Pona | ปอนา | Hibiscus tiliaceus
Family: Malvaceae - Genus: Hibiscus
This tree can be found on the premises of Eco-Logic Thailand. Most noticeable when it drops it's flowers.
Sea hibiscus is a large, stout, open-branched shrub or a small evergreen tree that grows about 4–10 meter tall, with a trunk up to 15 cm (5.9 in) in diameter. The plant is found growing near beaches, mangrove swamps, and river estuaries, growing well on mud, marl, sand, limestone, pastures, range lands and waste places, beaches, rivers, streams, riparian environment, inland areas and valleys.
The Bark is gray to light brown, smooth to slightly longitudinally fissure with horizontal cracks, becoming thick and rough with age. Twigs are stout, with rings at nodes, becoming brown and hairless.
Popular common names of the tree are Cotton tree, Beach Hibiscus, Bladder Ketmia, Coast Hibiscus, Coastal Hibiscus, Coast Cottonwood, Coastal Cottonwood, Cottonwood Hibiscus, Green Cottonwood, Hawaiian Tree Hibiscus, Lagoon Hibiscus, Linden Hibiscus, Mahoe, Mahuat, Mountain Mahoe, Native Hibiscus, Norfolk Hibiscus, Native Rosella, Kurrajong, Sea Hibiscus, Sea Rose Mallow, Tree Hibiscus, Yellow Mallow Tree, Cottonwood, Coast Hibiscus, Majagua and Gatapa.
The Sea Hibiscus is a true multi-purpose tree, it is considered to be one of the most useful trees in the Pacific region. It is commonly gathered from the wild for food, medicine, fiber and timber, is sometimes cultivated and often protected when other trees are cleared from an area. The branches of the tree often curve over time and the wood has been used for sea craft construction, firewood, wood carving and many other uses. This tree has been widely used as a bonsai in many Asian countries.
Flowering period is in January-February in Paksong area.
THE TREE
The Sea Hibiscus is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family,
The sea Hibiscus reaches a height of 4–10 meter, with a trunk up to 15 centimeter in diameter.
The flowers of the sea hibiscus are bright yellow with a deep red center upon opening. Over the course of the day, the flowers deepen to orange and finally red before they fall.
The branches of the tree often curve over time. The leaves are heart shaped.
THE LEAVES
Large dark green simple leaves are heart-shaped to almost circular or broader than long, about 8-20 centimeter long and 6-15 centimeter across; 5- to 9-veined from the base, veins prominent, each of the main veins with a slit or elongated gland near the base.
THE FLOWERS
The Sea Hibiscus has many flowers, with few in each cluster, each with whitish hairy stalk 2-5 cm and grey-green hairy basal cup 2 centimeter long, usually with 9-10 narrow pointed lobes.
The flowers are typical of the Hibiscus genus, showy up to 12 centimeter in diameter, fragile, and shorty lived, falling the same day that they open.
Individual flowers are cup shaped, with the corolla consisting of five radiating, lemon yellow petals 4-6 centimeter long, dark maroon at the base. The flowers fade to pink prior to falling.
THE FRUIT
The Sea Hibiscus flowers are followed by a green fruit, when young turning to brown as they mature. Fruit are ovoid, dry capsules covered with golden hairs. They are about 2 centimeter long, splitting into 5 segments and 10 cells of seeds at maturity. Fruiting may occur throughout the year.
Seed
There are about 5-7 smooth, kidney shaped seeds per cell that are 4.5mm long and 3 mm wide. The seeds are rich brown to brown black in color, wrinkled, roughened and hairy. The seeds float and remain viable in seawater for months, and this has contributed to its vast diffusion. Seed capsules sub globose to ovoid, 2.5-3 centimeter long, long-pointed, grey-green hairy, splitting into five parts.
CULINARY USES
Flowers are edible raw or cooked.
Young leaves and green bark can also be eaten (in times of famine)
Flowers can be cooked as a potherb or dipped in batter and fries.
Leaves can be fermented into a sauce, used as a substrate for the tempeh starter culture, or boiled in salted water to make a beverage
Roots are edible when cooked, and the inner bark, the cambium, can be suckled of its moisture and nutrients.
NUTRITION
Hibisicus rich in vitamins A and C as well as amino acids,
TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USE
NOTE: please take advice from a doctor if you are planning to use herbal medicine.
There are many medicinal uses of the Sea Hibisicus flowers, leaves, bark and roots, all over the world:
An infusion of the leaves is used to aid in the delivery of a child and for postpartum discharges.
Leaves are used in treating coughs and sore throats.
Leaves are made into a paste and used as a poultice for sores, cuts, open wounds, boils and swellings.
Bark and leaves are used medicinally, especially to relieve coughs, sore throats and tuberculosis.
Bark and the young leaves are used to treat skin diseases in Tonga.
Bark, on its own, is used in treating eye infections and injuries, and stomach-aches.
An infusion of the bark is taken three times if the placenta is retained after the birth of the child.
Fluid from the bark is used to induce menstruation in delayed menstrual period.
Leaves can be wrapped around fractured bones and sprained muscles .
Juice from the leaves is used in treating gonorrhea.
Acetone extracts from the leaves showed antibacterial activity.
Treatment made from the leaves, roots and bark is given for fever.
Flowers are used in a paste as a poultice for sores, cuts, boils and swellings.
Leaves or shoots are used to treat recurring sickness.
Parts of the plant are used for cuts, tuberculosis and conjunctivitis.
Preparation made from the leaves, roots and bark is administered for fever.
In Amboina, root infusion is taken for fever and a decoction taken for fever in Java and Pahang, Malaysia.
Leaves boiled with sugar are used for coughs and bronchitis in Java.
Boiled leaves are rubbed over swellings and applied hot to boils and used for the hair in Java.
Flowers are boiled in milk for use to treat earache in the Philippines.
Young leaves are used medicinally as substitute for the European ‘folia althaeae’ and flowers likewise for ‘flores malvae’.
Roots are used as an antifebrile and emetic, and the leaves and bark are used for the treatment of cough and bronchitis in Chinese folk medicine.
Leaves are used in traditional medicine for fever, coughs and dry throat and the flowers for bronchitis, ear infections, and dysentery and chest congestion in Bangladesh.
Bark is said to have contraceptive effect, which produces slimy mucus that is thought to have spermicidal effect, and hot leaf infusion is introduced into vagina to cause abortion in Hawaii.
Leaves are used to alleviate fevers and soothe coughs, the bark as a therapy for dysentery and ear infections, flowers to treat abscesses and bark and flower as a mild laxative.
For babies and young children, the flower buds are used.
Leaf buds are chewed / swallowed for dry throat.
Inner bark (with sap) is soaked and drunk for labor pains and rubbed on stomach.
Flowers are said to be smoked with tobacco for anti-fertility in Melanesia.
Fresh macerated bark makes water mucilaginous, and is prescribed in dysentery in Philippines.
Decoction of the leaves is taken for sore throat, pneumonia, cough, tuberculosis and diarrhea in Papua New Guinea.
Root decoction is drunk as a tonic and as a cure for hypertension, sickle cell anemia and irregular menstruation in Tanzania.
An infusion of the flowers is drunk to solve respiratory problems in Madagascar.
Flowers were used to treat bronchitis due to their emollient properties.
INTO THE WILD: a down to earth experience
For guests and visitors to Paksong we organize weekly tours "The Edible Forest" and Foraging weekends: Into the Wild. We work with local guides to take you in the jungle of Paksong. After foraging, we will cook a meal with the ingredients, using bamboo together with you!
Come and join and learn about the abundance of food that nature gives us!
INTO THE WILD!
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