Page 97 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Young banana leaves come in handy for dressing wounds, and their cooling

effect makes them suitable for treating eye diseases. The juice is an antidote to
diarrhoea and excessive bleeding during menstruation. The Balinese dry and
pound banana skins into flour, and boil the stem with spices to make a vegetable
dish called ares. Bananas can be a gargle, remedy for angina and a tonic for
stimulating hair growth. But it all depends on which banana.

Indonesia is home to an endless choice of bananas from the sweet, stubby, dessert variety known as pisang
mas to the larger pisang raja and pisang tandok, the horn plantain used exclusively in cooking. The
banana tree is useful as a source of food, medicine for intestinal complaints and fevers, whilst the leaves
make instant bandages and at one time other types provided fibre for cloth.

KALIMANTAN STANDBYS

Project Barito Ulu is a scientific research programme set up to determine the most effective way of
conserving and regenerating rainforests. Bapak Suriantata, a member of the Barito team, who was
born in Kalimantan and has used traditional medicine all his life, passed on some first-hand
experiences.
Remedies from his province are largely made from tree bark, he says. “Bark from the young
coconut tree, nutmeg, fenugreek (keci beling; Sericocalyx crispus), meniran also known as
gendong anak (Phyllanthus niruri; ‘the child pick-a-back’, so called owing to the fruit’s position on
the back of tree branches) and cat’s whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus; kumis kuching) are mixed
together as a treatment for kidney stones. A blocked nose can be easily cleared by scraping wet bark
from the cinnamon tree and placing it on the bridge of the nose. If my daughter suffers from stomach
pain or dysentery, I get some guava seeds, grind them up, add water and leave them to steep. When
the brew is strong enough I give her one teaspoon morning and night until she recovers. As soon as
the symptoms disappear she stops taking the medicine.”