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MAKING USE OF HEALTH PRODUCTS FROM INDIGENOUS PLANTS |
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| ESSENTIAL
Plants Extract cc is a newly formed Zimbabwean company that produces natural
health products from indigenous plants. These products are sold on the
local and international market. The company works closely with the University of Zimbabwe’s Pharmacy department in researching and developing products. To date a number of products have been developed. The first product that has been developed is the "Sausage Tree" healing balm known as the Kigelia Extract as it is taken from the Kigelia Africana Tree, popularly known as the Sausage Tree. Extracts from the pod of this tree have proven effective in treating sun induced skin ‘sores’. Research is currently taking place in Germany (Freiburg University) on this plant. Other ingredients have been introduced into the balm to give it a wider range of use, such as Aloe Excelsia to soothe and heal the skin, effective for sunburn, Africa Lavender Tree to heal minor cuts and insect stings, as well as a moisturizing base good for dry cracked heals and elbows. The company has also the first natural flea repellent dog shampoo that utilizes essential oils to repel fleas, the main active ingredients being Khaki Bush and Lemon Grass. |
What
sets the local company apart from others is that it gathers its raw materials
from the local communities. Payment is made to rural ‘collectors’ for the
sausage pods and aloe juice. This is done on a sustainable basis as the
plants are not destroyed but cropped. This allows local communities income
from indigenous plants in times of drought and it also places a commercial
value to these plants insuring their survival. At the moment the company is working on a number of new products with the university, fitting into their program for research and development. "Discoveries on the new uses of plants are only beneficial once they have been developed commercially so they are accessible by the general public" says Mr. Ian Sinclair, director of Essential Plants. He adds: " That the potential for products from our indigenous plants is enormous and it is a race against time to get these products onto the market before the plants are destroyed to make way for cultivation." The company are members of Zinata. Two representatives from Zinata are members on the board of governors. The company is currently exporting their products to South Africa. -
Magazine Article |
| MEDI-TREE
THE SAUSAGE TREE, Kigelia Africana (pinnata), is named after its grey-green, gourd-like fruits, which grow up to a meter in length. In traditional African medicine, the fruit is used as an enema and for treating children’s stomach ailments. Powdered, it makes a dressing for ulcers and sores caused by syphilis. Now a herbal suntan lotion made from the tree has been patented in Zimbabwe. It is claimed that after application three times a day for at least six weeks, the cream gradually removes sunspots and can cure some inflammatory diseases of the skin. Research is still in progress, however, and the results are not yet conclusive. - Readers’ Digest, December 1994 |
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Enlisting Tree Sausage in the War on Cancer |
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| WELL-KNOWN IN
AFRICA south of the Sahara, the sausage tree is aptly named for its pendulous
fruit, a treat to such animals as elephants and baboons. When Nigerian
scientist Dora Akunyili told her colleague at King’s College of the University
of London, pharmacological researcher Peter Houghton, that local healers
use the tree’ bark to treat skin lesions, he took a scientific interest.
He alerted Spyros Retsas, a cancer specialist at London’s Charing Cross
Hospital, who tested extracts from the roots, bark and fruit on
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cancerous cells
in a lab dish. Indeed something in the tree - no one yet knows what - killed
melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. "We are light-years away from potential
human use," Retsas warns, "but we’re seeing encouraging signs."
Salves made from the bark of the tree, Kigalia Pinnata, have also long
been used in Malawi and Zimbabwe to treat lesions, perhaps even melanoma,
Houghton says.
- National Geographic, Aug 1995 |