer watches.  Hmmmmmm, candy to the eyes, intoxication to the senses.  My favorite flowers in the show are probably the irises - magnificent!  However, all of the smell and colors are just wonderful.  My description and pictures don’t do this flower show justice.  Come visit, idle around the beautiful Sunken Garden and experience this wonderous display for yourself!


Pineapple
Today, after making my way to the North Garden, I noticed the growing pineapple just inside the North Garden entrance.  What an interesting and delicious fruit!  Near the entrance, the banana plant still has bananas and a large bloom hanging over the North Garden entrance.  These bananas have been hanging for quite some time.  I don’t think they’ll be able to hang on much longer.

Around the North Garden, I see a few more plants growing up and outwards.  The Valencia Orange tree has some oranges growing on it.  These fruits are currently the same color green as the leaves, so the fruit are hard to see.  This tree is across the aisle from the Calamondin Orange tree which has brightly colored oranges all over the tree.  Look for them when you come to visit!

Cacao
Valencia Orange
The cacao pods on the chocolate tree are turning yellow.  They are nearing the end of their time on this tree.  After they ripen and fall off, the conservatory staff will take them to be composted.  Lucky worms! 

The koi in the North Garden pool are doing well.  Koi are in the carp family.  They are long-lived fish and fun to watch.  You'll enjoy sitting down and watching the fish.  They often surface at the pool, looking to be fed.  They are beautiful and serene. 

The plant of the day is the Ipecac Plant (Psychotria ipecacuanha).  This perennial herb grows in clusters in the understory of humid, shady areas in the humid tropical forests of central and south America.  The extract of the root of ipecacuana is used as an amoebicide, an emetic, and as an expectorant. 

Ipecac Plant
Koi in the North Garden
The part of ipecacuanha used in medicine is the root, which is simple or divided into a few branches, flexuous, about as thick as a goose quill, and is composed of rings of various size. The different kinds of ipecac found on the market, - gray, red, or brown, are all produced by the same plant, with the differences coming from the plant's age and the mode of processing.

In syrup form, the rhizomes and roots of this plant are used as an expectorant in Costa Rica. There are reports of effectiveness in treating amoebic dysentery, alveolar pyorrhea, and otheramoebal infections.  There is also a reported slight effect from cefaline, one of the plant’s alkaloids, as an antitussive and expectorant when taken as a syrup.

Ipecacuana is considered to be an irreplaceable drug and is on the verge of extinction due to unsustainable over-harvesting. It is also to be noted that the synthetic drug does not have the same medicinal properties as those plant compounds extracted directly from the plant.  Despite its medicinal, economic and historic importance, there are no current studies that measure or reveal its current conservation status.

For more information:

http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=Psychotria_ipecacuanha