Jamu from Rafflesia Flower

Interesting how this traditional medicine ‘jamu’ using Rafflesia flower azlanii bud for reducing weight, to shrink uterus after giving birth and for supposedly sexual strength for men. The UKM study found out that it works in a way but there is a unfortunately cost to using this Rafflesia flower bud, it damages the liver and spleen.

This highlight shows that using ‘jamu ‘ made using Rafflesia flower bud is not safe for consumption. When they fed it to the mice subjects, they did find the size of the mice decreased, which you meant if you want to lose weight it works, but at a cost of damaging your liver and spleen which also decreased in size despite the fact the liver was able to detoxify the body from the harmful substance.

Perhaps this warning should help to preserve the Rafflesia flower plant from being harvested (and sold for about RM9 to RM25 depending on the size), AFAIK, which is an endangered species. Perhaps the Rafflesia plant azlanii specie is not so endangered? Well I’m no botanist, but I do know there are many traditional medicine be it Chinese, Malay, Indian or Western, all must be studied carefully before simply consuming them. You never know the active ingredient may have some other undesired side effect.

Like recently I just learned that Ginseng does boost your blood circulation and metabolism (they managed to isolate the active ingredient during their research) but is not good to be consumed during childbearing because it dilates the blood vessel and would cause excessive bleeding during delivery.

My dad also advises me not to mix Western medicine with traditional Chinese herbs and medicine as it might cause undesired effect or it might cancel out each other’s potency.

Anyway as far as Rafflesia flower plant is concerned, I just want to view the largest flower in the world and not so much about taking it as a traditional medicine.

Some facts about Rafflesia flower plant

Pereskia sacharosa / saecnarosa (Jarum Tujuh Bilah)

Pereskia sacharosa/saecnarosa (Jarum Tujuh Bilah)

Idil passed this info about this herbal plant that has medicinal properties. It is said to have the ability to cure cancer especially colon cancer, nose cancer and several other disease like high blood pressure and diabetes. It might help my brother-in-law who is now battling nasal cancer.

This Pereskia Sacharosa / Saecnarosa or in Malay Pokok Jarum Tujuh Bilah or Pokok Tujuh Jarum (Seven needles plant) from the family of Cactaceae is a cactus plant with leaves, probably not a common type of cactus plant as most of the cactus I have seen are without any leaf. This plant originally came from Korea but could be found in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and can live in almost any type of condition except cold area. Hmm, that means it can't be grown in Cameron Highlands. However it grows better under the hot sun and in tropical climate. There is about 15-20 species of this plant found in South Africa, Middle of America and West India.

How's how it is taken:

There are three ways to prepare this herb:

1) You take 2 slices of Pereskia leaves and mix it with warm water, let it infuse for about 2 minutes and drink it as a tea.

2) You can eat it raw

3) You can juice it by blending several leaves of Pereskia.

After taking it, you are advised against taking any other types of drinks immediately as you would lose its potency. I should think you could drink some plain water to wash it down though. After all, the taste is bitter so it could be difficult to ingest it. However if it can cure, it could be use as part of your arsenal against cancer.

Source:
http://www.rcentre.utm.my/download_view.php?download=1983
http://herbs-database.blogspot.com/2007/11/pereskia-sacharosasaecnarosa-jarum.html