From: <ju-bo at msn.com> on 2010.03.28 at 12:53:38(20778)
Dear Steve and Friends,
I can think of three GOOD references.
Our ''mentor'' Dr. Croat published a paper on the use of Aroids as medicine.
The second is within the review of the genus Dracontium by Tom Croat and the late Guang Hua Zhu. In this publication the genus has so many references to different species of Dracontium being used as ''cures'' for different species of snake, mainly the genus Bothrops, that many of the Dracontium sps. carry the same native names as the native names for the Bothrops sp. associated with the cure!
The third is "The Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago" (Amazon.com) by Hans Boos. On Trinidad there is widespread belief that Dracontium asperum (and to a lesser extent the leaves/stems/tubers of Caladium bicolor) are a ''cure'' for the terrible bites of the two large vipers found on that Island, Bothrops atrox (fer de Lance) and Lachesis muta (bushmaster). It seems that this follows the old belief that a cure would be found in a ''natural'' plant which resembles the snake, and the petioles of Dracontium (and some cultivars of wild-growing C. bicolor) are certainly very snake/Bothrops-like in their patterns and colors.
I don`t believe any scientific testing has been done to determine if an application of a poltice of crushed Dracontium or Caladium tuber and petioles was effective in any way to alleviate the terrible symptoms of a true Bothrops bite.
Sincerely,
Julius Boos.
| 
IAS on Facebook
IAS on Instagram
